High-flying RPG city builder Airborne Empire has launched on Steam, and it's testing my balancing skills in more ways than one

pcgamer.com:

My flying city in Airborne Empire is tilted at a 1 degree angle. That's not a big deal: it's barely detectable visually and it doesn't seem to be bothering my citizens. It sure is bothering me, though. I can't stop imagining one of my residents, after a hard day harvesting resources or battling pirates or working in the iron foundry, coming home, sitting down to relax, placing a pencil on the coffee table in his living room, and watching that pencil slowly roll away.

I already have several active quests in this high-flying city builder from developer Wandering Band: I need to eradicate an island of pirates, deliver food to several friendly outposts, and help a scientist identify sea creatures. But I'll be honest: my real quest, my personal quest in Airborne Empire, is to balance my city so it's 100% level.

You can join me in obsessing over how level your own city is: Airborne Empire launched into early access on Steam today. It's the sequel to 2022's Airborne Kingdom, but there's a much, much bigger world to explore and now there's combat to consider, too: the realm is full of enemy airplanes, ground-based bandit colonies, and other hostile flying structures. Somehow, the game still pulls off a mostly chill and cozy vibe—except when something goes wrong and my flying city starts plummeting toward the ground.

The placement of new buildings is important in most city builders, but in Airborne Empire it's especially critical because you need to distribute weight evenly. If your city leans too much to one side, citizens will become unhappy (understandable, it makes me unhappy too) and if the tilt gets too pronounced they'll abandon you by walking to the edge of your city, hopping off, and parachuting to the ground (sad to watch, but also kind of adorable).

There's also lift to consider. Carefully consider. You know in an urban city builder when you plop down some new structure and suddenly the power goes out because you're now using more electricity than you produce?