Game: ATMOSFAR
Developer: Apog Labs
Publisher: SHUEISHA GAMES
Genre: Open-World Survival Craft
Released: October 29, 2026 (Early Access)
Price: $24.99 · $22.49 until November 12
Platform: PC (Steam) · Steam Deck Playable
🎈 How we reviewed it: on PC, via Steam. ATMOSFAR is in Early Access, and Apog Labs has been patching it daily since launch, so this score reflects our Early Access impressions as of patch 1.0-7, not a final verdict. We’ve also noted what players are saying about both solo and co-op play.
4POnline Co-op
3Wasp Classes
2Regions (of 3)
400KWishlists
$22.49Launch Price
☁️ Know this first: it’s Early Access, and the reviews are Mixed. ATMOSFAR launched on October 29 with two regions of floating islands, three Wasps and a fully buildable Cloud Cruiser. A third region (The Rime), a fourth Wasp, expanded base building and the story’s ending are all planned. Early Access will last at least nine months, and the price will go up slightly at 1.0. It’s 10% off ($22.49) until November 12.
🏝️ Humanity’s Final Refuge
You’re a prisoner on planet Tycos, a world of floating islands where humanity’s last colony has collapsed. Scavenge scrap, process minerals, cook food and research artifacts to uncover what happened, and whether Tycos really can be humanity’s final refuge.
To get around, you’ll pilot Wasps, agile flying vessels that can zip through the sky or hover in place, and eventually build your own Cloud Cruiser, a massive airship that serves as your mobile base. Brave storms and jet streams solo, or with up to three friends.
Your base comes with you. Who doesn’t want a flying house?
From Swedish studio Apog Labs and publisher SHUEISHA GAMES, ATMOSFAR arrived in Early Access with 400,000 wishlists and a pitch that’s easy to love: survival crafting in the sky. Players keep comparing it to Subnautica, No Man’s Sky and Raft, and the influences show. Its Steam reviews are Mixed, but a couple of players say they were wary of that score, jumped in anyway, and found a charming game with plenty of Early Access growing pains.
Our Early Access impressions: “ATMOSFAR offers a refreshing take on exploration with its floating island setting and airship mechanics that genuinely feel unique.”
Bring the Right Wasp for the Job
Your Wasps are your lifeline. Each class has its own look, abilities and handling, and they all need fuel, maintenance and repairs. You can upgrade engines, hover modules and entire hulls, and give them a fresh coat of paint.
🏕️ Utility Wasp
Deploys a portable camp wherever you land.
🏗️ Hauler Wasp
Airlifts heavy scrap back to base.
⚡ Striker Wasp
Stuns enemies from the air.
🛳️ Cloud Cruiser
A buildable airship with Wasp pads, fuel tanks and a lounge.
A Home That Comes With You
🎈 The Cloud Cruiser Steals the Show
In most survival games, you spend hours building a beautiful base, only to discover something interesting on the other side of the map. ATMOSFAR’s answer is the Cloud Cruiser, and it’s easily the best idea here. As one player put it, your base comes with you, and building it up stays part of your journey instead of becoming a forgotten monument to your early crafting.
It isn’t a deeply complex building system, but the simplicity suits the game. Players also love the world itself: the floating islands look gorgeous, the stylized art scales down well on modest hardware, and the mystery of what happened to the colony pulls you along. One player said it’s the kind of world where you set off for an objective, spot something in the distance, and decide your original plan can wait.
Better With Friends (Mostly)
👥 Co-op Chaos, With Some Turbulence
Up to four players can share a Cloud Cruiser, hitch rides on each other’s Wasps and split up quests. One couple found that some objectives are shared and others are individual, so you’re not tied at the hip, and the re-entry after death can be hilarious. Another player called co-op the game Subnautica 2’s co-op should have been.
