A young scientist looks through some old news archives, researching a planet that only a few hundred of his people were able to flee. They marvel at their technical wonders, with the power to create technological marvels that would allow their machines to print almost anything they ever needed.

Fast forward a few years, and it could be seen, even in that short time frame, that the environmental collapse was not sudden, but it was of our own doing. Common animals slowly began to perish. Small lakes began to dry up, while larger ones became toxic. That’s when the dust began to appear, like haze on the horizon, it came, so did the strange diseases; the hospitals were overloaded with the sick. The scientist tried to tell the politicians they had to stop, yet the people believed they still had time.

As the dust began to linger and develop even thicker, makeshift towers were erected, reaching toward the heavens, desperately trying to outpace the dust. This was the last stand for mankind. We had failed; mankind had fallen. The last of the scientists, a few hundred, who saw what was coming, in a last-ditch effort, fled to the stars.

A few hundred years have passed, and now a lone scientist will descend beneath the dust, to a world known only in stories, to experience an ecosystem that has evolved, without human contact.

That is the story that unfolded in my head as I watched the trailers from a small independent AA+ studio, named “Far From Home,” whose mantra is “We exist to create games that will make a significant mark in history of the medium.” The crew of Far From Home, has gathered from all over the AAA and indie game ecosystems, having worked on such titles as Dying Light, Dying Light 2, Dead Island, The Medium, Chernobylite and Divinity Original Sin 1 and 2. Together, they launched a Kickstarter for their debut game, codenamed “Project Oxygen,” now known as Forever Skies.

Forever Skies is a first person perspective game, with a co-op mode in the works for a later release. You play as a lone scientist who returns to Earth hundreds of years after the toxic dust has blanketed the surface of the planet.

You start off, stranded on the derelict buildings that humanity built, trying to hold off the inevitable. Explore the skeletal buildings and technologies of the past to gather the necessary resources to build an airship that will take you above the dust. Learn to adapt and fight off hunger, thirst, and unknown viruses from the now-alien planet of humanity. You also need to collect polluted rainwater, and research ways to purify it, while learning which creatures can be used as food.

Your airship, which is fully customizable and has a modular design, will be your base and your floating research facility as you gather the technology to unlock more technologies to build up your ship. To unlock and master the virus and infection mechanics while you gather clues into what happened to the last crew sent on the same missions you now find yourself on.

While on your airship, you will be able to collect debris from the chaotic storms, that throw pieces of the collapsing buildings all around, like how you might collect resources in the game Raft, but with a laser instead of a hook. With these resources, you will be able to create the most basic items needed to keep you going. But storms are fickle things, and you are never guaranteed to get what you need.

But to unlock the secrets, you must go beneath the dust. Forever Skies is a survival game that will push you to your limits as you explore deeper and deeper under the dust. When every trip beneath the dust could be your last. As you race to gather clues, and resources, while watching your oxygen, the one precious gas that allows you to live beneath the dust, So, before you dive below, you will use your 3D printer to print the various tools and weapons you will need on your journey. With only a few items being shown off on the various trailers, such as a crossbow, a knife.

Once you leave the relative safety of your ship, you will be thrown into a beautiful, if not eerie, alien planet filled with vegetation and animals you have never seen before. You will enter more confined areas, and you will have to find unique situations to overcome the maze-like terrain. Destroying a wall overgrown with fungi might unlock a new area or undiscovered technology. Scan the local wildlife and use their unique qualities to derive new technologies or medical treatments that could change your very DNA and give you an edge, or blend in with the native lifeforms, allowing you to slip by undetected.

While you are exploring beneath the dust or soaring above it, you will be listening to the electronic, synth-driven soundtrack by Pawel Blaszczak, the Polish composer most known for his work on games such as Dying Light, The Ascent, Dead Island, and The Witcher franchise, to name a few.

Forever Skies is a wonderful journey through destroyed Earth and I am super excited for the early access release, slated to release on June 22nd on Steam and later on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and even Linux.