Forever Skies

Lore & Background

Forever Skies is set in a future where Earth has been ravaged, and players must find a cure for humanity. The game is played from a first-person perspective, requiring players to craft tools and materials, find food and water, and customize an airship that serves as both a home base and the primary method of traveling the world. Co-operative gameplay with up to four people is supported.

The game offers two mutually exclusive endings, allowing players to choose to save or fail to save humanity. Far From Home, a Polish development studio, announced Forever Skies in January 2022 as their debut project, initially under the working title Project Oxygen. The Windows release was delayed from 2022 to the first half of 2023 after feedback from a demo led to an expanded scope. Co-operative play was added in the 'World Evolved & Co-op Update'.

Reader's Guide

Forever Skies received 'mixed or average' reviews from critics according to Metacritic, while OpenCritic assessed that the game received fair approval, recommended by 38% of critics. IGN Deutschland rated it 8/10, describing it as 'essentially a cozy survival game for anyone who values exploration and a dense atmosphere more than a tough and complex survival experience.' IGN France rated the game 5/10, criticizing the repetitive nature of the locations to explore. GamingBolt rated it 7/10, stating it offered a 'fun narrative survival adventure' while describing the combat as 'quite boring.'

On 9 April 2025, Far From Home announced that Forever Skies had sold over 300,000 copies, and it has since surpassed 500,000 copies sold. The game's significance lies in its unique airship-based survival mechanics and narrative-driven approach, offering a distinct experience within the survival genre, though critical reception was divided on its exploration variety and combat.

Did You Know?

• Forever Skies was initially announced under the working title Project Oxygen.
• The full version of the game was released on 14 April 2025 for Windows and PlayStation 5.
• The game has sold over 500,000 copies as of its full release.

Gameplay & World Design

Forever Skies casts players into a first-person survival experience set in a ravaged future Earth, where the central mission is to find a cure for a humanity-threatening crisis. The core loop revolves around gathering food and water, crafting tools and materials, and tending to basic needs in a hostile environment. At the heart of the experience sits a customizable airship that doubles as both a mobile home base and the primary vehicle for traversing the world. This vessel becomes a personal project, shaped by the player's choices and resource management. The game also supports cooperative play for up to four participants, allowing friends to share the survival burden and explore together. Perhaps most distinctively, Forever Skies offers two mutually exclusive endings: players can either succeed in saving humanity or fail in that endeavor, giving the narrative a genuine sense of consequence. The tone, as critics have noted, leans toward atmospheric exploration rather than punishing difficulty, making it accessible while still demanding engagement with its survival systems.

Development Journey

Forever Skies began life as Project Oxygen, the debut title from Far From Home, a Polish development studio. The project was first announced to the public in January 2022, with an original target of a 2022 Windows launch and console versions planned for a later window. However, the team decided to delay the Windows release into the first half of 2023, citing feedback gathered from a playable demo as the catalyst for expanding the game's overall scope. The title eventually entered early access on Steam in June 2024, marking its first public availability. A significant milestone came with the 'World Evolved & Co-op Update,' which introduced cooperative multiplayer for up to four players—a feature that had not been present at early access launch. The full, polished version arrived on 14 April 2025, simultaneously for Windows via Steam and PlayStation 5. The Xbox Series X/S edition followed on 27 July 2026, completing the platform rollout. For a studio's first project, the journey from a working title to a multi-platform release spanned roughly four and a half years.

Critical Reception

Critical response to Forever Skies was notably divided. Metacritic categorized the reviews as 'mixed or average,' while OpenCritic reported that 38 percent of critics recommended the title—a figure that signals fair but not enthusiastic approval. Individual reviews highlighted the game's strengths and weaknesses with contrasting emphasis. IGN Deutschland awarded it 8 out of 10, framing it as a cozy survival experience best suited to players who prioritize dense atmosphere and exploration over punishing mechanical complexity. In stark contrast, IGN France gave it 5 out of 10, with the reviewer taking issue with the repetitive nature of the locations players traverse. GamingBolt landed in the middle at 7 out of 10, praising the game as a fun narrative survival adventure while simultaneously describing its combat as quite boring. The overall picture that emerges is of a title that resonates strongly with players seeking atmospheric, story-driven exploration but may underwhelm those looking for challenging survival mechanics or varied combat encounters.

Commercial Performance & Platform Rollout

Despite its mixed critical reception, Forever Skies found a solid commercial footing. On 9 April 2025, just five days before the full version's launch, Far From Home announced the game had surpassed 300,000 copies sold. The milestone was quickly overtaken, with the title eventually crossing the 500,000-copy threshold, suggesting that the player community's enthusiasm outpaced the critics' reservations. The platform strategy unfolded in stages: the full release on 14 April 2025 brought the game simultaneously to Windows via Steam and PlayStation 5, while the Xbox Series X/S edition arrived later, on 27 July 2026. This staggered rollout gave the studio time to refine the experience between launches and allowed the player base to grow organically through word of mouth and the co-op feature introduced during the early access period. For Far From Home's debut project, selling half a million copies across three platforms represents a meaningful commercial achievement, particularly given the game's niche positioning as an atmospheric, narrative-driven survival title rather than a broad-appeal blockbuster.