Forever Skies is an open-world survival-crafter where you pilot your own airship on a desolate planet Earth in search of a cure. Read on to see what it did well, what it didn’t do well, and if it’s worth buying.

Forever Skies Review Overview

What is Forever Skies?

Forever Skies is an open-world survival-crafting game set on a desolate planet Earth roiling with dust storms and overcast by a layer of toxic dust. Forced to head to the surface once more in search of a cure, the player must pilot their airship, track down a mysterious figure named Noah, and figure out how to save themselves and their crewmates from a worse fate in space.

After nearly 2 years in early access, Forever Skies is now available to enjoy fully with its 1.0 release, featuring all-new biomes, the game’s long-awaited final story chapter, and Subnautica-esque colossal creatures waiting in the dust storms.

Forever Skies features:
　⚫︎　Stationary resource collection similar to Raft’s
　⚫︎　Exploration mechanics centered on Points of Interest
　⚫︎　Base-building mechanics with a mobile air ship
　⚫︎　Resource-based research and crafting mechanics
　⚫︎　Various biomes spread across distances and altitudes
　⚫︎　Hundreds of resources, creatures, and locations to scan
　⚫︎　Built-in To-Do List functionality
　⚫︎　1-4 Player Online Co-op Multiplayer

Steam	PSN
$29.99	$34.99

Forever Skies Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Beautifully Melancholic in the Best Ways Simple Base-building with Great Mix-ups Chill, But Also Challenging Great Pacing Across All Fronts	Multiplayer Isn’t as Fun as You’d Expect Sensory Overload is Likely

Forever Skies Overall Score - 86/100

Forever Skies impresses on multiple fronts—its hauntingly beautiful visuals, its evocative score, and its powerful environmental storytelling all land with impact. But let’s be real: all of that pales in comparison to the sheer joy of designing, building, customizing, and piloting your very own airship across the poisoned skies of a long-dead Earth.

It’s an adrenaline rush with an emotional core, wrapped in a gameplay loop that’s as satisfying as it is thoughtful. With stable progression, meaningful exploration, and a striking artistic vision to tie it all together, Forever Skies proves itself as more than just another survival game—it’s one worth remembering.

It's takeoff might’ve been a little turbulent, but with ongoing updates and a clearly passionate dev team, the future looks nothing but skyward.

Forever Skies Story - 8/10

Forever Skies’ story might not break new ground, but it’s delivered with style—expertly woven through its stunning environments and surprisingly solid cinematics and dialogue. It’s not exactly subtle, loudly championing a message of environmental conservation—but honestly, if there’s ever a message worth shouting about (or building a great game around), it’s that one.

Forever Skies Gameplay - 9/10

Forever Skies’ gameplay is a pitch-perfect blend of Subnautica’s environmental storytelling, exploration, and nail-biting survival, and Raft’s mobile base-building and static resource-gathering mechanics. The two halves come together to form a skybound experience that’s equal parts calming and unsettling. Multiplayer does put a bit of a cap on the shipbuilding freedom—but hey, all the more reason to stick close and brave the clouds together, right?

Forever Skies Visuals - 9/10

“Breathtaking” doesn’t even begin to cover how stunning Forever Skies looks. Sure, the ship designs have that familiar Unity Engine feel, like many games in the genre, and the game’s hefty graphical demands can turn most setups to mulch. But even so, the biomes are undeniably gorgeous, and I look forward to the promise of seeing them again each session.

Forever Skies Audio - 9/10

Forever Skies’ audio is a moody blend of melancholy, grandeur, and calm—an atmospheric soundtrack that’s as haunting as it is hypnotic. The music that swells when you take the helm of your airship gets my heart racing every time, and the ever-present whistle of the wind deepens the immersion and reinforces the story beautifully. I wouldn’t mind a bit more voice acting or a broader musical range, but honestly? It’s pretty close to perfect.

Forever Skies Value for Money - 8/10

I’d happily pay the $30 entry fee for Forever Skies’ cloudbound grandeur—but getting your friends on board might be a tougher sell. For a co-op multiplayer title, $30 feels a bit steep, especially with the odd price discrepancy between PC and console. Forever Skies is absolutely worth it—just make sure it’s worth it for everyone.

Forever Skies Review: Above It All—And Deservedly So

Any survival game aficionado worth their saltwater knows about Subnautica—a game that didn’t just capture hearts with its stunning underwater vistas but also impressed with its surprisingly intricate speculative biology. The alien ocean teemed with life that felt both otherworldly and eerily plausible, making for a deep-sea experience as immersive as it was lonely. After all, Subnautica was a strictly solo voyage from start to finish.

