You and your ragtag band wander from island to island on your cobbled-together airship, scouring for lost technology and scavenging for resources. You are constantly trying to improve your ship, keep it fueled, and keep it repaired. Sky predators, storms, and other travelling bands—all of which could be a threat to your ship—will dominate your thoughts. But in the back of your mind, you still ask yourself questions: How did your world become this way? What calamity, a thousand years ago, could have shattered the world into a thousand pieces? Deep down you know that the world was not always this way, and your questions are what drive you onward and upward, towards the endless skyline.

First, Worlds Adrift is set in a persistent, shared multiplayer environment. That means anyone who plays the game will be in the same enormous world. (Due to the increased importance of low latency in a game with physics, however, the current plan is to have separate servers for different geographic regions—we can’t overcome the speed of light, I’m afraid).

Bossa Studios announced that their upcoming sandbox MMO Worlds Adrift has entered into limited closed beta, and interested fans can secure closed beta access (as well as other exclusive bonuses) in this vast physics-based universe with a Worlds Adrift Founder’s Pack, available now in limited quantities.

To become a founder, those interested in the Worlds Adrift closed beta can purchase a Founder’s Pack. In addition to a game key and immediate closed beta access, each Founder’s Pack contains several exclusive in-game items, a digital copy of the game's original soundtrack, access to the future test server and in-game currency. Backers can choose between the Wanderer tier for £26.99 / €31.99 / $34.99, Explorer tier for £39.99 / 50.99 / $54.99, and Captain tier for £49.99 / €59.99 / $64.99, each with varying levels of exclusive content. In addition to a game key and immediate closed beta access, each Founder’s Pack contains several exclusive in-game items, a digital copy of the game's original soundtrack, access to the future test server and in-game currency.

“The history of multiplayer launches is bleached with the bones of games crumbling under the weight of their communities trying to log in all at once on day one, and having a terrible experience with unavailable servers for weeks afterwards,” said Henrique Olifiers, Co-Founder of Bossa Studios. “We want to take a different road instead, ensuring that every player of Worlds Adrift has the best possible first contact with the game. We'll offer the Founder’s Packs in batches throughout the closed beta period, always keeping an eye on how the game is behaving, until such time we're ready to open the doors to the entire community in the certainty that everyone will have a seamless experience with Worlds Adrift.”

“This might not be the best commercial approach in the short term, but it will be the best for players in the long run -- and that's what matters most for the Worlds Adrift team.”

Secondly, the world will live and breathe. Worlds Adrift will not be an MMORPG as we know them. There are no quest hubs and no NPCs standing around forever, waiting to give you tasks. There are no low-level zones and high-level zones, because there will be no levels. There are no static, choreographed environments and events that replay for every new player.

Instead, there will be creatures that eat and live and die, and trees that grow, and ruins that hold secrets, and wreckage that rusts and rots, all inside a world that doesn’t revolve around you, but that can be permanently affected by your actions. You are a part of the world, and it’s up to you to decide which part that is, and how it relates to all the other parts.

Lastly, the world will behave according to believable physics. Ships are constructed of pieces — each of which can be snapped off if there’s a strong enough impact. Much of the world will also behave like this: creatures, wreckage, loose objects on the ground. And of course there will be plenty of rope physics involved in player movement.