This Zelda-Inspired Survival Game Plays In Reverse Compared To Games Like It

Towers of Aghasba launches today on PC and PS5 as an early access game. Though that means the game isn't complete yet, it very quickly wears its Zelda inspiraitons on its sleeve thanks to the way you explore its fantastical open world often with a glider, can climb any surface, manage your stamina, and fight enemies with weapons that degrade. It's also inspired by Ghibli movies and features a former Ghibli artist on the development team. But it uses those major touchstones to present its big idea: a survival-crafting game that operates in reverse.

Most games of this sort--tree-punchers, I affectionately call them--task players with tearing down a local ecosystem to convert flora and fauna into homes and meals, eventually wiping out the natural landscape in favor of something that may be beautiful in its own way, but definitely paves over the world that was once on display.

Towers of Aghasba does ask you to pick apart some local resources to improve your own conditions, like making tools from trees and stones early on, but it's all done in service of nature, as you restore a brownish, barren landscape to a lush, healthy world full of critters and immaculate natural landmarks. In that way, it's almost like Spore, too, as you bring life to what is essentially a blank slate when you arrive.