Now, for the more casual seafarers among us, Raft might have floated to the top. With its built-in multiplayer, equally oceanic setting, and its own set of deep-water terrors, Raft brought a social, hands-on twist to survival. And let’s not forget its pièce de résistance—a customizable floating base that evolves from a humble plank into a floating fortress, complete with farms, animal pens, and all the survivalist flair you could ask for.

Now take the essence of those two games, toss it into the upper atmosphere, sprinkle in a little dystopian ecopunk aesthetic, and what you get is Forever Skies. And let me tell you—this game hits different. It’s got the wistful beauty of a world in decline, paired with all the juicy mechanics that tickle that base-building itch we survival fans can’t get enough of. But hey, I’m getting ahead of myself.

So, get your goggles on, grab your favorite parachute, and get ready to soar—because we’re about to launch sky high into my review of Forever Skies 1.0. Landing not guaranteed.

Scraping (and Scrapping) the Stratosphere of A Dying Earth

We begin this review the same way the game’s protagonist does: in reentry.

Forever Skies tells the tale of an Earth long past its prime. Not just wounded—dead. An ecological catastrophe brought humanity to its knees, forcing the last survivors to escape into the stars while a dense, toxic dust cloud smothered the planet’s surface. But this being a proper dystopia, space didn’t offer salvation—only a slower decline. Plagued by the biological aftershocks of the disaster, those who fled now send expeditions back to the corpse of Earth in a desperate search for a cure. Many have gone. None have returned. And now it’s your turn.

Right from the jump, the game makes a strong impression with its evocative, richly imagined setting. Dystopias are a dime a dozen—throw in a few more if it’s the eco-disaster variety—but Forever Skies has its own flavor that makes it worth at least a quarter (or $30). This isn’t a story about undoing the damage or rekindling nature’s flame. It’s about survival after the fall. A world already lost, and the quiet, desperate fight to make sure humanity isn’t next.

The best part of it all is that it’s not just some backstory buried in audiologs and data pads. The game’s worldbuilding bleeds into every aspect of the gameplay. The setting doesn’t just frame the experience; it is the experience. And nowhere is that more apparent than in its resource-gathering mechanics, which owe a clear debt to Raft but remix the formula into something uniquely the game’s own.

Now, when you hear “survival crafting with open-world elements,” your mind probably conjures up the usual suspects: wide-open forests, plenty of rocks and trees to punch, and a suspiciously cubic house at the end of it all. It’s a formula—tried, true, and increasingly tired. If Forever Skies had followed that path, it undoubtedly would've drifted into obscurity just like the rest.

Instead, the game flips the script. Here, resources come to you, at least most of the time. Just like in Raft, you're scooping up what the world sends your way. But instead of ocean currents, it’s turbulent updrafts and swirling storm debris delivering your materials. And when you’re not scavenging the skies, you’re diving beneath the clouds to scavenge what’s left of the world.

This resource collection system isn’t just a nice touch—it’s the bedrock of the entire experience. It fuels the game’s core loop and forms the foundation for your most important survival tool... or more accurately, your most essential vehicle.

Building Your Own Airship is as Cool as It Sounds

Yes, of course you get your own vehicle in Forever Skies. What were you expecting—a wingsuit?

Where most survival games would give you a static base to hole up in, Forever Skies hands you the keys to an airship—and not just any airship, but a fully modular, floating fortress made of steel, synthetics, and your own ingenuity. Forget building a cabin in the woods—this is about crafting a home that soars.

While the game’s resource-gathering is the foundation, the airship is what you build on that foundation—literally and figuratively. It’s your mobile base, your lifeline, and your gateway to the skies. Without it, you’re not going anywhere.

Exploration operates on a point-of-interest system, not unlike Subnautica. You chart a course from one mysterious blip on the map to another, but instead of weaving through schools of alien fish, you’ll be navigating around massive chunks of twisted metal and ancient ruins floating like balloons in the turbulent atmosphere.

Each point of interest offers more than just scenery—it’s a treasure trove of resources, blueprints, lore, and opportunities. You’ll find landing pads that serve as both docking stations and workbenches. Touch down, and you can scavenge the wreckage, stock up on supplies, and more importantly, trick out your airship with new tech, compartments, and aesthetic flair.

And let me tell you—when it comes to customizing your flying home, Forever Skies doesn’t hold back. This isn’t just about slapping down a crafting bench and calling it a day. This is about transforming your vessel into a fully functional, highly personal, airborne command center. You can add new rooms, walls, windows, catwalks, ladder rooms, balloons, railings, and cockpits, and that’s just for its basic structure. Once you’ve squared off the airship’s main body, you can fill it with workbenches, appliances, furniture, posters, and pretty much anything you can find out there.

But the airship isn’t just your body of work. Beyond being your airborne base of operations and personal workshop in the sky, it doubles as a fully functional vehicle whose capabilities depend entirely on how you outfit it.

