The hottest new survival game on Steam has big Subnautica energy, except you're scavenging the sky instead of the sea

A recently released survival game is currently doing very well on Steam, since it essentially takes all that was good about Subnautica and places it into a sky-based setting, rather than a sea-based one. 

Forever Skies released just last month, and the game’s mysterious and dangerous setting has attracted a large crowd of survival aficionados. Forever Skies takes place in a post-apocalyptic version of Earth, sometime after humans have abandoned it. But in humanity’s absence, the planet has become unrecognisable, resembling more of an alien wasteland instead of the planet of greens and blues it was before. 

Essentially, a toxic dust cloud has spread across the entire planet and made the surface unlivable. So, you need to build a homebase in the skies to stay alive… and afloat. After that, you’ll be engaging in the same survival goodness that’s present in games such as Subnautica. Scavenge for food and resources, research and build new tools, and untangle the mystery of what happened here.

The airborne base doubles as a vehicle though, meaning you can customise your two-in-one home (or plane, depending on the way you look at it.) That can be used to explore the ruined and ancient structures that hover above the clouds like skyscrapers, tall buildings, and more. But you can also descend below the deadly toxic dust to get a better look at the damage caused since humans abandoned Earth. Exploring locations in the sky, a dangerous hidden world lying below, and the power to build your own vehicle? Without context, that almost sounds like the pitch for Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom.

The game’s currently in early access, but developers Far From Home promise consistent updates starting with a patch later this month. That patch is set to add a foldable plank used to cover large gaps in the sky, along with a host of balance tweaks, quality-of-life improvements, and more. Future updates will eventually also add co-op.

Our Forever Skies review praised the survival game and, especially, its lack of combat: “I’m not convinced Forever Skies needs anything more lethal than it already has - its joy is drawn from building your ship, exploring a broken world, and discovering the mysteries concealed beyond the dust.”

You can buy Forever Skies in early access on Steam for £25/€30/$30