New Survival RPG on Steam is a Hodgepodge of Valheim, Raft, and Final Fantasy’s Airships
Survival games continue to attract countless players, and the upcoming Echoes of Elysium on Steam hopes to join the ranks of its uber-successful contemporaries. If you’ve ever found yourself drawn to games like Valheim or Aloft, then this upcoming multiplayer title might be one to keep an eye on.
Like so many promising indie games on Steam, Echoes of Elysium is actually developer Loric Games’ debut. Naturally, this means that it has a good bit to prove, but it also suggests the potential for greater innovation and creativity, as Loric isn’t necessarily bound to many of the same conventions, workflows, and expectations of its more established counterparts. This seems to be working for the developer so far, as its Echoes of Elysium: Airship Builder, a free airship-customization suite launched in March 2025, has already garnered positive buzz ahead of the base game’s launch. This Airship Builder is obviously a mere slice of the final product, but hopefully, Loric will continue to enjoy a strong reception amidst a sea of similar-looking projects.
Echoes of Elysium Looks Like a Stunning Survival Experience
Echoes of Elysium certainly makes a nice first impression. Its cel-shaded graphical style isn’t uncommon, but through a purposeful blend of creamy lighting, compelling character design, and steampunk/solarpunk visual elements, the game manages to feel alluring and unique. By combining fantasy and science-fiction tropes through art direction, Echoes of Elysium comes across as appropriately mysterious and mythic. It’s similar to franchises like Final Fantasy and Zelda in this way.
It’s good that the game’s world looks as good as it does, since it looks like players are going to play a significant role in creating it. As previously mentioned, one of Echoes of Elysium‘s biggest draws is its ship-building system, which purports to be quite complex: ships can be customized piece-by-piece, allowing for the creation of entirely new rooms, addendums, facades, and much more. This extends far beyond the realm of linear upgrades, promising full creative control over the shape, size, and functionality of your in-game airship.
Perhaps even more significant than Echoes of Elysium‘s ship customization are its ship-focused mechanics. Since these controllable airships essentially fill the role of landlocked shelters in traditional survival games, they act as bases of operations. You can use your ship to cook and craft with materials you find while exploring the various floating islands of the overworld, but you can also install defensive implements to protect it from ne’er-do-wells. Thus, Echoes of Elysium‘s survival and action-RPG systems are propped up and defined by the ship customization sandbox.
Action-ARPG and Co-Op Mechanics May Help Echoes of Elysium Rise Above Its Competition
Loric Games has said that “fun together” is the driving philosophy behind Echoes of Elysium. Each server is procedurally generated, and each player (there can be up to six) creates their own airship. Loric believes that this will lead to the natural formation of team systems and distribution of tasks. Since each player is not only able to express themselves through their own in-game property, but also play a unique role within the server. For instance, one player could create a massive battleship, while another could opt for a swifter cargo runner. Ideally, this will lead to a good balance of resource-gathering, exploration, and defense.
Team-based mechanics should form naturally as a result of different playstyles as well. Consider a diverse group of six Echoes of Elysium players: two are especially interested in on-foot traversal and combat, two are interested in cooking and crafting, and two are interested in ship customization. Because of Echoes of Elysium‘s distinct game systems, all of which lean on each other in different ways, each of these theoretical players would be contributing to a more balanced, ever-evolving in-game task ecosystem.
The aforementioned example may be representative of a harmonious and well-optimized team, but Echoes of Elysium‘s co-op RPG potential may go even further than that. This idea of progression by way of teamwork could arguably lead to even more interesting, unbalanced team builds. For example, perhaps a group of six friends could attempt a pacifist playthrough of sorts, focusing more on resource accumulation and sustainability than combat. Of course, the opposite could manifest as well: a team could go all-in on ship defense and on-foot fighting, furthering its standing that way.
Naturally, we will have to wait and see how these systems actually shake out during Echoes of Elysium‘s early access period, which will hopefully provide the data needed to fine-tune the game’s most promising mechanics. Purpose-built co-op, customization, and playstyle flexibility appear to be the crown jewels of Echoes of Elysium, and are likely what will determine whether it can stand out amid an ever-growing genre space. It’s definitely looking quite interesting so far, so here’s hoping it can be the next cooperative survival darling.