Towers of Aghasba: Early Access Review

thesixthaxis.com:

Since Minecraft and the sandbox survival boom of the early 2010s, the genre has continued to morph and expand, Towers of Aghasba being its latest offering. Where some survival games have leaned more towards horror (The Forest) and others have delved into mythology (Valheim), there are some common tropes throughout, one being a feeling of isolation. Wandering across Aghasba can sure feel lonely at times – albeit in a mysterious, enchanting way – yet one of this game’s highlights is how lived in the game world feels.

You wash up on its shores accompanied by myriad members of your tribe, the Shimu. You’ve set sail from Lehorra on a quest to restore the Shimu’s ancestral homeland of Aghasba, pursued by a sinister force known only as the Withered. Instead of having you fend for yourself and create your own emergent survival odyssey, Towers of Aghasba features story-driven quests that help inject its world with colour and character while showing you the ropes.

Ropes are pretty handy, actually, as are sticks, stones, and other basic materials you begin to gather. In true survival sandbox fashion, these can be combined to create basic tools such axes and shovels that then allow you to extract an increasingly diverse array of components and turn those into even more advanced tools and so on. This gameplay loop is near enough set in stone though Towers of Aghasba offers plenty of refinements and deviations to keep things fresh.

One of the Towers of Aghasba’s unique features is its focus on nurturing ecosystems. It’s fair to say the Shimu are a little miffed when they discover that their homeland is nothing more than a dusty, arid wasteland and not the bountiful paradise they were promised. Thankfully they’ve brought a giant magical seed with them that, when planted, births a colossal tree surrounded by verdant green pastures. With it comes new resources to sustain the Shimu as well as various forms of wildlife.

Needless to say, taking care of these ecosystems is vital, but just