Imagine a world where city-building is not constrained by land. Instead, your metropolis soars among the clouds, navigating challenges like propulsion, balance, and the occasional pirate attack. Airborne Empire is the sequel to the beloved Airborne Kingdom, but it takes things up a notch with deeper mechanics, a vast and rich open world, and new challenges that blend city-building, RPG elements, and open-world exploration. This unique city in the skies is an open world RPG city builder like no other.
Available now on Steam Early Access, Airborne Empire invites you to become the mayor of a sprawling sky city. Build, balance, and defend your flying kingdom in an experience that’s as challenging as it is rewarding. The launch version already promises a strong foundation, with plans to add new building types, features, and content based on community feedback.
Airborne Empire launched in Early Access on January 13, 2025, and developers Wandering Band are inviting players to join them in shaping its future. While the core gameplay mechanics—city-building, exploring biomes, and fending off sky pirates—are already polished, the game is a work in progress.
The current version features three unique biomes with main quests and side-quests, essential city-building mechanics like lift and propulsion, and combat options including defense towers and cannons. Wandering Band plans to expand the game further with new biomes, creative and survival modes, and Steam features like achievements and trading cards.
Players are encouraged to provide feedback and report bugs on Discord, ensuring a collaborative development process. The demo provided a taste of this innovative gameplay, and now players can explore its vast landscape while contributing to its growth.
Building a city in the sky is no easy feat. Every new structure impacts your city’s weight and balance. Add too much to one side, and you’ll have an unsteady metropolis—complete with disgruntled inhabitants. Lift and propulsion are critical. Fans, propellers, and advanced technologies help keep your city aloft, but they require careful resource management.
Your citizens play a key role, using small planes to gather materials like wood, coal, and food from the ground below. This dynamic keeps gameplay engaging, as you balance exploration and efficiency while traversing a vast and rich open world.
The open world of Airborne Empire is teeming with life and secrets. From lush forests to arid deserts, each biome presents unique challenges and resources. Settlements provide opportunities to recruit workers and trade goods, while ruins and ancient temples hide treasures and blueprints for advanced buildings.
Exploration is essential. Discovering new areas unlocks technologies and alliances crucial for progressing your city. Whether it’s finding a long-lost statue to restore a shrine or helping the peoples below rebuild after a pirate raid, your actions shape the world around you. Players can manage these challenges along this adventure, finding themselves as leaders of a sprawling sky city.
No skybound adventure would be complete without danger, and Airborne Empire delivers with its pirate encounters. These airborne brigands will attack your city, damaging structures and lowering morale. Defense towers, cannons, and fighter planes become your tools to fend them off and defend your inhabitants—and the kingdoms below—from destructive attacks.
Combat complements the game’s tranquil city-building elements. While not the central focus, these encounters add urgency and strategy, making every decision about resource allocation even more critical. Relentless dangers keep you on your toes as you strive to destroy enemy strongholds and safeguard your flying city.
The tech tree in Airborne Empire allows for meaningful progression. Research new buildings, improve resource efficiency, and enhance your city’s defenses. Faster propulsion or morale-boosting structures can change the course of your adventure. Gain the knowledge to develop new technologies and gain access to better tools for defense and offense—against the pirate threat.
Customisation extends to aesthetics, too. Personalise your city’s appearance with unique themes and decorations, making your floating fortress truly one of a kind.
Visually, Airborne Empire leans into a steampunk-inspired art style that’s both functional and charming. The tranquil soundtrack complements the experience, offering a meditative backdrop as you glide through the skies. The combination of serene exploration and occasional bursts of action creates a well-rounded atmosphere. From exotic wonders to compelling characters, this open world RPG immerses players in its breathtaking environment.
The concept of a floating city-builder with RPG and exploration elements is fresh and engaging. Balancing lift, resources, and citizen happiness keeps players invested, while the open world and compelling characters add depth and replayability. Dialogue choices and morale buildings further enrich the gameplay.
The lack of a detailed tutorial may be daunting for newcomers, and minor glitches remind players that this is a work in progress. However, these issues are outweighed by the game’s strengths. Bug reports and player feedback are actively shaping its future.
Airborne Empire is a breath of fresh air in the city-building genre. Its unique mechanics, engaging exploration, and charming steampunk aesthetic make it a must-try for fans of strategy and simulation games. While still in Early Access on Steam, it shows immense promise and is already a joy to play.
Whether you’re a seasoned city-builder enthusiast or new to the genre, Airborne Empire offers an experience that’s as rewarding as it is innovative. Ready to take to the skies? Find Airborne Empire on Steam today and begin your journey to build the ultimate flying city—it’s worth your time!
