- DevLog 09: Playtest #2 Wrapping Up - We Need Your Feedback! - 28 August 2026
Hey Explorers,Our second closed playtest is officially drawing to a close! A huge thank you to everyone who jumped into the Mist, built up their colonies, and put the new systems to the test over the past few weeks.Fill Out the Playtest SurveyTo help us make Above: Colonies of the Mist the best it can be, we need to hear from you. Whether you spent twenty minutes exploring the basic mechanics or sunk hours into expanding your colony, your feedback is important.Even if you only played a short session, your initial impressions, pain points, and thoughts tell us so much about what’s working and what isn't.👉 Fill out the Playtest #2 Survey HereBugs & Ongoing AccessBuild Access: We are keeping the playtest build active for all current playtesters. If you still want to hop in for a quick session or finish testing a specific system, you can continue playing.Bug Reports: If you run into techni…
- DevLog 08: Second Closed Playtest is LIVE! - 20 August 2026
Hey Explorers!Andrew here with some incredible news! Our Second Closed Playtest is officially LIVE!Since wrapping up our first alpha test, our tiny team has been hard at work analyzing your survey responses, fixing bugs, and implementing major changes based directly on your feedback. We are super excited to show you how the game has evolved and to invite both returning veterans and fresh faces back into the fold.1. Immediate Access for the Returning Testers!If you participated in our first playtest, you don't need to jump through any hoops or wait for an email. You already have immediate access!Simply open up Steam, head to your library, and launch the Above: Colonies of the Mist Playtest app.We can't wait for you to experience all the new content, improvements, and fixes we’ve built since you last played. Be sure to drop into our Discord and let us know how the new build feels!2. New E…
- DevLog #7: Tiny Teams Festival, New Trailer and Closed Alpha Playtest #2 - 6 August 2026
Hey, Andrew here! Welcome back to another update for Above: Colonies of the Mist. It has been a whirlwind few weeks here at the studio, filled with our first playtest data analysis, event planning, and, most importantly, a lot of building. We have several major milestones to share with you today as we move toward our next phase of development.1. First Closed Playtest Done!We recently wrapped up our first-ever Closed Playtest, and the response was overwhelming in the best way possible. Over 100 participants braved the early, rough version of our vertical world, providing us with a mountain of invaluable feedback.Thank you so much to everyone who participated! Your input is essential to crafting the best possible colony sim experience. We’ve been diving deep into your responses, and we’ve already been deep in the implementation of the changes and fixes based on what we learned.2. Celebrat…
- DevLog 06: Closed Alpha Playtest Incoming! - 26 June 2026
Hey Explorers!Long time no post! Sorry, we’ve been radio silent for a bit. The team has been locked away in the dev cave, cooking up something amazing. While we've spent past devlogs showing you how we're building our outposts, coding ziplines, and perfecting the fog of war, we are finally ready to let you experience the Mist for yourselves.We are officially preparing for our Closed Alpha Playtest, and we want YOU to join the expedition!🚀 How to Join the Closed Alpha PlaytestWant to get your hands on the build and help shape the future of Above: Colonies of the Mist?👉 \ 👈⚠️ Please Note: Access is strictly limited. Because we are looking for targeted feedback on our core systems, not everyone who applies will get in. Furthermore, this is a confidential test, so no streaming, videos, or public sharing of gameplay is allowed. We'll be selecting a limited number of colonists for this ini…
- DevLog 05: Piercing the Veil - 23 April 2026
Hey Explorers!While we’ve already explored the Mist as a corrupting force that endangers your people, today, let’s turn our attention to the uncertainty of exploration created by the Fog of War.In Above: Colonies of the Mist, the landscape isn’t just scarred; it’s hidden. We want every expedition to feel like a high-stakes gamble, where the line between a great find and a total disaster is shrouded in the dark.The Mystery of the UnseenThe lands of the Nytherran civilization are a graveyard of heavy, industrial, and imposing ruins. But you won't see them coming until they’re revealed by your scouts. By implementing a dense Fog of War, we are leaning into the sense of discovery.Risk and Reward: When you send an expedition into the unknown, you are gambling with your colonists' lives. The cost of an expedition increases the further your colonists venture, making every journey a calculated…
- DevLog 04: Ancient Mechanisms - 9 April 2026
Hello everyone! Richard here again, this time ready to talk about the ancient machines of the forgotten past.The land the colonists have arrived in is an ancient, scarred place, filled with the decaying ruins of the forgotten Nytherran civilization. The crumbling splendor of their monuments still litter the tundra, just waiting for the brave, or the desperate, to pry their secrets loose.We call them monuments, but that’s just a title they’ve earned through the lens of history. They are ruined factories, gigantic industrial complexes that once belched smoke into a polluted sky, their furnaces blazing with the fires of industry. They’re crumbling housing complexes, their corridors now silent and shadowed. And they are the broken mechs whose glassy eyes once witnessed a world of technological wonders.Giving Exploration Real WeightWith the Mist rising and areas of the map becoming more dang…
