Sailing never evolves into something more challenging and the game’s central objective remains exactly the same.Ĭombat is plagued by the same problems, with slim enemy variety and clunky battles that rely on a dodge and attack system with unpredictable enemy hitboxes. Crafting boils down to slightly enhanced versions of tools you’ve utilized in the first few chapters. While I’m completely behind the decision to strip away the classic survival tat and focus in on exploration, it can feel like there’s very little to discover after a few hours of play. Yet, on the opposite side, Windbound’s biggest issue is its lack of depth. You can store items on ships, use them to hide from pursuing foes and, of course, set sail to new islands in search of much-needed resources.Ĭonstructing an awesome sea vessel quickly becomes Windbound’s most compelling feature, as you go from a hapless small fry in your little grass canoe to a cel-shaded Moana, skimming through the high-seas on your towering, hand-crafted sailboat. In essence, boat-building in Windbound takes the place of crafting an intricate shelter in other survival games, especially as a sturdy craft will solve a number of your more pressing issues. One of these exact teachings is to rely heavily on the game’s boat-building mechanic, with it quickly becoming essential to construct a ship that can withstand more than a slight gust of wind. Every run of Windbound brings a new discovery every death teaches you to be cautious of something you were slightly too gung-ho about approaching before. However, it does facilitate a type of learning most survival games don’t offer. In truth, the permadeath focus can be a little too punishing for its own good. Seeing as my winning run clocked in at around six hours, that’s a lot of time to spend on what might be a fruitless stab at reaching the credits. Not only that, but all the items you amassed and the stat boosts you discovered perish alongside your progress, literally kicking you all the way back to square one. Death in Windbound is far more permanent than you might expect, with the game clocking you back to the first of five chapters if you’re unfortunate enough to see your health bar deplete to zero. Of course, that’s not to say the game doesn’t punish you. It’s the first of many signs that Windbound is a much more streamlined survival game than you’re used to, which is excellent because it means more freedom to explore without limitations. But, thankfully, there are no sleep meters to manage or temperamental thirst bars to watch out for. Her stamina meter will slowly deplete as she grows hungry and health won’t regenerate on its own, forcing players to scavenge for food to replenish both. The first big deviation from most survival games is that Kara doesn’t really have many needs to attend to. Along the way, you’ll encounter a variety of locations, including murky swamps, harsh deserts and tropical paradises, each with their own resources and unique threats. From here, you’ll have to navigate across a procedurally generated landscape of islands in search of crafting items, food and magical towers which push forward the game’s story. You awaken on an island in the middle of nowhere, alone and with little more than the clothes on your back and a trusty rock in your hand. You play as Kara, a member of a seafaring clan who gets shipwrecked following a violent storm. The end result manages to make for a more laid-back survival game than you might expect, offering both a liberating open-world adventure on top of an enthralling survival experience. It’s a constant surprise how well the game’s survival elements fit within a roguelike structure, and even more surprising how snuggly both feel in the kind of expansive open-world that Windbound provides. However, it’s also evidently found some new grounding in the survival and rogue-like genres, pulling in inspiration from the likes of Stranded Deep, Don’t Starve and The Forest.Īnd while Windbound does feel like a blended assortment of different games and genres, the smoothie that comes out the other side is more refreshing and fulfilling than you might expect. What’s refreshing about Deep Silver’s Windbound is that it isn’t afraid to wear its influences on its sleeve.Īs many have noted from its pre-release trailers, it has a clear admiration for the excellent Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, adopting its sense of unbridled freedom and strikingly colourful cel-shaded art style.
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