Cloudheim enters early access with a lot of ambition and a familiar sense of adventure. It’s a game that clearly wears its inspirations on its sleeve, blending survival, exploration, and action RPG elements into a sprawling open world that already shows promise—even if it still has some growing to do.
Gameplay
At its core, Cloudheim feels like Palworld meeting The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. From the very beginning, the game encourages curiosity and experimentation, rewarding players who wander off the beaten path. Combat is fast, readable, and surprisingly satisfying, with responsive controls that make moment-to-moment encounters feel smooth rather than clunky. While the combat system doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it’s more polished than expected for an early access title, offering enough weapon variety and enemy interactions to stay engaging during the opening hours.
One of Cloudheim’s biggest strengths is the sheer scale of its maps. Each area is absolutely massive, packed with verticality, hidden corners, and distant landmarks that beg to be investigated. You’re rarely funneled down a single path. Instead, the game trusts you to chart your own course, whether that means climbing to a high vantage point, stumbling across side activities, or simply seeing something interesting on the horizon and heading toward it. Exploration feels genuinely rewarding at first, and the sense of space helps sell the fantasy of being dropped into a vast, untamed world.
Progression, however, ramps up very quickly. You’ll find yourself becoming noticeably stronger than enemies in a short amount of time, which causes the challenge to drop off faster than expected. Early encounters feel tense and exciting, but as your power scales upward, combat becomes less about careful decision-making and more about clearing enemies out of the way as you move toward the next objective. The flexible leveling system—which doesn’t lock you into a rigid class—does feel great from a player-freedom standpoint, but it also contributes to how quickly difficulty can flatten out if not carefully tuned.
Cloudheim also includes basebuilding and shop management elements that help break up exploration and combat. The shop is a highlight, offering a satisfying sense of progression as you sell goods and prepare for future adventures. Basebuilding, however, feels a bit jumbled in its current state. While the concept is appealing, placement and organization aren’t always intuitive, making it feel less polished than the rest of the experience.
Graphics & Design
Visually, Cloudheim is one of those games that clicks almost immediately. The art direction leans heavily into a Breath of the Wild-inspired aesthetic, and that’s very much a compliment. The world is colorful, clean, and easy to read, which makes exploration feel natural rather than overwhelming.
Environmental design does a strong job of conveying scale, with wide-open landscapes broken up by striking terrain features and points of interest. Character models and creatures fit the tone of the world nicely, striking a balance between stylized and grounded. Even in early access, Cloudheim already feels visually cohesive, which goes a long way toward making its massive world feel like a place worth investing time in.
The only visual drawback is the UI, which can feel a bit busy at times—especially during combat—occasionally making it harder to quickly parse information in the heat of the moment.
Feedback
Cloudheim’s open world is undeniably huge—and sometimes, that size works against it. While the scale is impressive, there are moments where the world feels a bit too large for the amount of meaningful content currently available. Long stretches of exploration can feel empty, especially once combat loses its sense of danger due to the rapid difficulty drop-off.
This issue becomes more noticeable when engaging with quests. Many objectives lean toward familiar fetch-quest territory: collecting items, traveling long distances, or checking off simple tasks rather than feeling like fully realized missions with unique twists or memorable moments. When paired with the game’s expansive maps, these quests can occasionally feel more like busywork than purposeful adventure, pulling momentum away from what should be the game’s most exciting moments.
With more dynamic encounters, stronger narrative hooks, or quests that meaningfully change how you interact with the world, this aspect could be greatly improved. The foundation is there, it just needs more layers to keep exploration and objectives consistently engaging.
Final Verdict
Cloudheim is an enjoyable early access experience with a strong foundation. The combat is better than expected, the art direction is excellent, and the world has the bones of a true adventure waiting to be filled out. With additional content, improved challenge scaling, and more reasons to explore its vast landscapes, Cloudheim has the potential to become something special.
Cloudheim is available in early access now via Steam and Epic Games Store.
If Cloudheim’s blend of open-world exploration and sandbox creativity has you intrigued, make sure to check out our ongoing coverage of Hytale.
