Here’s all we know about Worlds Adrift, from (final) release date rumours to platform availability, gameplay and the latest game updates.
What is Worlds Adrift?
What do you do in Worlds Adrift? You explore a persistent world filled with floating islands and, of course, other online players, with the aim of finding resources and upgrades to build your own ‘sky ship’. The scale of the game is incredible; there’s a single server for all players in Western Europe, and yet player interaction is still pretty rare. Granted it’s in closed beta, but it still has a decent player base. What else is impressive is that every single island in the game has been created by the Worlds Adrift community, using the free Island Creator tool. It allows gamers to design and preview islands before being able to submit them and, if they’re good enough, be featured in new biomes. As mentioned, the aim of the game is to design and build your own sky ship using resources you find on the various islands dotted around the Worlds Adrift universe. You won’t just find general wood and metal though; you’ve got various materials (Oak, Pine, Elm, Iron, Silver, Gold and Titanium to name a few) that all come with strengths and weaknesses that will have an effect on your ship and how it performs. And yes, when we say you’ll design your ship, we mean design. You’re provided with basic pre-set shapes, but the general design of your ship is completely up to you. You can tweak the frame using in-game 3D modelling software before using resources to craft it. From there, you’ll craft the various utilities you need (wings, engines, an Atlas Core and more) and be able to leave the island you started on. The aim of the game is to build up your ship to travel between various weather walls that separate the Worlds Adrift universe. There are currently four types of biome in WA, each with a tier ranking that is connected to the level of blueprints that you’ll find, and how complex the islands on offer will be. The Wilderness is where you’ll start off, before travelling through a Wind Wall to The Expanse. From there, you’ll have to fight your way through more powerful Storm Walls to get to the Remnants before gearing up for the final challenge, the Sand Wall, that leads to The Badlands. There are multiple of each tier available in WA, so don’t worry, there’s a lot to explore. Oh, and we almost completely forgot to mention the inclusion of a grappling hook. As well as letting you live out your Spider-Man-esque dreams as you explore these islands, it’s an incredibly useful tool that can grant you access to hard-to-reach places, or save you from falling to your death when you misjudge that jump.
When will Worlds Adrift be released?
So, when will Worlds Adrift be released around the world? It’s safe to say that it won’t reach final release for a while, but despite still being in development, you can play the game right now via Steam’s Early Access program. You can pick up Worlds Adrift from Steam for £19.49/$24.99. You can also fork out a little extra and pick up the Pioneer edition, providing exclusive in-game cosmetics that won’t be available at full launch. Considering the fact that the game is still in beta form, we can’t imagine that we’ll see a full release of the completed game in 2018. We imagine that the finished product could be released in 2019, or possibly even 2020 depending on how quickly the Bossa team gets through the recently published Worlds Adrift Road Map. If Early Access games are your thing, check out our curated list of the best Early Access games of 2018.
Which platforms can I play it on?
While this probably isn’t a surprise for most, Worlds Adrift in its Early Access form is available for those on Windows PC with no love for consoles just yet. While there are no public plans to bring the game to PS4 or Xbox One, we can’t help but notice how well the design and gameplay would translate to console with controller support. Hey, we can hope, right?
Worlds Adrift latest update
Here, we list some of the most recent Worlds Adrift game patches and how they influence the game. This could be bug fixes, new features or graphical tweaks, depending on the focus of the update.
Version 0.2.0
Worlds Adrift build 0.2.0 launched on the same day that Worlds Adrift was released on Steam’s Early Access program, so the headline feature (apart from the addition of over 100 new islands) is additional servers for both the US and EU regions to handle the strain of new players. Being a release patch, Bossa made the decision to wipe not only the world and your ships, but characters too. This may be disappointing for long-time players of the game, but it creates a level playing field for everyone buying the game now it’s available on Steam. The update also splits the world into two diverse cultural regions; Saborian and Kioki, each with lore waiting to be discovered on the scattered islands of Worlds Adrift. The Kioki region also offers new music and assets, so expect to see some new island features on your adventures! There’s also an updated UI, and the introduction of a basic tutorial and in-game cinematic that helps paint a picture of the Worlds Adrift universe. Lewis Painter is a Senior Staff Writer at Tech Advisor. Our resident Apple expert, Lewis covers everything from iPhone to AirPods, plus a range of smartphones, tablets, laptops and gaming hardware. You’ll also find him on the Tech Advisor YouTube channel.
