Launching later in 2026, sandbox survival RPG Everwind is already looking like an awesome Minecraft alternative. Coming up against the long-anticipated Hytale, Everwind tasks players with exploring floating islands to find treasure and secrets as they travel the world in a floating airship.
In an interview with FRVR, the team behind the project explained that the game is being actively tested in Valve’s Steam Deck and other handhelds. Prior to launch, fans have already tried early builds of the game on the system with solid performance, and it’s a prominent hardware target for the team.
“We are definitely aiming for handhelds as well [as desktops],” explained Bohemia senior publishing producer Marcin Olczak. “The guys already tested the game on Steam Deck.”
“The positive reception to Everwind’s Steam Deck testing only reinforced our belief that it’s a crucial platform,” the rest of the team explained in a follow-up interview. “Players want to be able to take a full-fledged sandbox game with them, and Everwind fits that mould perfectly.”
“PC handhelds are rapidly gaining in importance, and we want Everwind to be ready for this shift from the start,” they continued.
Alongside testing for Valve’s Steam Deck, the team is also working on testing the game on other handhelds, including the “MSI Claw with all the amazing Intel technologies”.
While pretty much any genre is playable on Valve’s Steam Deck, the Everwind team recognises that the long-lasting but also pick-up-and-play nature of survival titles makes them a perfect fit for the current generation of PC gaming handhelds.
“I think this also comes from the fact… back in the day, Minecraft Pocket Edition was a big thing, right?” Olczak said. “Like it’s a sandbox game, very chill. You can just jump in, play it a little bit, you know, put it down, get back to it. So, I think, it really makes sense for everyone as well to be this like this available.
With major AAA developers like Square Enix using Steam Deck as a new hardware target, Valve’s handheld has become a flagship for game optimisation. As the handheld is so diverse in the types of games it can play, a lot of developers are starting to use the handheld as a barometer of acceptable performance.
In a previous interview with FRVR, Painkiller creator and Witchfire developer Adrian Chmielarz claimed “everyone should attempt to support” the handheld if they can. “What we’ve learned, which was kind of surprising, is that making your game compatible, like Steam Deck Verified, actually makes your game better,” they said.
