Forever Skies: Subnautica in the Sky - Satisfying exploration and ship progression with a story that keeps you moving. (Game Review)

Forever Skies turns the airship into the game’s beating heart: a customizable, high‑tech ark you build, pilot, and constantly upgrade as you scavenge a drifting, post‑apocalyptic sky. Its loop; scavenge, craft, retrofit your ship, and push the narrative forward; unfolds into satisfying moments of discovery and a compact, emotionally resonant story that kept me engaged for roughly 30 hours.

The game nails the feeling of exploration and invention, but a handful of design and polish choices blunt its long‑term appeal: quality‑of‑life regressions (notably the removal of player signs), persistent pop‑ins and stutter in dense areas, and fiddly ship‑building and UI workflows that complicate multiplayer coordination.

In short, Forever Skies is an inventive, often beautiful survival sandbox with a strong core and clear potential, just one that still needs targeted fixes to fully deliver for groups and repeat playthroughs.

Your airship as a living base

• Home, lab, and cockpit: Rooms you add are functional upgrades, not decoration; each module unlocks practical systems like crafting benches, research rigs, expanded storage, medical bays, and defensive turrets, turning your vessel into a self‑contained workshop and command center.

• Hull management: Structural integrity is a gameplay mechanic; damage, mass distribution, and layout influence handling, fuel consumption, and vulnerability. Every plate you bolt on or corridor you carve is a trade‑off between capacity, agility, and survivability.

• Piloting and purpose: Navigation is a tactical decision. Plotting a course toward derelict skylines or strange anomalies forces risk‑reward choices: safer routes yield steady supplies, while high‑risk corridors promise rare salvage, unique tech, and tougher encounters.

Science is the gameplay engine

• Scan, reverse‑engineer, iterate: Curiosity is currency; scan artifacts to reveal hidden blueprints, reverse‑engineer lost tech to unlock new modules, and prototype experimental tools that can change how you approach salvage runs and surface expeditions. Each discovery feels like a small engineering victory that opens fresh gameplay options.

• Research progression: Research isn’t a checklist; it’s a branching toolkit. Unlocking new machines and recipes transforms your logistics; improved food production, more efficient material processing, and targeted biotech solutions shift survival from improvisation to planned strategy.

• Player as scientist: Forever Skies rewards cleverness over brute force. Success comes from designing the right rigs, combining components in novel ways, and iterating on prototypes, engineering solutions that let you survive harsher zones, tame evolved threats, and push deeper into the mystery below the dust.

The skies are a scavenger’s playground

• Vertical ruins: Derelict platforms, floating debris, and high‑altitude POIs hide more than parts; they contain modular components, hidden caches, and environmental puzzles that reward careful approach and creative traversal. Each salvage site feels like a micro‑dungeon with its own hazards and payoff.

• Resource loops: Harvested materials feed ship upgrades, unlocking new modules and reach; those upgrades in turn let you access rarer salvage and deeper, more dangerous zones. The loop creates a steady sense of progression where every haul can change how you outfit and pilot your ark.

• Environmental storytelling: Wrecked skylines, half‑collapsed walkways, and scattered personal effects sketch a civilization that fled the surface. These visual clues and scattered logs layer lore into exploration, so scavenging becomes both a mechanical and narrative reward.

When you descend below the dust

• A radically changed surface: The world beneath the dust has evolved into something alien; mutated flora that behaves like ecosystems, fauna with unexpected behaviors and attack patterns, and biological phenomena that rewrite survival rules. Surface zones feel less like expanded maps and more like new biomes with their own logic and threats.

• High‑stakes expeditions: Dropping to the ground turns scavenging into urgent survival and field science. Surface runs demand careful prep, tactical loadouts, and contingency plans: you’ll hunt evolved creatures, gather volatile samples, and extract pathogens that are both a resource and a hazard. Success requires balancing risk and reward, one misstep can cost gear, progress, or worse.

• Systems meet story: Descending isn’t just a change of scenery; it ties gameplay systems directly into narrative payoff. Pathogen collection, research breakthroughs, and surface discoveries unlock story beats and personal stakes, so every expedition can shift the plot and reshape how you approach the rest of your journey.

Who made it and why it matters

We Are Far From Home, a Wrocław studio staffed by industry veterans, built Forever Skies around a clear, ambitious premise: fuse narrative momentum with open‑ended sandbox systems. Their experience shows in the game’s design choices; an airship that functions as home, lab, and cockpit; research trees that reward experimentation; and salvage loops that turn exploration into meaningful progression. The result is a survival game that asks you to wear three hats at once; engineer, pilot, and field scientist; so every upgrade, flight path, and lab experiment feels like a deliberate step toward uncovering the planet’s lost story.

What Works

• Compelling premise and story beats. The narrative and periodic drops from your home station create a steady stream of motivation; the ending choices land with real weight.

• Airship concept and customization potential. The ability to expand and outfit a flying base is a strong hook; adding rooms, new noses, and extra floors can feel rewarding when the building tools cooperate.

• Crafting and progression. The DNA replicator, printers, and upgrade systems provide a layered progression that encourages exploration and experimentation.

• Multiplayer appeal. Resource gathering and base building scale well with friends; many players report the most fun comes from cooperative runs where tasks are shared and the pace quickens.

• Polish in core systems. No major save‑breaking bugs were encountered in this playthrough, and the game’s core loop remains enjoyable enough to recommend on sale.

Major Issues and Frustrations

• Removal of signs (QoL regression). A post‑launch change removed player‑placed signs after abuse by a few users. For survival crafters this is a huge loss; dozens of unlabeled storage units become a chore to manage, and the removal breaks long‑standing survival conventions. This single decision has driven groups to stop playing and seek refunds.