- DevLog 03: The Mist, The Weather, and The Night - 26 March 2026
Heyo - Richard here, Lead Designer for Above: Colonies of the Mist. Welcome back to another Design DevLog for Above: Colonies of the Mist. The last time I was here, we went over the basics of how the landscape and logistics come together to create a unique challenge. This time, we'd like to talk to you about our approach to the environment. The MistThe Mist is a corrupting force that always signals a Bad Day for anyone who spends too much time in it. The longer your colonists spend around it, the more it will affect them. Their morale will drop as they hear whispers of voices in a long dead language. Their body will fail as the mist fills their lungs. What does this mean for gameplay?Over the course of your time exploring the forgotten lands, you'll find the Mist rises and falls. This cycle is something you'll want to keep an eye on throughout, because when it starts to creep up and ove…
- DevLog 02: Designing Our First Settlement - 12 March 2026
Hey Explorers!I am Patrick, the concept artist and in-house tortoise guy on Above: Colonies of the Mist, and I'm very excited to welcome you to our devlog this week.It has been my pleasure over the 7 years of my career to have worked on games such as Call of Dragons, Guild Saga, Dark Sky, and to teach architecture at Syn Studio.Over that time, I've specialized in environment design, and would like to share my love of architecture and what I've learned over the years with you.How do you choose what it looks like, how the buildings come together as a complete settlement, and how do you expect the player to interact with the visuals?Trying to create something to call home in the harsh land of survival is as much of a challenge for us as it is for the colonists. Just like them, we wanted to create something that would stand proud and survive the test of the elements.The first steps are alwa…
- Devlog 01: Ziplines and Outposts - 26 February 2026
Hey Explorers,The world of ABOVE: Colonies of the Mist is an unforgiving place. Crisscrossed by deep valleys with jagged spires of land dominating the skyline, a travel agent would describe the place as ‘unique’ or ‘dramatic’. The colonists who’ve crashed there would be more practical, likely choosing less flattering adjectives.If surviving an airship crash and building a camp with no hope of rescue is already a struggle, then trying to cross a canyon under those conditions becomes downright daunting. The terrain is fragmented and the drifting mist makes any descent fraught with danger. Every journey between them is a risk. That’s the world you’ll be stepping into.The GameplaySo far we’ve been talking about the thematics of the world. But we’re posting this on Steam, it’s a dev blog, there’s gameplay to consider. Let’s talk about why we’re doing this.Colony Builders vary massively from…
- Devlog #0: Inspirations, Windmills, and the Great Berry Heist - 12 February 2026
Welcome to our first dev blog! We're all currently hard at work making this game a reality, and we want to share this journey with you. We’re planning to post devlogs biweekly, so you’re always up to date on what we’re cooking. Above: Colonies of the Mist is something we've been looking at making for a long time. There are a lot of pieces that have come together, and it wouldn't be right to start on this journey without acknowledging the things we love; the things that have inspired us to come together and build our own world.The Spark of Inspiration Whenever we talk about the theme and feel of the game, there's one title that's always on our lips, and that's Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind. It's one of those movies that sticks with you for years after you see it, and for good reason. I don't think we're making a controversial claim when we call it a true masterpiece. For us, there's somet…
- ⛰️ 5,000+ Wishlists and Counting! - 9 February 2026
☁️ We're rising above the Mist! ☁️What a great start to the week! More than 5,000 of you have added Above: Colonies of the Mist to your wishlist in less than a week. Thank you!To us, this means thousands of you have joined the expedition into the unknown, and that's so exciting! Into a world where resources are scarce, survival is not guaranteed, and every trip into the Mist may be your last.✨ Your Wishlists help increase the game's visibility on Steam. Let's work together to make it a bright beacon in the vast Steam game landscape!Development is ongoing, the Mist keeps rising, and we’re climbing! Stay tuned for our bi-weekly devlog series starting this Thursday for more insights into our development process ;)For more sneak peeks and communication with devs and other players, join our Discord 🧭Best, The Docklight Games TeamLooking for more?Check out the Forklift Interactive publisher…
- Introducing Above: Colonies of the Mist from Docklight Games - 29 January 2026
Hello everyone!I’m Andrii Vasyliev, the Studio Director at Docklight Games. We are a small, passionate team excited to share our first project, Above: Colonies of the Mist, with you. We hope our dedication inspires your interest and support.It feels surreal to finally be writing this. We've been wanting to do this for years. Six months ago, we finally started, and I am absolutely thrilled to share what we've been developing. Our team is small, but we genuinely hope you’ll enjoy what we’ve created.What is Above: Colonies of the Mist?Above: Colonies of the Mist is a survival colony builder set in a challenging world where space is scarce, resources are limited, and every decision matters. You must establish a temporary foothold in the hilltops above a deadly, toxic mist. Mount daring expeditions into the valleys to scavenge ancient monuments.Our game is ambitious for a small team, and we…
