Navigation and survival

• Your survival depends on a variety of factors, including food, water, oxygen, temperature, and avoiding dangerous wildlife. The route you take to the summit, and the vessel you build, are consequential, as different routes can put pressure on different factors. For instance, abundant food and water in a region often means more prey, which also means more predators.

Build with real engineering

• To build a cabin or flying vessel in Because It's There, you first build its log frame. These structural frames are evaluated using a physics engine that rewards smart bracing, weight management, and load distribution.

• Craft that are built well can withstand the elements, and protect you during a summit push. Poorly designed craft may suffer partial or catastrophic structural failures in high winds or hard landings, or may not be efficient enough to give you distance or altitude when you need it.

Realistic country-sized worlds

• Worlds are procedurally generated using a variety of sophisticated techniques that produce realistic mountains, river networks, climate simulations, and moisture simulations. Ecosystems and weather patterns are emergent from these simulations, creating worlds that feel real in a way rarely achieved by procedural generation.

• Each world can be up to 60,000 square kilometers, which is larger than Croatia or Costa Rica.

Vibrant, deadly ecosystems

• Ecosystems vary depending on local conditions, and dozens of plant species, birds, fish, and mammals of many shapes and sizes can be found in different biomes.

• Predators like grizzly bears, mountain lions, and wolves can present a serious danger for most of the journey.