Slap on some extra thrusters and you’ll get a boost in speed—at the cost of fuel, of course. Install turbines and you’ll be able to climb higher into the atmosphere, unlocking previously unreachable locations. And with tools like the navigational map, charting your course through the vast sky wasteland becomes far more manageable. Upgrading these systems isn’t optional—it’s essential. Some areas are simply off-limits until your airship is up to the task, making progression and exploration inseparable.

But while you’re tuning up your flying fortress, don’t forget—you’ve also got a body to maintain. And as sleek as your airship might be, it’s not exactly part of a balanced breakfast.

Thankfully, with the right facilities installed, your ship can provide for your more... organic needs. You won’t be catching fish in this game—can’t cast a line if you can’t touch the ground. But who needs fish when you’ve got moths? That’s right—set up an automated lure and you’ll be collecting airborne insects like protein-packed confetti. Throw them in a pot, boil them up, and congratulations: sky stew. Gross? A little. Effective? Absolutely.

Thirsty? Just harvest the clouds. You can condense the ever-present toxic atmosphere into contaminated water, then purify it into something drinkable. Survival, as always, is about compromise.

The game also makes farming viable, thanks to cleverly implemented systems like the Metal Collector—a magnetic arm that pulls flying debris out of the air—and hydroponic grow beds you can unlock as you explore. Bit by bit, your airship transforms into a self-sufficient mobile ecosystem, and the best part? You can pack it all up and take it with you, no matter where the winds take you.

All of this ties into a gameplay loop that just works—a finely tuned rhythm of scavenging, crafting, upgrading, and exploring that keeps you locked in without burning you out. Where many survival games can feel like a grind or a guessing game, Forever Skies nails its sense of progression.

It’s a masterclass, honestly. Unlocking new tools, mechanics, and systems never feels rushed or delayed. The pacing is tight, and the game never holds your hand, but it also never leaves you stranded. Discoveries feel organic—whether it’s stumbling upon a rare resource at a far-flung point of interest or finally unlocking that blueprint you’ve been feeding data into your research machine for. Every step forward feels earned. Every improvement feels meaningful.

It’s that rare kind of game where how you progress is just as satisfying as the fact that you’re progressing. A slow burn in all the right ways, and an absolute standout in a genre that often mistakes tedium for tension.

The gameplay also never becomes overwhelming, at least from a “things to do” standpoint, but it never lets you fully relax either. After all, your entire life is crammed into one airborne shell—and there are plenty of ways to lose it. Whether it’s flying debris, massive sky-dwelling creatures, or just your own careless piloting, danger is always just a tailwind away.

But then again, so is discovery.

Sights and Sounds that Evoke Beauty in Decline

Another facet of Forever Skies’ distinct charm lies in its environment. And I don’t just mean that as a backdrop for the story—it’s a layered, living canvas, rich with atmosphere and teeming with detail, one that practically begs to be explored (though hopefully not literally lost in).

Points of interest rise like skeletal fingers through the haze, spires piercing the toxic clouds just high enough to stand on without succumbing to what simmers below. Twisted remnants of Earth's mutated flora stretch skyward, their massive woody tendrils acting both as barriers to progress and scaffolding for the strange, post-apocalyptic ecosystems that have evolved in humanity’s absence.

And if you’ve got the gear—and the guts—you can descend to the surface itself, to walk the scorched skin of a planet long past saving. The world may be toxic, but it’s not lifeless. Not anymore.

These biomes, diverse and haunting, paint a melancholy portrait of a world that’s dead to us, but not to nature. What humanity once dominated, nature has reclaimed—and it’s done so on its own terms. There’s something poetic about that. Something beautiful. Something tragic. And the game doesn’t just tell you this—it lets you feel it. Through sweeping visuals, crumbling ruins, and eerie silences filled with meaning, Forever Skies lets the world speak for itself.

And the music? It’s right there with it, harmonizing perfectly with the mood. The soundtrack carries a soft sorrow, a sense of quiet endurance—melancholy touched with a hint of hope, but never fully cheerful. Even when you’re soaring through the clouds, airship at full throttle, the score doesn't cheer—it reflects. It remembers. It forgives.

It’s memorable, moving, and deeply effective… though I do wish the voice acting in the game’s sparse cinematics rose to meet the same standard. There’s room for improvement there, especially in such an emotionally charged setting. Speaking of which—let’s talk about those hiccups. Because as sky-high as this game flies, it's not without a few bumps in the turbulence.

A Few Forgivable (and Fixable) Shortcomings

If I got a little misty-eyed and contemplative in the last section—waxing poetic about Forever Skies’ artistic brilliance—then consider this a hard landing back on solid ground. Because now it’s time to talk about what the game doesn’t get quite right.

