With over 2000 blocks of altitude, six weapon types, three enemy factions and interesting world generation, Everwind is the procedural RPG sandbox I always wanted modded Minecraft to be.
I’m sure someone could make a Minecraft mod that is very similar to Everwind, but it’d still be Minecraft underneath. Everwind has the benefit of having fresh foundations, sprite details, mobs, exploration challenges and RPG mechanics.
Your adventure begins at sea level with a simple raft. 28.7 hours later (according to my Steam playtime) you’ll be soaring 2000 blocks above with a full-on airship of mobile crafting tables, storage solutions, decorations and a lot of propellers. In its early access state this ascent from sea to sky is the whole game — you need to be someone who likes finding new items, working out how they fit into the various crafting and combat systems, and then making a breakthrough to ascend even higher.
While there are quests and NPCs in towns, these elements are not fleshed out in the way you might want for a full game. If you want hours of exploration and discovery (and can accept that boss hunting is the only real “goal” right now) then Everwind is just what you are looking for. By 1.0 release it promises to be filled with new quests and NPC systems, enemies, bosses and higher-tier crafting.
Quality of Life from the moment you decide to play
Everwind might look like glorified Minecraft, but there’s two things I’ll say to that:
- So? Minecraft is amazing, if your game is just “Minecraft but also you have an airship” I don’t have an issue with that.
- Minecraft wishes it had this much QoL.
From the moment you decide to try out Everwind your experience will be pretty much smooth sailing. Buy the game, download, launch, go. For all of its inevitable comparisons to Minecraft, Everwind offers a deeper and more exploratory RPG experience without needing the patience of a saint to find mods, back-patch your game, check if the version works with Bedrock, fix the crashing, set up a server…
Everwind respects your time and offers something instantly enjoyable. So, maybe someone could mod Minecraft to be just like Everwind…but it’s worth my money to just buy the damn game and avoid needing to.
In-game QoL is through the roof as well. Your compass is one of the few items you begin your odyssey with. It shows waypoint markers and other players directly on your HUD, but these elements are hidden while you don’t have the compass out. This keeps exploration clean and immersive while also making finding your way relatively easy in a pinch. The compass can also teleport you back to your ship (once you have one), which incentivises a vastly different playstyle to Minecraft on a fundamental level.
Nearby chest crafting is in, with every chest within the boundary of your airship contributing to crafting benches on the same ship by default. You can even disable this on a per-chest basis, for materials you want to save up or avoid spending accidentally.
All of the exploration with none of the punishment
The way Everwind is built is a double-edged sword in terms of the expected experience. While the game does have crafting and building, the core experience is going from island to island to uncover new biomes and the terrifying denizens within. New areas offer new fights, new materials and new recipes. Sometimes you’ll even find an entirely unique type of generation within the same biome, keeping things fresh.
There’s no “need” in the direct sense to go to these islands. You aren’t going to starve, as food is used as heal-over-time and for buffs rather than for a hunger meter. There’s no quests except the basic bounties at town halls which range from “Collect 30 fur” to “Collect 3 Rat Tails”. So, you aren’t going to be chomping at the bit to engage with a story or questline…
In the early access stage, you have to on some level want to discover and explore. This is the spirit Everwind fosters. Yes, you can teleport back to your ship whenever you want. Yes, you can’t die of hunger. Yes, you only drop looted items and not equipped or equipable items on death. All of this might sound like the game is on easy mode, but it’s simply not trying to provide that type of experience.
Travelling, uncovering and fighting through islands doesn’t need to have the threat of starvation or the risk of losing it all because Everwind has enough variety to just let you see it all. The game doesn’t need to slow you down with deaths and recovery and food grind. Instead, you get to focus on the moment-to-moment of building, fighting and exploring.
Madness arrows and sandbox combat
During this voyage you’ll be fighting a lot. Combat revolves around a basic stamina system with blocks, attacks and heavy attacks. There are staves and spellbooks for the wizardly types as well as potions and arrows for the preparationists out there. Personally, I found a well-placed Madness arrow was worth more than any direct-damage spell as Madness will make enemies attack each other long after the effect ends. In the same way you could frenzy towns to a slaughter in Oblivion, you can watch as the skeleton-ridden ruins decimate themselves here.
Combine that with an invisibility potion (so keep an eye out for those ingredients when you’re scouring the sky) and you’re able to reduce the effective enemy density reliably. You’ll need to, as well, since on higher altitudes enemies start hitting hard. The combat might be simple, but it’s still a complete system. You need to balance your position, stamina and health to win harder fights and this makes equipment upgrades through looting or crafting feel even more rewarding.
The first time I dealt over 200 damage with a two-handed heavy attack crit was glorious, and felt truly earned.
No reason to build a home, but plenty of creativity
Everwind’s most grievous weakness is that, with the focus on always ascending and moving, you never really get to form an attachment to any single island. Even in a near-infinite world like Minecraft you’ll still find somewhere to settle, you’ll give personality to the randomly generated valleys and rivers and oceans. In Everwind you are moving from island to island without a second thought, and all the building creativity is instead poured into your airship.
Just for fun, here’s how my airship changed over my time with Everwind:
From sloop to ship
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Once the towns and cities are expanded and fleshed out in early access I look forward to finding an island with a community, building myself a mansion on the outskirts and really making a living. I remember fondly the first time Minecraft got villager jobs! It was monumental being able to train and trade with your villagers in certain professions, and gave a reason to stay still in an infinite world. Everwind sorely needs that, otherwise I can see people ascending as high as possible and thinking the game is empty.
An incredibly strong early access with the usual issues
Everwind is far from empty, even in early access. There’s bosses I’ve never seen (despite beating a boss that has a 1.1% global steam achievement rate) and weapons I haven’t got recipes for, and just before logging off to write up my article I saw a Unique weapon for the first time. It took me hours to realise that stones in dungeons or houses with circular marks on were marking hidden chests or Crystals of Force, and that little generation detail is one of at least five I spotted. I shan’t spoil the others, as discovering and noticing these patterns is half the fun!
It won’t give you 500 hours of content, but for a start to early access Everwind is frankly off to a flying start. You’ll have the multiplayer disconnects, and chest crafting will break if a co-op partner opens one mid-craft, but overall the core experience is accessible right now even in the early access stage.
Everwind is available on PC via Steam
