The success of ’s open-world survival crafting game, Palworld, has sparked a wave of similar titles, blending creature collection with base-building and survival mechanics. This trend is now visibly manifesting with the latest Steam Next Fest, where a number of games clearly inspired by Palworld are offering playable demos.
Among the emerging “Palworld-like” games, Witchspire stands out for its cohesive vision. Rather than simply replicating the formula, Witchspire reimagines it within a distinct magical setting. Players take on the role of apprentice witches, forming covens and embarking on adventures in a magical realm steeped in ancient, dark forces.
A key difference from traditional survival games is the emphasis on magic over manual labor. Players can summon resources from forests, utilize soul-powered levitation for construction, and transform defeated magical creatures into familiars that assist in combat and farming. This integration of magic streamlines resource gathering and building, offering a unique twist on the genre.
The magic system is central to the gameplay loop, seamlessly connecting survival, construction, and creature collection. The demo currently allows players to reach level 7, choose between two coven factions, and explore the first island area, with support for both single-player and cooperative multiplayer.
Witchspire is slated for release sometime in , and has already garnered over 20,000 wishlists on Steam. While further refinement is needed, the game’s art style and integrated gameplay have been well-received.
Guardians of the Wild Sky: Sky-Based Survival with Airships
Guardians of the Wild Sky, which received “extremely positive” reviews within two weeks of its demo release, takes a different approach, emphasizing scale and exploration. The game features a vertical world design, where players pilot airships through a sky filled with thousands of floating islands.
Guardians, the core system of the game, are creatures with elemental magic that participate in combat, assist with farming and construction, and even serve as airship crew members. Players can breed and combine genetic traits to create customized companions.
The Guardians of the Wild Sky demo supports up to 10 players in cooperative mode, offering exploration of multiple islands and a complete survival crafting loop. Characters can reach level 20. The developers state that the full game world will exceed 800 square kilometers, and the Next Fest demo provides exclusive cosmetic rewards.
OddFauna: Secret of the Terrabeast: A Gentle Ecological Adventure
OddFauna: Secret of the Terrabeast presents a stark contrast to the Palworld aesthetic, opting for a whimsical, clay-sculpted art style reminiscent of children’s picture books.
Players assume the role of Astor, a small creature who cultivates an entire living world on the back of a massive “Terrabeast.” This walking ecosystem serves as the player’s base. The gameplay revolves around collecting plants and creatures, terraforming the landscape, and establishing farms and habitats, causing the Terrabeast to grow and unlock new abilities. Different environments attract different creatures, creating a highly interactive ecosystem.
Players can build trust with other creatures (OddFauna), riding them, battling with them, or gaining special skills. Like Palworld, the game includes exploration and building, but leans more towards healing and creative gameplay, described as a “storybook version of Palworld.”
Layer Land: An Experimental World with AI-Driven Creatures
Finally, Layer Land embraces a highly experimental AI concept. Each pet in the game possesses emotions, memories, and a personality generated based on the MBTI personality model, allowing them to interact with players in real-time and exhibit different reactions.
The developers claim that players can generate millions of unique creatures from approximately 100 base pets. These pets not only assist in combat but can also create art, record journeys, and even produce physical objects that impact the game world.
The game’s open world map utilizes 3D geographic spatial data from Cesium, generating a 1:1 scale world based on real-world terrain data. A simulation system continues to run even when the player is offline.
Layer Land is scheduled for release on Steam on . The demo, however, appears visually similar to early versions of Palworld, and whether the AI concepts will be fully realized remains to be seen.