Airborne Empire takes flight into Early Access

I hope you aren’t afraid of heights, because The Wandering Band’s skybound city-builder, Airborne Empire launched into Early Access today. It’s now available on Steam.

Airborne Empire is the sequel to the well-received 2020 city-builder, Airborne Kingdom. It continues the concept of building flying (Airborne, if you will) civilizations. Having never played the original, it’s hard for me to tell you exactly what’s different, but I can tell you that this one has you constructing the ultimate flying fortress. You travel the world, helping people and fending off sky pirates, while developing technologies that will help your sky neighborhood soar.

According to the Early Access blurb, “When we launch into Early Access, the most important features of the game will already be there: building, researching, balance, lift, movement, dialogue, and more.” However, it gets very honest directly after that, saying, “The launch version has an enjoyable gameplay loop, but is still a bit bare-bones, lacking content and polish.” I personally appreciate the up-front warning. 

Furthermore, the Early Access run is planned for one year, during which time they “plan to add new building types, new biomes, new events/missions and expand the background story of the game.” Listen, the most important thing I can think of here: “Weather system.” I know that sounds like sarcasm, but I honestly love a good weather system in games.

Airborne Empire is now available in Early Access on PC via Steam.

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