Animals play an important role in Aloft, as they provide resources and can be used to restore the ecosystem of an island. The way that animals are obtained can be a bit confusing, though, as they cannot always be claimed. This guide is here to alleviate any confusion surrounding how to get animals in Aloft, and it will help players fight back against the corruption.
Players must have a home island that they can fly before they can get animals in Aloft. If a fan does not have such a home island, they should return to this guide after completing more of the game’s introductory quests. Additionally, players should craft a Field Guide (by combining one Wood, one Rope, two Leaf Cloths, and one Piece of Paper at a Workbench) before setting out in search of animals.
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Aloft: How to Get Animals
Find a Suitable Island
The first step towards getting animals in Aloft is finding an island that fulfills two criteria:
- It has a healthy ecosystem or the player is capable of returning it to a healthy ecosystem. Fans of games with flying cannot collect animals from islands with unhealthy ecosystems.
- It is home to a type of animal that can be caught. In the Emerald Isles, the animals that can be caught are alpacas and sheep.
To quickly confirm if an island fulfills these criteria, players should take these actions:
- Land on an island.
- Equip and open a Field Guide.
- Look at the first page to confirm if it has a healthy ecosystem. If it has an unhealthy ecosystem, look at what needs to be done to rectify the issue and pursue those actions if possible.
- Skip to the Animal Amount page in the Field Guide to see what types of animals are present on the island, if there are any.
Find the Animal
After finding a suitable island, players should search until they find the animal that they want to collect. While it can occasionally be difficult to locate the animal, especially if it is a baby, sandbox game fans who look carefully should eventually find their desired creature. Notably, the sounds that animals make can help players zero in on their positions, and playing with the sound turned on is thus recommended.
Feed the Animal, Pick It Up, and Send It Home
Once an animal has been located, players must feed it a desirable type of food. With sheep and alpacas, that food is Hay, which players can craft at a Workbench by combining three Small Plants. For full clarity, Small Plants are obtained by cutting bushes with a Scythe, a tool that is created by combining one Wood, two Sharp Stones, and one Rope in Aloft.
After the animal is fed, players can pick it up and send it to their home island, provided that the home island is nearby. Fans of indie survival games can then return to their home island, and they will find that the animal is roaming around it. Players are then free to care for the animal, repeatedly collect its resources, or deliver it to another island in order to make progress toward restoring the health of its ecosystem.
Aloft: Animals and Ecosystem Health
While the connection between animals and the health of an island’s ecosystem has already been mentioned a few times in this guide, more information on this subject may be helpful to some fans of indie adventure games. To put things simply, every island needs to be populated by a certain number of animals to have a healthy ecosystem, and that population requirement is indicated on the first page of the Field Guide when standing on the island.
If an island does not meet its animal population requirement, players should focus on getting animals from healthy islands and bringing them to the unhealthy island. That said, removing too many animals from a healthy island will make it unhealthy if the removal drops the island below its animal population requirement. As such, players who want to avoid having any unhealthy islands in Aloft should only collect animals from islands with a population surplus.
- Released
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January 15, 2025
- Developer(s)
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Astrolabe Interactive