The voxel survival space is getting crowded fast. Hytale only just found its footing after years of near-cancellation, and now Enjoy Studio's Everwind has arrived to stake its own claim, landing on Steam Early Access on March 17th. The pitch is familiar in all the right ways, but with one twist that makes it genuinely stand out: you build and pilot airships.
Published by Bohemia Interactive (the studio behind DayZ and the Arma series), Everwind is a sandbox survival RPG built on destructible voxel blocks, set across a procedurally generated ocean world scattered with islands. You scavenge, craft, fight, and build. Standard stuff. But the moment you get your first airship off the ground, the game starts to feel like something different.
What Makes Everwind Tick
The core loop will feel instantly recognizable to anyone who has spent time in Minecraft or Hytale. You punch trees, gather scrap, fill your inventory, feed crafting stations, and work your way up the tech chain toward better gear. The aesthetic leans into a muted medieval fantasy vibe, and the world itself looks genuinely nice thanks to some solid lighting and a generous scattering of environmental detail: boars, wandering birds, lobster creatures with barrels for shells, and yes, capybaras.
Here's the thing though. What separates Everwind from the pack isn't just aesthetics. The world is built around a vast ocean dotted with islands of all shapes and sizes, some forested, some industrial, some floating high in the sky. It draws comparisons to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker in how it frames exploration as a journey across open water toward distant silhouettes. Early on, those silhouettes do their job well: a mass of pink mossy rock with abandoned industrial towers, stone huts behind low hills, a lighthouse perched on a faraway crag.
The airship itself requires a bit of work to unlock. You'll need to scan parts from a downed ship using your magic compass to acquire their blueprints, then gather materials to construct a cockpit, energy generator, wooden engine, and balloon. That minimum viable flying machine won't win any beauty contests, but it gets you airborne.
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Items dropped on death in Everwind despawn permanently, so be careful when your inventory is full of freshly crafted ship components. Losing progress to a despawn is genuinely painful in the early hours.Rough Edges and Real Promise
Early access means rough edges, and Everwind has them. Air travel in its current state starts glacially slow, and upgrading your ship's core takes time before speed and altitude improvements feel meaningful. The sea between islands is largely empty right now, a flat blue expanse with little to fill the journey. Procedurally generated islands, while visually distinct at a distance, don't always deliver enough variety or reward to justify the lengthy travel time once you arrive.
Combat exists and shows ambition, with stamina-based mechanics that include strafing, parrying, and blocking rather than simple button mashing. It's a step in the right direction, even if it isn't fully fleshed out yet. Co-op play and air combat are both on the roadmap, and the developer has indicated at least a year of early access development still ahead, according to the official press materials.
Crafting chains fuel your progress
The Bones Are Good
Despite the stumbles, something genuinely pleasant emerges once you settle into Everwind's rhythms. Drifting from zombie-infested woodland villages to palm-dotted sandy islands from the deck of your own airship carries a low-key charm that's hard to dismiss. The crafting loops are moreish, the world generation throws up genuinely interesting landmarks, and the sky-high perspective on the world feels earned once you get there.
What most players miss in early access titles like this is that the question isn't whether the game is finished. It's whether the foundation is worth building on. For Everwind, the answer looks like yes. The airship concept alone gives it an identity that neither Minecraft nor Hytale can claim, and Bohemia Interactive's publishing support suggests this isn't a project that'll quietly disappear. Make sure to check out more:
