New Open-World Survival Game on Steam Feels Like Palworld Meets Enshrouded With Airships and Dragons

While it no doubt could have largely been due to constant comparisons to Pokemon at the time—with it most commonly being referred to as “Pokemon with guns”—Palworld nonetheless achieved success for how it combined creature-collecting mechanics with survival crafting, base building, and open-world exploration. That was something Pokemon, a gaming franchise known all too well for playing it safe, had never done before, giving Palworld an edge over its comparisons. Now, after its massively popular Steam Early Access launch in 2024, Palworld has naturally left a void that fans who have since stopped playing might like to fill with something else. Fortunately for them, indie developer Blue Isle Studios might have them covered.

Guardians of the Wild Sky is an upcoming open-world survival game that takes the creature-collecting aspect of Palworld and puts it in the same space with games like Enshrouded. While it is currently without a release date on Steam, Guardians of the Wild Sky does already have a playable demo available as part of Steam Next Fest, giving players a chance to try out the game for now and provide the developers with any feedback they might have.

Guardians of the Wild Sky Mixes Palworld’s Open-World Creature Collecting With Enshrouded-Like Survival

The premise of Guardians of the Wild Sky is fairly straightforward, as it doesn’t appear to be driven by a deep narrative at first glance. There is potential for some extensive lore in the game, but more than anything else, this looks like a fantasy world that has simply been crafted to house its unique survival-crafting, exploration, base-building, and creature-collecting elements. Guardians of the Wild Sky isn’t your run-of-the-mill survival-crafting game, however, nor is it merely a Palworld clone. Rather, it’s more of a melting pot of ideas from a variety of genres and settings, which makes calling it only a blend of Palworld and Enshrouded almost inadequate.

• SURVIVAL AND EXPLORATION — Survive, explore and craft in a vast open world of floating islands and magical biomes.
• CREATURE CAPTURE SYSTEM — Capture, bond with, and use magical Guardians with unique traits to aid in combat and tasks.
• AIRSHIP COMMAND AND BUILDING — Build and captain customizable airships that serve as mobile bases across the cloud seas.
• BASE AND STRUCTURE CONSTRUCTION — Construct everything from cozy homes to flying castles using deep building tools.
• CRAFTING AND PROGRESSION — Craft tools, weapons, magical items, cook, farm, and unlock new recipes and gear.
• DUNGEONS AND ENEMIES — Brave shadowy caves, ancient dungeons, cultists, and titanic beasts for loot and challenge.
• DYNAMIC WORLD SYSTEMS — Experience day–night cycles, evolving weather, and diverse wildlife in a living environment.
• MULTIPLAYER CO-OP MODES — Explore and build solo or team up with friends in cooperative multiplayer sessions.

At the heart of Guardians of the Wild Sky‘s gameplay is its namesake: Guardians. Players capture and bond with these magical creatures, who can then assist them in combat, exploration, crafting, and survival. Guardians can be fed, groomed, and cared for, which presumably increases the player’s bond with them, and a breeding system can even eventually be unlocked where the Guardians’ traits and genetics can be combined to create new Guardians. It’s currently unclear how many unique Guardians are in Guardians of the Wild Sky, but early footage makes their number seem endless.

Guardians of the Wild Sky’s Open World Is Filled With Possibility

One thing that is certain about Guardians of the Wild Sky, though, is that its open world looks and sounds massive. In fact, one of the early complaints players have had from the game’s demo is that it only allows them 8 hours per biome, which is apparently not enough. But for a game that has dragons and airships, it would need to be sprawling, and Guardians of the Wild Sky is. “Explore a vast cloud sea spanning hundreds of kilometers as you uncover biomes made up of thousands of floating islands,” its Steam description states, with dynamic day-night cycles, a world teeming with wildlife, and plenty of secrets to find as players explore.

Of course, players will need to set up camp within its world if they hope to establish any kind of foothold within it, and that’s where Guardians of the Wild Sky‘s crafting and base building come in. The game invites players to build their “dream home in the skies,” whether that be a cozy cottage or a flying castle, using the materials they find while exploring the wilderness. They can also craft “hundreds of tools, weapons, and magical items” in what sounds like a very deep crafting system, and classic survival-crafting activities like cooking, farming, and fishing (“even in the clouds,” the game claims) are available for players to take advantage of.

Where Guardians of the Wild Sky really starts to set itself apart in every other game and genre it appears to be imitating is in the opportunity it gives players to craft their own airship. Similarly to how they can build a base on the ground, brick by brick, they can build an airship as well. Where things may (and probably will) get interesting here is in how Guardians of the Wild Sky incorporates physics and engineering into building an airship. Presumably, it will need to be built in a way that actually makes it functional, and while that presents some limitations, it also gives players the chance to build some truly awe-inspiring creations.

Finally, Guardians of the Wild Sky isn’t without conflict, as players will be expected to overcome opposition as they explore the open world, such as the “Titan or Eternal beasts within ancient dungeons and crumbling battledromes” the game mentions on its Steam page. Upon defeating these foes, players can earn valuable loot and gear to improve their chances at winning the next battle, and they can even acquire and build trophies to showcase their victories back at base. There are also Cultist factions within the world of Guardians of the Wild Sky that players will confront, whose “sinister plans” seem tied to the game’s overarching narrative and lore.

More than anything, Guardians of the Wild Sky sounds like a hodgepodge of numerous open-world survival-crafting games, with Palworld and Enshrouded being the two most notable comparisons. Whether that ultimately works in its favor will depend on how it’s all executed. Palworld proved there’s an appetite for creature-collecting survival sandboxes, but lightning doesn’t always strike in the same place twice. If Blue Isle Studios can make its floating-island world, airship-crafting system, and Guardian mechanics feel cohesive rather than cobbled together, Guardians of the Wild Sky could fill that post-Palworld gap.

Guardians of the Wild Sky is currently available to wishlist on Steam, along with a free playable demo.