New Survival RPG on Steam is a Hodgepodge of Valheim, Raft, and Final Fantasy’s Airships

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Survival games remain incredibly popular, and Echoes of Elysium is a new game launching on Steam that aims to become just as successful. If you enjoy games like Valheim or Aloft, you’ll definitely want to check this multiplayer title out.

Like many exciting indie games on Steam, Echoes of Elysium is the first game developed by Loric Games. This means they have a lot to demonstrate, but it also allows for fresh ideas and creativity, as they aren’t tied down by the usual expectations of larger studios. So far, this approach seems to be working. Their free airship customization tool, Echoes of Elysium: Airship Builder, released in March 2025, has already generated positive attention before the full game comes out. While the Airship Builder is just a small part of the complete game, hopefully Loric Games will continue to stand out among similar projects.

Echoes of Elysium Looks Like a Stunning Survival Experience

  • Echoes of Elysium early access release date: January 27, 2026
  • Check it out on Steam

Echoes of Elysium immediately catches the eye. While it uses a cel-shaded art style seen in other games, its combination of soft lighting, interesting characters, and a blend of steampunk and solarpunk aesthetics gives it a special and inviting look. The game successfully mixes fantasy and science fiction, creating a mysterious and epic feel, much like the worlds found in series like Final Fantasy and Zelda.

The game boasts a beautiful world, which is great because players will be actively shaping it. A major feature of Echoes of Elysium is its detailed ship-building system. You can customize your ship piece by piece, adding new rooms, sections, and exterior designs – it’s much more than just simple upgrades. This gives you complete freedom to design your airship’s appearance, size, and how it functions.

What truly sets Echoes of Elysium apart isn’t just how you customize your ship, but how central it is to the gameplay. These airships function like mobile bases, similar to shelters in other survival games. You can cook, craft, and gather resources from the floating islands, all from the safety of your ship. You can even add defenses to protect it from attack. Essentially, the ship customization is the foundation for the game’s survival and action-RPG elements.

Action-ARPG and Co-Op Mechanics May Help Echoes of Elysium Rise Above Its Competition

Loric Games explains that Echoes of Elysium is built around the idea of players having fun and working together. The game creates a unique world for each server, and up to six players can each design their own custom airship. Loric hopes this will encourage players to naturally form teams and divide responsibilities. Players can express their creativity through their airship and contribute a specific role to the server – for example, one might build a powerful warship while another focuses on fast resource transport. The goal is to create a well-rounded experience with a good mix of collecting resources, exploring the world, and defending against threats.

The way players work together should emerge naturally from their individual preferences. Imagine six people playing Echoes of Elysium: two enjoy exploring and fighting on foot, two like cooking and making items, and two focus on customizing their ship. Because the game’s different systems are all interconnected, each player would contribute to a dynamic and well-rounded in-game experience where tasks are constantly changing and evolving.

That example really showed how well a team could work together, but I think Echoes of Elysium could take co-op RPGs even further. The way we progress through teamwork could lead to some incredibly creative – and maybe even a little chaotic – team builds. Imagine six friends trying to beat the game without any fighting, just focusing on gathering resources and building up a sustainable base. Or, on the flip side, a team totally dedicated to becoming an unstoppable fighting force, both on their ship and on the ground. It’s exciting to think about all the different ways we could play!

It remains to be seen how well these systems will work in practice, but the early access period for Echoes of Elysium should give the developers valuable feedback to improve the game. Cooperative gameplay, extensive customization options, and diverse playstyles seem to be the game’s biggest strengths, and will likely be key to its success in the crowded survival genre. It’s looking promising, and we hope it becomes a new favorite for fans of cooperative survival games.

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2026-01-21 21:06