Guardians of the Wild Sky leans into exploring and finding every little nook and cranny. What begins as a careful narrative to gather resources and survive quickly turns into a mad dash for an airship to explore all the islands. That’s not to mention the overwhelming desire to pick everything up that’s not nailed down. After spending my time in the world (thanks to the devs for an early opportunity), the urge to capture just one more guardian is strong. Can’t just have one. But I digress. Let’s fly toward what to expect.

Guardians of the Wild Sky will take part in Steam Next Fest from February 23 through March 2, with its new demo now available on Steam. The demo marks the game’s first public release and serves as a soft launch ahead of the event. The developers note that the game is currently in pre-alpha, and players may encounter bugs or unfinished elements.

The demo features an eight-hour play window per world. The time limit applies to each playthrough, allowing players to start a new character and begin again after reaching the cap. Character progression is available up to level 20.

Approximately 30 percent of the full game world is currently accessible to explore. The complete world spans roughly 800 square kilometers, with the available portion including new islands, biomes, quests, enemies, and characters. Players can build and customize ships, leave the starting island, and travel in any direction. The demo includes a full survival crafting gameplay loop, along with the ability to capture and bond with Guardians. Multiple weapon types are available, and most building types can be unlocked, supporting construction of functional bases and large-scale structures such as airships and castles.

Multiplayer is supported for up to 10 players per world. When creating a world, the player count must be set higher than one to enable multiplayer. Worlds can be set to public or private. Public servers appear in the server browser, while private servers are visible only to Steam friends who have the correct server name and password.

If you’re eager to try Guardians of the Wild Sky before Next Fest, hop on Steam and download the demo.