Everwind review: Looking for the watcher in the sky

Finding a survival game that feels both cozy yet challenging can be a quest in itself. Some survival games lean heavily into comforting, low-stakes gameplay with an emphasis on crafting and exploration, while others focus on gruelling resource management and combat.

A game that’s struck a healthy balance between the two is Everwind, a 2026 release from Enjoy Studio S.A. and Bohemia Interactive. Here’s Kyusai’s full review of Everwind, covering the single-player perspective in its early access iteration. 

A pixelated paradise

Everwind is a pixelated, procedurally-generated survival game with a wide, open world to explore. 

It follows the standard survival gameplay loop – explore new biomes, gather resources, craft, and defeat enemies – but throws in the interesting addition of flying island-ships to spice things up.

You’ll put together your first ship in the introduction of the game, giving you a glimpse of the core crafting mechanics and running you through a tower with a few enemies to tangle with. Tutorials are crucial for survival games, as there’s usually a lot to juggle with the genre, and I found Everwind’s to be smooth and engaging. 

Once you’ve got your wings, you’ll be able to soar between the various islands dotted throughout Everwind’s map, including both the ground-level islands and the floating regions high in the clouds.

Everwind allows for multiplayer and online co-op, but it has a robust single-player offering as well. I focused on the single-player perspective for this review, although it seems like an ideal game to kick back in with friends.

In terms of progression, you’ll level up as you continue to explore, craft, and complete tasks, being able to gear your character to suit different roles for dungeon areas. 

Combat in Everwind is simple but enjoyable. There are standard weapons and attacks on offer, like axes and bows, but you’ll be able to upgrade your toolkit and abilities as you continue throughout the game, making for a nice sense of progression.

Flying from island to island

The flying ships are a big part of Everwind’s core identity, and aside from them being a little slow, they’re a lot of fun.

You can customize your ship entirely or leave it as the bare bones model, and it’ll act as your home base while you explore the overworld. You can place key items like a crafting bench to make sure you’re always close to one when needed, and you can decorate the ship to make it more like a flying house or palace.

The controls for flying the ships are intuitive on paper, but I did find them to be a little clunky at first. The ships move slowly, which does make it easier to land them and get the right altitude, but it feels a little frustrating that you can’t speed up when trying to cross a large gap.

I did love the addition of the ships, though. Survival games can feel quite samey after a while, particularly those that lean towards a more cozy aesthetic, so it’s exciting to see a fresh mechanic thrown in for variety.

While this was a single-player review, I can see the process of building out a ship with friends to be exciting, and possibly useful for folks who enjoy roleplaying in games, too. 

The art style in Everwind surprised me – I had initially assumed it’d just look like a certain titan of the sandbox survival genre, but after some time with the game, I found it to be polished and refined.

The aesthetic is blocky, sure, but there are beautiful light effects, intricate sprites, and small details like colorful flowers scattered across the grass cubes. I found exploring the world to be joyful, particularly when I encountered new creatures and critters.

There were no major performance issues to note with Everwind. It ran generally well on my PC, giving it a mild amount of grief here and there; I have a low-range PC, so this was to be expected. The overall experience was smooth, though, and I found the process of getting into the game to be intuitive. 

Fans of sandbox survival games will find a lot to get excited about here. Everwind is simple but charming, and there’s a good amount of depth to its crafting mechanics, which is always a bonus for this genre. It looks gorgeous and has a unique mechanic with its flying ship system. What’s not to love?

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