Another sandbox survival game has arrived, but Enjoy Studio's Everwind is banking on a distinctive hook to carve out its own space in the crowded field: airships. The early access release now available on Steam takes the core loop of voxel mining, crafting, and base-building that made Minecraft a phenomenon, wraps it in medieval fantasy aesthetics, and then scatters the gameplay across a vast ocean dotted with islands, some floating impossibly in the sky.
If that sounds familiar, there's a reason. The genre has become crowded; just months before Everwind's arrival, Hytale emerged from near-cancellation to make its own splash in the same space. Yet where Hytale leans into elaborate narrative structure and structured boss battles, Everwind doubles down on exploration and environmental discovery. You start marooned on a starter island. Your immediate goal is straightforward: gather enough scrap and resources to assemble an airship, then use it to reach the horizon.
The airship systems themselves deserve the attention they're getting. Flying isn't complex; you set speed, adjust altitude, and steer. But the pacing feels glacial in early play. Before your ship gains meaningful speed upgrades, travel becomes a tedious grind across empty ocean. The islands themselves are striking when you're up close, their landscapes articulated by diverse flora, fauna, and environmental scatter that lifts them above basic blockiness. Moss-covered stone, weathered lighthouse structures, and timber settlements emerge as you close in. But from afar, during that slow burn of travel, there's not enough visual detail or dynamic activity to hold attention. The sea sits as flat blue emptiness, punctuated only by nighttime skies dominated by enormous ringed planets.
The foundations, though, are more solid than the pacing quirks suggest. Combat moves beyond the mindless button-mashing that defines some voxel games, incorporating stamina, strafing, blocking, and parrying. The crafting chains follow the addictive acquisition loop that keeps players grinding for "just one more resource". You punch things, scavenge materials, fill your pockets with endless accumulation, and feed it all into machines that transform raw materials into weapons, armour, and tools. If you've played Minecraft for any length of time, the loop needs no explanation.
What remains to be seen is whether Everwind can sustain engagement beyond the early hours. The procedurally generated islands do their job in encouraging exploration, their distinctive silhouettes promising discovery. But after several hours, the question lingers: will islands feel genuinely distinct and rewarding, or will exploration devolve into repetitive island-hopping? Co-op play might solve some of the solitude of slow travel, though that remains untested in early access.
Everwind has committed to at least a year of early access development. That timeline suggests the team knows there's work ahead. But the core concept holds genuine promise, and the bones of something compelling are already visible through the rough edges. Whether airships alone can sustain a full game remains an open question. For now, they're an intriguing answer to the glut of Minecraft alternatives.