And sure, that’s realistic, but it’s too punishing, to the extent that it actively gets in the way of enjoyment. There were several instances when I simply couldn’t go in the direction I wanted – or even leave shore – because the wind was blowing so furiously in the exact opposite direction. That’s because you rely almost entirely on the wind- which sounds great on paper, but can lead to moments of frustration during gameplay. In the early goings, when you’re only using a paddle to steer and row, there isn’t much to it, but as you progress and actually start sailing – not rowing – things get a bit tricky. You start out with something very simplistic – nothing more than a raft made of grass reeds tied together and a paddle to row and steer with – but as you progress, gain access to more materials, and learn new crafting recipes, you’re able to build much more impressive boats, with multiple decks, sails, armour plating, spikes, and what have you.īuilding up your boat is easily the most satisfying thing in the entire game (and losing all of that progress when you die is, in turn, infuriating- more on this in a bit), but actually sailing that boat it is a bit inconsistent. Each chapter sees you travelling across an archipelago, hopping from one island to the next, and the way to do that, of course, is with a boat. But those moments are not nearly as frequent as I had hoped, and are weighed down by inconsistencies and larger issues that drag down the whole experience."īut sailing is really the heart and soul of Windbound. "There are moments when Windbound works, and works really well. The aura of mystery the game builds up and the isolated and lonely atmosphere that permeates the entire experience will stay with me for some time to come. It’s a very interesting approach to storytelling, and something that I personally want to see far more of in games, and it’s one of the few areas where I find Windbound to be almost completely successful in what it sets out to do. The story is instead told through more visual means, with murals on walls, with text descriptions of items, with wordless cinematics. There are no long cutscenes, no heavy exposition, no prolonged conversations. There is a very clear narrative focus here, which is unusual for a survival game, and Windbound tells its story through very indirect means. She wakes up alone and unarmed, finding herself in a strange, mysterious archipelago, where she must battle against the elements and scavenge her way to survival, as she looks for a way back home and uncovers the secrets of this strange place she finds herself in. In Windbound, you play as Kara, a young sailor who gets separated from her tribe when a furious storm wrecks her ship and sends her hurtling away. "There is a very clear narrative focus here, which is unusual for a survival game, and Windbound tells its story through very indirect means." But those moments are not nearly as frequent as I had hoped, and are weighed down by inconsistencies and larger issues that drag down the whole experience. And it does offer something different- and there are moments when it works, and works really well. It has a lot of interesting ideas- its focus on sailing, its promise of a mysterious open world, its wordless and mystical approach to storytelling, and more all combine to make it sound like a game that in spite of very much being a survival-focused experience, will offer something different. I don’t usually enjoy survival games, but Windbound is a game that I’ve been curious about for a while.
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