A World That Never Stands Still
Some worlds stand still. Driftland was always in motion. From the very beginning, Driftland was a world of drifting islands, unstable magic and kingdoms trying to grow on the broken pieces of a shattered planet. Not a static map politely waiting to be conquered, but a place that
Some worlds stand still. Driftland was always in motion.
From the very beginning, Driftland was a world of drifting islands, unstable magic and kingdoms trying to grow on the broken pieces of a shattered planet. Not a static map politely waiting to be conquered, but a place that could change shape in your hands.
Today feels like a good moment to look at that world again - because Driftland is reaching new screens, and the ideas behind it are still growing in new directions.
Driftland: The Magic Revival grew from one simple but slightly twisted idea: what if the map was not fixed? What if the world itself could move during the game?
Driftland is a mix of RTS, 4X strategy and sim-like kingdom management set on scattered fragments of a shattered planet. As a powerful mage-ruler, you can move floating islands, reshape the world and connect them with bridges, but your rivals can do it too. Together with advanced fog of war, this makes exploration, expansion and conflict feel different from a typical strategy game. This world does not simply wait to be conquered. It moves, reacts and constantly changes around you.
A kingdom from above
In Driftland, you guide a kingdom from a strategic perspective. You expand your influence, manage resources, discover new paths of progress, tame flying beasts, use magic and give goals to people who have their own will.
That last part was always important to me. Driftland was never only about clicking units and placing them pixel-perfectly. It was about building a living kingdom, setting direction, watching your people grow stronger and sometimes seeing them do brave, strange and occasionally... not entirely sensible things on their own.
If you enjoyed Driftland, there is a good chance it was not only because of battles or expansion. Maybe it was also because of that feeling of watching scattered islands slowly become a kingdom. Connecting land. Building an economy. Watching your heroes gain experience. Sending people into the unknown and hoping your kingdom can handle whatever waits beyond the fog.
And now Driftland comes to the couch and the big screen
There is also a nice milestone for Driftland itself. From today, Driftland: The Magic Revival can be played on Xbox Series X|S, with PlayStation 5 following soon.
- Xbox Series X|S: May 22
- PlayStation 5: June 12
I really like the thought that Driftland can now be played from the couch, on a big 4K TV, with floating islands drifting across the screen and kingdoms growing somewhere above the clouds. It feels like a nice new way to chill with a world that was always a little strange, a little magical and very much its own thing.
And let’s be honest - floating islands do have a certain charm on a big screen.
The same world, much closer to the ground
For us, Driftland is not only a finished game. It is a world we are still developing, exploring and expanding in different directions.
That is where First Dwarf comes in.
First Dwarf takes place in the same world, but changes the perspective completely. Instead of ruling from above as a mage-ruler, you step into the boots of Tru, a dwarven engineer piloting a mech, with Ragna the dragoness by his side.
And while the genre is different, many of the ideas grow from the same roots. Building. Expansion. Exploring floating islands. Helping your people survive. Building settlements in a world that is beautiful, broken and not exactly eager to make life easy for anyone.
In First Dwarf, you build fortified settlements for your fellow dwarves, manage settlers who live their own lives, gather resources, interact with the world much more directly, discover new islands, claim them, defend them and slowly turn dangerous places into something that can truly become home.
It is faster, closer and more hands-on than Driftland. You are no longer safely above the map with a spellbook in your hand. You are in the middle of this world, hammer in hand, mech under your feet, dragon in the air and problems coming from every direction.
But the heart remains familiar: building a future on floating fragments of a shattered planet.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1714900/First_Dwarf/
Two ways to return to the islands
Today, Driftland opens one more road back into the sky. You can sit back on the couch, watch floating islands drift across a big screen and build a kingdom from above - with magic, bridges, beasts and rival mage-rulers who can turn the world against you too.
First Dwarf takes the same universe and brings it closer to the ground. You land on those islands, build outposts for your fellow dwarves, manage settlers who live their own lives, explore, claim, defend and slowly turn dangerous places into something that begins to feel like home.
It is a different genre, but it grows from the same need: to take a broken world, scattered islands, and try to build something lasting there - even if it takes magic, metal, stone and quite a bit of courage.
Thank you for building this world with us, from the very beginning.
See you among the floating islands,
Michał .misha. Sokolski
