Kang Lee, CEO and Director at Dreamlit, has revealed new behind-the-scenes details and the challenges they faced while developing Towers of Aghasba. The developers have also revealed a lengthy roadmap of what you can expect to see during the early access.

The idea for Towers of Aghasba emerged in 2009, inspired by Minecraft‘s gameplay. They wanted to create something similar but with the art style of Shadow of the Colossus and Ghibli films. However, they ended up working on a different game before coming back to this survival idea. In 2017, while Kang Lee was playing the newly released The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, he was hit with a rush of inspiration. He wanted to take the building mechanic from Minecraft and mix it with Zelda’s free-form exploration, where you can climb anywhere you want. Initially prototyped as a 2D side-scroller, they worked on a flight-based movement system, reminiscent of Mario’s cape gliding ability from Super Mario World. Eventually, the developers switched to a 3D style, but the gliding mechanic remained. Over time, they slowly steered away from a hardcore survival game and aimed to make it a little more relaxing for a casual audience.

They did not want to make it too oversimplified, so to strike a balance between simplicity and complexity, they added unique skill-based activities. For example, the fishing is very different from the normal cast-a-line-and-reel-it-in or the simple fish trap. In this game, it’s called bow fishing and involves targeting fish with a tethered bow. Once caught, you don’t only use them to grill and eat; fish are also used to make potions or as feed for other animals, which contributes to their happiness. Catching a fish unlocks them in the Shimu Deck, which was inspired by the Pokémon Pokédex and features over 70 different types of fish.

So, get ready to explore the large open world with multiple biomes, ranging from mountains to lush valleys. The game’s main focus is on the restoration of the ecosystem. Alone or with friends, you will be able to embark on an adventure through different locations around the world and defeat the withering, so you can restore the ecosystem to its former glory. In doing so, more friendly creatures will appear, and flora will once again cover the land. You will be able to tame some of these animals and ride them to traverse the map more quickly and easily.

The developers have shared an extensive roadmap of what we can expect not only in the coming year but also into 2026. In the coming months, they will be adding a few quality-of-life features, depending on player feedback. In 2025, we will see the first major expansions with new biomes to explore, withering enemies, colder climates becoming more difficult to survive due to cold status effects, creatures to collect, and a feature that is often requested: a photo mode. In the year after this, there will be even more of what was mentioned before, including hot environment effects, more tower levels, and major quest lines.

Towers of Aghasba will be released on November 19th and will be available on both Steam and PlayStation 5.