Vortex Gaming

· Despite Everwind's visually simple cube style, its hardware requirements are quite high.
· FPS can drop to the 20s when loading chunks or entering large dungeons.
· The game is in early access, so performance improvements are likely upon full release.
· The initial installation size is less than 2GB, but thanks to procedural generation, the world file size increases as you explore.
· Procedural generation is a positive factor that enhances the game's replayability and the excitement of world exploration.

· Everwind is a sandbox game combining RPG elements with cooperative play.
· Players explore the world in an airship, but survival elements (hunger, thirst) are minimal, and enemy attacks are rare. Instead, players typically initiate combat.
· The game starts on the roof of a castle, where you acquire a pipe as your initial weapon. This pipe is upgradeable, and there's even a Steam achievement for fully upgrading it.
· Through the tutorial, you learn basic life skills like cooking and ingot smelting.
· The first enemies are Martivars (skeletons); defeating them and descending reveals a vast, procedurally generated world.
· The airship serves as the player's mobile base, where all crafting stations, decorations, and loot chests can be placed.
· Airships can be upgraded in three types: speed, ascent altitude, and size. Each upgrade requires specific items found on islands.

· Currently, the game features 6 diverse biomes, with three main civilizations (Martivar, Grimberd, Steamer) occupying their respective territories.
· Martivar Civilization:
· They inhabit forests, deserts, and swamps. Forests contain towers and massive multi-level dungeons. In dungeons, you can find gems, food, resources, airship upgrade items, various enemies, and the boss, the Martivar Lord.
· Deserts primarily feature mines and open structures, while swamps contain Gothic-style temples, cemeteries, and chapels.
· Steamer Civilization:
· They reside in the 'Rotting Lands,' located at an altitude of approximately 500 cubes. This is an industrialized forest filled with rotten trees and rusty machinery due to Steamer's industrial activities. It features giant excavators, oil wells, towers, and damaged Steamers and rusty spiders as primary enemies.
· Grimberd Civilization:
· Located in jungles at an altitude of over 1,000 cubes. Currently inaccessible due to a bug, but according to developer logs, it contains ziggurats, pyramids, and goblins living in bamboo villages.

· Dungeons are very engaging content, and exploring a single large dungeon can take over 30 minutes.
· In dungeons, you can loot everything: barrels, chests, tables, and even break walls with a pickaxe to gather resources.
· Novice players often try to collect everything they see, not knowing which items are useful, leading to a full inventory after just 10 minutes of play.
· Dungeons hide traps, secret rooms, and various caches, adding to the fun of exploration.

· NPC villages are frequently found, containing artisans, merchants, and a chief or mayor.
· Rogues are also mentioned in the bestiary, but they do not appear in the current game and are expected to be added in the future.
· You can buy various items and blueprints from merchants with coins and sell unwanted goods.
· Villages have quest boards where you can accept quests. Currently, only one quest per village is offered, but we hope for more diverse quests and NPC-specific quests in the future.
· NPCs are not invincible, so players can raid villages or attack NPCs if they wish.
· Currently, NPC AI is lacking; they don't react even if a player picks a lock right in front of them, but NPC updates are included in the development roadmap and are expected to improve.
· An in-game farming system exists, but it's currently not very meaningful as food is abundant in dungeons and only used for health recovery.

· Characters progress through three skill trees: Warrior, Mystic (Mage), and Engineer. Currently, the Engineer tree has fewer skills compared to the others.
· Warrior: Traits related to weapons and armor, increasing attack power and health, and allowing the use of advanced equipment.
· Mystic (Mage): Traits related to staves, spellbooks, alchemy, and more.
· Enchanting: Even if not a mage, you can enchant weapons using runes.
· Engineer: Has great potential but is still incomplete. The tree will become richer if basic tools like the compass and telescope are incorporated into Engineer skills.
· Compass Functions:

Category	Details
Teleport Mode	Right-clicking teleports the character to the airship.
Structure Scan Mode	Scans nearby structures or dungeons. Its usefulness is currently low as islands are small and everything is visible from the airship.
Creature Detection Mode	Linked to Engineer skills, it detects all enemies and creatures within a certain radius, even through walls or underground. Very useful for clearing dungeons.

· Telescope Functions:

Category	Details
Dungeon Detection	Allows you to check if distant islands have dungeons.
Distance Display	Shows the distance to an island.
Zoom Function	Like regular binoculars, it allows you to zoom in on distant objects.

· According to the development roadmap, skill tree updates (third priority), NPC and enemy AI improvements, a construction system, a combat system, a hardcore mode, the addition of a third altitude layer (above 1,000 cubes), and story updates are planned.
· It's still unclear whether the story update will be a complete main story or just a few quests revealing more about the world.
· Even in the current game, records can be found that offer glimpses into the world's lore. For example, a scene in the desert where a skeleton outpost is imprisoning cyborgs raises questions about how the various races (humans, skeletons, cyborgs) coexist and conflict in this world.
· The game's full release is scheduled for 2027.

· Overall, the game is enjoyable with no major annoyances.
· However, the boss hunting process can be somewhat tedious. For example, the Martivar Lord can appear in 'any' dungeon, meaning you might have to keep flying between islands to find a specific boss.
· If the current activities offered by the game—exploration, crafting, and dungeon delving—are appealing, then a purchase is recommended.
· If you feel the current content is lacking, it's advisable to wait for future updates or a sale.
· The game price is 1500 Rubles or 18 USD.