The netcode is still rough, though. One crew found that everyone but the pilot gets bad lag when someone else flies the Cruiser, that performance tanks when players split up, and that some actions, like refueling the ship, only worked for the host. Patches 1.0-5 and 1.0-6 have already fixed a batch of client-side co-op bugs, but for now, solo is the smoother ride.
Where It Stumbles
⚠️ Early Access Growing Pains
1. A repetitive loop. One player compared it to No Man’s Sky’s launch: land, gather materials, complete objectives, charge your battery, refuel your Wasp, fly to the next island, repeat. They’d like more rewarding detours beyond crafting materials, and another player wished for more survival pressure.
2. Weak combat. You’re a prisoner, so your only defence for a while is a stun tool, and some enemies feel impossible to dodge. Patch 1.0-5 already lengthened stun duration and cut the stunner’s power drain, and one player points out you can mine stunned drones for parts.
3. Sluggish controls. Players flagged slow camera and flight sensitivity, inconsistent climbing, and resources that roll away mid-extraction.
4. Clunky UI and building. Menus are spread across separate keybinds, the tech tree is easy to miss, stacking items in storage is fiddly, and Cruiser hull pieces can leave awkward gaps.
5. Bugs and performance. Players report getting stuck in terrain and losing inventory. Performance varies a lot: one player gets 90–112fps on a top-end PC, while another’s lower-end PC runs it fine on medium.
🛠️ Patching Fast
Apog Labs shipped four updates in its first three days (1.0-4 to 1.0-7), fixing collision traps, co-op client bugs, NVIDIA frame generation and more. Those updates also reduced Wasp fuel use, improved UI readability, let Cloud Cruiser crafting pull from storage, and removed the camera sway from breathing. An experimental branch is available for early fixes, and bug reports go through the in-game reporter. Saves are planned to persist throughout Early Access.
Things to Know
📋 Before You Buy
• $24.99, or $22.49 with the 10% launch discount until November 12. The price will rise slightly at 1.0
• Early Access for at least nine months, with The Rime region, a Scout Wasp and the story ending still to come
• Single-player or 4-player online co-op · full controller support · Steam Deck Playable
• Minimum: Windows 10, Core i5-7500 / Ryzen 5 1500X, 8 GB RAM, RTX 2070 / RX 6700 XT, 25 GB of storage
• 8 languages (English full audio)
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
| The Good |
The Bad |
The Ugly |
| Floating IslandsA gorgeous, inviting world to explore. |
Repetitive LoopGather, refuel, fly, repeat. |
Co-op NetcodeLag for passengers and host-only actions. |
| The Cloud CruiserA mobile base you actually keep using. |
Weak CombatThe stun tool isn’t enough yet. |
— |
| WaspsFun, creative vehicles with real roles. |
Clunky UIScattered menus and a hidden tech tree. |
— |
| Colony MysteryA story worth digging into. |
Sluggish ControlsCamera, flight and climbing need tuning. |
— |
| Rapid PatchesFour updates in three days. |
— |
— |
The Verdict
ATMOSFAR has one of the best hooks in survival crafting right now. Floating islands, nimble Wasps and a flying base that travels with you make exploring genuinely exciting, and the world is beautiful enough that you’ll happily get sidetracked. When it works, especially in co-op, it’s a lot of fun.
It’s also clearly early. The core loop can feel like busywork, combat is thin, the controls and UI need tuning, and co-op is rough around the edges. The good news is that Apog Labs is patching at an impressive pace, and nearly every complaint here is the kind Early Access is designed to fix.
The honest read: if you love Subnautica, Raft or No Man’s Sky and don’t mind Early Access rough edges, it’s worth grabbing at $22.49, especially solo. If you’re planning a co-op crew, give the netcode a few more patches.
For more game reviews, check out our full reviews section.
Score Breakdown
Floating Island Setting & Art9.0/10
Exploration & Story Mystery8.0/10
Crafting & Gameplay Loop7.0/10
Performance & Polish6.5/10
Early Access Score
7.1/10
ATMOSFAR — Apog Labs
A flying house full of promise. Give it time to take off.
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