Aloft

Aloft is a co-op survival sandbox set in an archipelago that drifts above a sea of clouds. Its big idea is easy to explain: any island can be fitted with sails, a helm and propellers until it becomes a flying ship. Home stops being a fixed point on the map and turns into the vehicle you cross everything else in.

The survival loop is a gentle one: chopping, mining, farming, cooking, fishing and raising animals, with hundreds of pieces to build a base out of. You glide from island to island, and steering means reading the winds instead of pointing the helm and waiting.

The central threat is a fungal corruption that sickens whole islands. Clearing it means digging up lost knowledge, brewing antidotes and fighting the fungi that guard the place. You can play alone or in co-op with up to eight people.

Buy to play: a single purchase on Steam at $24.99, no subscription and no microtransactions, with frequent discounts of up to 50%. The only paid extra is the Supporter Pack, a $6.99 cosmetic DLC. There is no free trial, and the store page warns the price will go up once Early Access ends.

It has been in Early Access since January 15, 2025 and still has no 1.0 date. Content arrives in a handful of big drops per year: Gliders & Gales, in February 2026, added glider customization, six wonder islands with races and more than 200 building pieces.

Discovery & Ancestry, announced for August 26, 2026, closes that stage: the Wind Spirit companion, Ancestral Memories, a rebuilt world and interface, progression and sailing tweaks, and the jump from Unity 2021 to Unity 6 for performance. After that the team turns fully to 1.0, which gets its own large update.

On Steam it holds 85% positive reviews across some 1,900 in English, with the recent average sitting a notch lower. Funcom reported more than 250,000 players and 260,000 worlds created during the first year; it has published no sales or concurrent-player figures.

It suits anyone who wants to build and explore with friends without the pressure of a punishing survival game, and anyone drawn to the idea of moving an entire base across the map. Against it: PC only, no console version announced, and an update cadence spread thin enough to leave months of quiet between drops.