The early access co-op survival genre might be overflowing, but Everwind is determined to steer good and true all the way to 1.0. The latest update is the second “major update” for the game, which has now received a new enemy faction, tutorials, and more since its first sortie into early access. The Winds of Creation update is available now for all owners of the game, and I’ll summarise what’s hot here before my fiance finds out and I’m kidnapped for an 8-hour Everind session…
Everwind could have ended up as just another Minecraft clone, but from our first hands-on experience with the game we saw it actualising potential in a way Minecraft doesn’t. Experimental and more in-depth RPG mechanics, even approaching immersive sim territory, make Everwind a beast entirely of its own:
I applauded the respect for the player and player agency in the original review, saying “Personally, I found a well-placed Madness arrow was worth more than any direct-damage spell as Madness will make enemies attack each other long after the effect ends. In the same way you could frenzy towns to a slaughter in Oblivion, you can watch as the skeleton-ridden ruins decimate themselves here.”
Everwind is all the fun of modded Minecraft without the faff
Everwind Winds of Creation new content
Everwind wasn’t short on content before, but now everything is a bit easier to access and there’s less pressure to spend hours in dry-dock expanding your ship thanks to Teleporters, allowing you to have a permanent land base on the island of your choosing. The update adds new content and a handful of important Quality of Life changes.
- New melee weapon: Claws. Claws join daggers as a dual-wield option for sneaky-slashy types. While my original run through the game I mained the largest two-handed axes I could find, Claws is a tempting option to diversify your party and give you more loot in the weapon loot pool.
- New creatures: Parrots and vultures. New creatures, interactions with them and materials from them are the bread and butter of expanding content in a game like Everwind. The new bandit faction of the last update combined with the new birds in this one shape up to make Everwind island more unique and differentiated.
- An Arcanist starting area. The arcanist skill tree allows for various magic and crafting options, but was mostly left to the player to intuit / dig through codex menus for. The game now features an area that aims to teach these mechanics a little more directly.
- New chest type: Rotten wood chests. Looting is a big part of the game, and having distinct loot pools per biome and container helps keep the spirit of exploration alive. The new rotten wood chests add another option to that pool.
Everwind quality of life updates
In response to player feedback, Everwind has received multiple quality of life updates. The most recent are part of the major Winds of Creation patch and include the following:
- Levelling up provides a full restore
- Shields can now be displayed alongside weapons and armour
- Item icons are more distinct and identifiable
- Plants cannot be uprooted accidentally with interact
- Enemy names more clearly display their type and difficulty
It’s just on the cusp of being “major”, as far as early access updates go, but given the solid foundation the game has already it’s hard to be harsh to such a promising project. Besides, it still beats having to deal with Minecraft mod managers for an hour before playing…
Everwind is out now in Steam early access
