What is Tycos?
Tycos is the alien planet of floating islands where ATMOSFAR takes place. You explore it as a Vagabond, travelling in Wasp aircraft and a mobile Cloud Cruiser while uncovering what happened to a collapsed human colony.
The scenery is not just an aerial backdrop. Islands provide places to land, gather supplies, encounter other inhabitants and follow the traces of PACE. The information below comes from official development material published in December 2025–June 2026; names and behaviour may evolve during Early Access.
Is the world procedurally generated?
The main islands are handcrafted; small fragments called islets use procedural generation. The larger islands combine designed terrain, vegetation and routes, while islets fill the skies between them.
Islets can provide a quick landing point, a camp stop or additional salvage. Some contain valuable items or dangerous plantimals, so inspect the terrain before treating a small fragment as a safe rest stop.
Procedural islets do not mean every new game creates an entirely random world. A player-facing seed system has not been confirmed.
Regions have their own visual identity
The developers describe differences in rock, vegetation, colour and light between regions. Altitude is part of that visual design, including how clearly the stars appear and how dawn or sunset feels in different locations.
Scenery helps distinguish resources, hazards, secrets and routes. Remember a distinctive ruin or tree as a landmark before moving away from the aircraft.
The exploration notes turn that into a practical habit: remember an outside reference point before entering a cave, and confirm the named island when a journal task sends you searching.
Meet the Mawk
The Mawk is a large sky bird found around cliffsides, treetops and mountains. Its nests use sticks, tyres and other scrap.
It is generally skittish and keeps its distance from people and larger vehicles. Its long wings support graceful flight, but its voice is a distinctive honk.
Nests are recognizable features, but not every one is a quest location. The Demo’s missing lever belongs to a particular gate-island task, not a guaranteed reward from every nest.
Not every inhabitant is harmless
The Screecher, previously called Batgull, is aggressive and pursues targets in the air and on the ground. Tycos also has plantimals: life that does not fit neatly into an ordinary Earth plant or animal category.
Blisterback replaces the earlier working name Bombardier, and Traproot replaces Venus Flytrap. Older guides may therefore use different names for the same creatures.
Unfamiliar vegetation is not necessarily safe. The Demo has beneficial recharge plants alongside plants that drain power or threaten you. Watch the interaction and leave a route back to the aircraft. The survival basics explain the supply checks.
Who were PACE?
PACE is the regime whose machinery and abandoned sites remain on Tycos. The colony struggled to balance a growing population with limited food and resources. Leadership tightened its control, including through military machines, before the collapse.
Guard drones were left behind to patrol strongholds and carry out forgotten orders. Their distant hum and deteriorated vocal sounds are reminders that an old or worn machine can still be dangerous.
These surviving systems connect the world’s history with places you can explore. Ruins are clues to the colony’s fate, while guarded structures can still pose danger.
Who are the Vagabonds?
Vagabonds are exiles of PACE who have built a different way of life alongside the natural world. Their technology reuses PACE equipment but has a less mechanical character, including the connected machines of the portable camp.
You do not need a full multiplayer crew to meet other inhabitants. NPC dialogue choices are part of the developing world. Solo play and up to four-player co-op are both listed ways to explore.
For your own home in this world, start with the portable camp and then the Cloud Cruiser. One supports the immediate island stop; the other carries the expedition’s larger facilities into the next stretch of sky.
FROM THE FLIGHT DECK
Watch the game in motion.
Choose a video for a closer look at the journey. Demo footage contains spoilers and may differ from Early Access.
OFFICIAL DEV VLOG4:58Mechanic and organic life on Tycos
Handcrafted main islands, smaller procedural islets, wildlife and the machines left behind by PACE. December 2025.
Watch on YouTube ↗
OFFICIAL WILDLIFE SHORT1:14The majestic Mawk
Meet the large sky bird, its scrap-built nests and its cautious behaviour around humans and vehicles. January 2026.
Watch on YouTube ↗
OFFICIAL DEV VLOG8:18Breathing life into Tycos
Landmarks, ruins, island scenery and the visual clues that make exploration easier. June 2026.
Watch on YouTube ↗Sources & further reading
Official updates and related videos.
Help us keep this field guide accurate. Send a correction.