New Open-World Survival RPG on Steam is a Hodgepodge of Valheim, The Forest, & No Man’s Sky

Games like No Man’s Sky, Valheim, and The Forest all offer unique survival experiences, and now Highreach aims to combine the best elements of each into a single game. Developer VestGames is creating a new survival title with exciting features for fans of the genre. The Forest and Valheim have become popular favorites thanks to their challenging wilderness survival and crafting. No Man’s Sky, after a difficult start, has also become a highly regarded survival game, offering a sci-fi twist with its focus on exploration.

VestGames describes Highreach as an open-world fantasy game focused on exploring, surviving, and building your own base. While it’s not released yet, the game is planned to enter early access on Steam next year, so players won’t have to wait much longer to try it out.

Highreach Features List

Survival-focused RPG
Co-op supports up to 5 players
Open-world map
Crafting and base-building
Settlement management
Companions with rich backstories to add to one’s settlement
Airship traversal, complete with ship customization and upgrades
Diverse combat styles

Image via VestGames

No Man’s Sky, Valheim, and The Forest’s Gameplay Gets a Fresh Makeover

When calamity struck, the world of Highreach was shattered.

Highreach takes place in a fantastical world recovering from a devastating disaster, leaving behind a ruined civilization. Players are tasked with building a new settlement and helping it flourish, which involves fighting, crafting, and carefully managing resources. The game seems to draw inspiration from the base-building of Valheim and the intense survival elements of The Forest, making it a potentially enjoyable option for fans of those games.

No One Has to Fight for Survival Alone

Players can also explore the intriguing world of Highreach with friends! Like popular survival games such as No Man’s Sky, Valheim, and The Forest, Highreach features multiplayer, which is a big reason why those games have such dedicated communities. Playing with others not only simplifies the survival experience but also enhances the fun. With many excellent co-op games already available on Steam, Highreach takes teamwork to the next level by allowing up to five players to team up, in addition to the game’s companion system.

Highreach’s Airship Traversal Offers a Unique Take on No Man’s Sky’s Flying Mechanics

Image via VestGames

As a space exploration game, No Man’s Sky naturally includes spaceship travel, a feature that greatly enhances the experience. Highreach offers a similar way to explore its world, but with a fantasy twist: instead of spaceships, you pilot airships. While visually distinct from No Man’s Sky‘s ships, Highreach shares key elements that make this feature special – the ability to customize and upgrade your vehicle. This personalization adds to the feeling of immersion. Players can soar across the land, discovering all Highreach has to offer, and while it’s not interstellar travel, it significantly expands the game’s exploration possibilities.

Highreach is expected to be released in early access sometime during Q1 of 2026.

Highreach Embraces No Man’s Sky and Valheim’s Procedural Generation

Both No Man’s Sky and Valheim feature diverse environments, or biomes, that are key to their game worlds, and they use a technique called procedural generation to make those worlds even more varied and unpredictable. Highreach is now using this same technique to create its own unique world, promising players a wide range of biomes and interesting ways to travel between them.

What to Expect From Highreach’s Biomes

Players can connect biomes via features like portals and ziplines.
Unique points of interest
Each new area is unpredictable, offering “challenges and rewards.”

Although it’s not released yet, the upcoming game Highreach looks promising for fans of titles like No Man’s Sky, The Forest, and Valheim. It includes many of the same features that make those games so enjoyable. When Highreach becomes available in early access, it will be exciting to see how it compares to other survival games.

2025-12-23 02:06