• Performance and pop‑ins. Frequent pop‑ins and stuttering, especially “under the dust” zones, interrupt exploration. Buildings and objects sometimes appear late, and greyed‑out structures that don’t exist can cause fatal falls.

• Clunky UI and control mapping. Keybindings and UI flows create friction: the run input requires pressing direction before Shift, there’s no in‑game toggle for inventory loss on death, and “deposit similar” lacks a keyboard shortcut. Sign editing shares a key with opening storage, causing accidental edits.

• Opaque crafting recipes. The in‑game database explains causes and locations for diseases but omits the exact ingredients needed for DNA replication, forcing players to consult external wikis.

• Ship customization workflow. Building around the default balloon is awkward; there’s no dedicated shipyard or balloon workshop that lets you safely refit large components, making late‑game customization fiddly and risky.

• Enemy and POI variety. Creatures and points of interest can feel repetitive after a few runs; top predators are often trivial to kite, and platforming deaths are a common source of frustration.

Community Reaction and Context

The community response has been sharply divided. Longtime players who backed the beta and early access feel blindsided and frustrated by the removal of player signs; a change that directly breaks established survival workflows, storage organization, and group coordination, prompting some groups to pause play or seek refunds.

At the same time, many players continue to praise the game’s narrative, atmosphere, and the quality of recent updates that have boosted replay value for some. The debate now hinges on whether the studio will restore or replace the lost features with moderated alternatives and whether a steady cadence of performance, UI, and QoL patches will rebuild trust and stabilize multiplayer experiences.

Final Verdict

Forever Skies is an imaginative, atmospheric survival game that turns its airship sandbox into a compelling centerpiece; equal parts home, lab, and cockpit; backed by a focused narrative that rewards exploration and experimentation. It’s an easy recommend for players who love cooperative survival, creative base building, and methodical, science‑forward progression, especially at a discount.

That said, recent design choices; most notably the removal of player signs; alongside persistent UX and performance issues, significantly undercut the multiplayer and long‑term crafting experience for dedicated players.

With a handful of targeted fixes; reintroducing a moderated sign system, smoothing out pop‑ins and stutter, and tightening UI and control flows, Forever Skies could graduate from “promising and fun” to a genre standout. For now, exercise cautious optimism: pick it up on sale or wait for the next round of QoL and performance patches.

Watch and Wishlist

• Why wishlist: Major QoL fixes, moderated sign reintroduction, and performance patches will materially change the multiplayer and long‑term survival experience; wishlisting ensures you get notified about demos, hotfixes, and sales.

• Who should watch: Fans of methodical survival and base‑building; players who enjoy cooperative scavenging and engineering‑forward progression; streamers who like emergent multiplayer moments and scenic exploration.

• What to expect from updates: Balance passes and encounter tuning, QoL improvements (storage labeling, deposit shortcuts, clearer crafting recipes), performance optimizations for dense “under dust” zones, and occasional content drops or seasonal events.

• Best times to buy: After a major QoL/performance patch or during big sales; buy at launch if you want to support the studio and accept early rough edges.

• Platforms to track: PC (Steam demo and full release) and upcoming console ports; watch for PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch announcements.

• How to stay informed: Wishlist on Steam, follow We Are Far From Home on social channels and Discord, and watch devstreams and patch notes to time your purchase.

• Quick verdict for wishlisters: Wishlist Forever Skies to catch demos and post‑launch fixes; consider buying after a balancing and QoL update for the smoothest cooperative experience.

Key Takeaways

• Core loop works: Scavenge, craft, and upgrade your airship creates satisfying discovery moments and a compact, emotionally engaging narrative.

• Airship is the star: Your vessel functions as home, lab, and cockpit; customization and hull management make upgrades meaningful design choices.

• Science drives gameplay: Scanning, reverse‑engineering, and research reward experimentation and shift survival toward engineering and strategy.

• Strong atmosphere and story: The game nails mood and pacing in many places, with lore and environmental storytelling that make exploration feel consequential.

• Major QoL regressions: The removal of player signs is a significant blow to storage workflows and multiplayer coordination, prompting frustration and refunds among longtime players.

• Performance and UI need polish: Pop‑ins, stutter in dense zones, fiddly controls, and opaque crafting/repair feedback undermine long‑term play and co‑op reliability.

• High potential with targeted fixes: Reintroduce a moderated sign system, smooth performance, and tighten UI/controls and the game could become a genre standout.

• Buying guidance: Wishlist and watch for QoL/performance patches or major sales; buy on sale or after a balancing update for the best cooperative experience.

Game Information:

Developer & Publisher: Far From Home

Platforms: PC - Steam (reviewed), PlayStation 5

Release Date: April 14, 2025

Score: 8.5 / 10

Forever Skies is a vivid, inventive survival game that turns its airship sandbox into a memorable centerpiece: research‑driven progression, satisfying scavenging loops, and a compact, emotionally resonant narrative deliver many standout moments.

The score reflects a game with bold ideas and strong atmosphere that’s hampered by a handful of fixable issues; quality‑of‑life regressions (notably the removal of player signs), persistent pop‑ins and stutter in dense areas, and clunky UI/controls; that currently limit its multiplayer and long‑term appeal. With targeted QoL, performance, and UX patches, this could easily climb into the 9s.

“8.5 / 10 - Forever Skies is a bold, atmospheric survival sandbox; brilliant in concept and execution, held back only by fixable QoL and performance issues.”