Aloft is a cozy open-world survival game developed by Astrolabe Interactive and published by Yogscast Games. Set entirely above the clouds, the game puts players on floating sky islands where they gather resources, build homes, care for animals, and craft tools to survive. What makes Aloft unique is its core traversal mechanic: players can transform any island into a flyable skyship by constructing a helm, rudder, and sails, then pilot it across the open sky to discover new islands, ancient ruins, and hidden secrets.
The game launched into Early Access in 2024 and quickly built a dedicated community thanks to its relaxing atmosphere, cooperative multiplayer, and the creative freedom of its building system. Unlike harsher survival games, Aloft focuses on rewarding positive actions rather than punishing mistakes. There are no hunger timers ticking down or aggressive enemies hunting you at night. Instead, the challenge comes from a spreading fungal corruption that threatens the ecosystem of each island. Players research antidotes, brew cures, and restore biodiversity to bring infected islands back to life.
Multiplayer and Dedicated Servers
Aloft supports cooperative multiplayer for up to 8 players on a shared world called a Realmscape. When playing on a dedicated server, the world stays online 24/7, meaning friends can join and continue building, exploring, or curing corruption even when the host is offline. This is a major advantage over peer-to-peer hosting where the game world only exists while the host is playing. Dedicated servers also provide more stable connections and lower latency, which matters when multiple players are sailing their islands through the same region of sky.
Building and Exploration
The building system in Aloft lets players construct everything from simple shelters to elaborate sky homes complete with farms, animal pens, windmills, and automated production lines. Wind is a core resource — players install windmills connected by cables and pulleys to power machines, and can fly their island into stronger winds to boost crafting speed and sailing power. Exploration takes players across a vast procedurally generated sky world filled with different island biomes, ancient ruins containing lost technology, and environmental puzzles tied to the corruption mechanic.
Why Host an Aloft Dedicated Server
Running Aloft on a dedicated server makes the most sense for groups who want a persistent shared world. Since the game revolves around long-term island development, corruption curing, and exploration progress, having a server that stays online means no work is lost when players log off at different times. A dedicated server with fast NVMe storage handles world saves smoothly, and sufficient RAM ensures the game doesn’t stutter when multiple players are building complex structures or sailing through dense island clusters simultaneously.
