After a successful early access launch, Astrolabe Interactive released the first major expansion to their cozy survival game, Aloft. The Critters and Wonders update, as it is called, adds many new creatures to the skies, secrets to uncover, and a variety of structures to build.

A huge part of the update involves the various insects and animals that were added. They are scattered around different biomes and count towards the ecosystem cleansing. This change makes it more difficult to clear corrupted islands. For example, instead of needing only two insects, they can now require up to five different species. Besides a variety of moths, you can now find multiple variants of birds, frogs, and bats. Each of them also has its own habitat, which you can build. The building recipes for these are found by interacting with knowledge stones. Each structure has two types. One is a display version, allowing you to collect and showcase the ones you have found so far. The other is used for luring out creatures in hiding. When opening your field guide, it will now show what animal is hiding. By placing their favorite habitat, they will come to check it out after some time, allowing you to capture them.

Tame a baby dragon 🐉

New friends have arrived in the world of Aloft, including bees, bats, frogs, and lizards. But critters are not the only thing you have to play with. You can also explore the new wonder islands, filled with secrets and treasures waiting to be uncovered. pic.twitter.com/eoHc2Of9ia

— Survival Game News (@SurvivalGN) March 11, 2025

The second part of the update’s name refers to the new wonder islands. These can be found in the same location in every world and house large structures with secret rooms. Exploring these will reward the player with rare loot. As of this update, two wonder islands have been added to the map, with more to come in the future. Finding these will be no simple task. Even though they are considered special islands, they are not marked as such on the map, unlike other important locations.

How do you like the new creatures? Let me know in the comments.