Let’s start with the obvious: the voice acting. As mentioned earlier, it’s serviceable at best and forgettable at worst. Same goes for the cinematics—there aren’t many, and the ones that do exist feel more like placeholders than moments of narrative payoff. Given how rich the game’s atmosphere is elsewhere, these elements feel like missed opportunities to really elevate the emotional storytelling.

Next up: multiplayer. Now, most survival games get a noticeable boost when shared with friends. Exploring, building, surviving together—it’s the kind of formula that usually prints its own fun. But Forever Skies? Not so much.

Multiplayer here is only a marginal step up from single-player, and mostly just because it breaks up the monotony. The biggest letdown? Everyone shares one airship. That’s right—no personal vessels, no dueling design philosophies, no battles over who put the furniture in backwards. It’s all hands on one deck. And while that can work in theory, in practice it stifles the creativity and personalization that make the airship such a central joy in the solo experience.

That said, the devs seem to have clocked this themselves. The game’s post-1.0 roadmap includes an airship customization update, and if that delivers, it might just solve the issue. For now, though? I’d recommend flying solo.

Lastly, let’s talk sensory overload. Forever Skies is a lot. There are particles flying, weather systems shifting, machinery whirring, and enough flickering lights and sound effects to make your brain ask for shore leave. It never crosses into seizure-inducing territory, but for players prone to sensory sensitivity, it can absolutely wear thin.

This ties into another point—the game’s graphical demands. It looks gorgeous, but that beauty comes at a cost. On a mid-to-low-end PC like mine, the game barely scrapes by on standard settings. And while it doesn’t really affect the core gameplay (credit where it’s due), this is definitely the kind of game you want running at full visual fidelity. Not because you have to—but because it deserves to be seen in all its glory.

Minor Turbulence in an Otherwise Stellar Takeoff!

Forever Skies isn’t just something great—it’s something unique, born from the familiar. It’s the evolution of Raft, elevated by the grandeur and intrigue of Subnautica, but it doesn’t stop there. It takes that well-worn survival formula and launches it skyward, soaring above a genre cluttered with entries that often fail to leave the runway. The developers clearly made the most of their extended early access period, and with a post-1.0 roadmap that shows no signs of slowing, I’m genuinely thrilled for what’s still to come.

That said, it’s not without its turbulence. Some of the voice work, cinematics, and optimization still feel grounded compared to the rest of its otherwise impressive presentation. But here’s the thing: those faults are easy to forgive when the heart of the game beats this strong. There’s just so much here to love—and plenty more to keep coming back for.

Forever Skies doesn’t just impress—it does so with flying colors. And yes, with airships too.

Is Forever Skies Worth It?

Yes, But Maybe Think Twice About Multiplayer

If you’re wondering whether Forever Skies is worth the $30 price tag, the short answer is: absolutely. The longer answer? Maybe check in with your friends first.

As a solo experience, it’s easily worth the cost—there’s a depth and richness here that justifies every dollar. But when it comes to multiplayer, the value starts to dip. Not because it’s bad, but because the game’s soul—its quiet, melancholic atmosphere and introspective pacing—feels diminished the moment you bring others aboard your airship. What was once somber and reflective becomes cooperative and a little chaotic, and not necessarily in a good way.

Still, that’s not a dealbreaker. If you picked this up expecting multiplayer magic, you can always pivot to single-player and recapture that immersive experience. In that sense, it’s a rare case where the “backup plan” is actually the best way to play.

There is some price discrepancy between platforms—console versus PC—but with no crossplay in place, it shouldn’t cause too much confusion. Just know what you’re buying it for, and you’ll get your money’s worth.

Steam	PSN
$29.99	$34.99

Forever Skies FAQ

Does Forever Skies Have A Creative Mode?

According to the developers, although a Creative Mode for shipbuilding is in development, it isn't planned to release until after the game's 1.0 update. At the moment, Forever Skies does not have a Creative Mode.

Is Forever Skies Procedurally Generated?

Mostly. According to the game's developers, Forever Skies' map is mostly procedurally generated, with a few handcrafted points of interest, likely linked to the game's main story.

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Forever Skies Product Information

Title	FOREVER SKIES
Release Date	April 14, 2025 (Full Release)
Developer	Far From Home
Publisher	Far From Home
Supported Platforms	PC (Steam) PlayStation 5
Genre	RPG, Adventure, Survival
Number of Players	1-4 (Online Co-op Multiplayer)
ESRB Rating	ESRB Teen
Official Website	Forever Skies Website

Aaron Bruce Albert..

A massive fan of roguelikes, turn-based RPGs, and open world adventure games. His gold standard games include The Binding of Isaac, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and Dragon Quest Monsters Joker.