Windbound

Overall, Windbound is a genuinely enjoyable experience. With its charming visuals, rewarding gameplay, and earnest game design, it has successfully sailed across the sea of mediocre single-player survival games and reached a new high.

Where the game really excels is in its beautiful, colourful graphics and the relaxing atmosphere they help to create. There is also a deep lore to discover as you travel across the archipelago, culminating in a seafaring experience that’s sure to make waves. [Issue#180, p.72]

Windbound presents itself as a serene experience, full of gorgeous locales and charming visuals. Underneath this nomadic glamour, hides a core of rogue-like brutality and the ever-present threat of death, with an inevitable restart to the beginning coming to those who brazenly disregard the dangers. This difficulty will divide many, but with perseverance, the game turns into an experience worth taming, with rewarding exploration, fun seafaring gameplay and a constant sense of rewarding progression.

Windbound is a pleasant and not too challenging survival game, ideal for those who love the sea and want to explore incredible natural landscapes.

An atmospheric adventure with some tense highlight, but unfortunately not reaching its full potential.

Windbound is pretty much a breath of fresh air for the sandbox-survival-crafting scenario where the sense of exploration is the real protagonist. It’s easy to pick up and easy to play, but one would wish the enemy AI was smarter and technical side as a whole, less buggy.

Windbound has several interesting ideas and is very nice to look at and listen to, but unfortunately the experience suffers from some flaws – for example, the procedural generation doesn’t make for particularly interesting level design. But above everything else, it lacks rhythm.

Windbound is a game that presents a great approach, but fails to execute. However, despite its mistakes, it manages to stand out thanks to its artistic design, its own identity and a solidity in its survival system.

Windbound’s direction blows in the wind. It wants to be a relaxing seafaring simulator, an unforgiving survival struggle, and a haunting tribal tale all at once. As such, you will have a polarizing experience depending on what you look for - and this is a mixed bag. But, even if you want to give up after going in circles or dying of hunger, the colors and stunning vistas you shall witness will surely sweep you away.

Windbound is a beautiful, relaxing experience that uses its survival mechanics not to force tension, but encourage you to keep moving forward. Its art style is absolutely stunning and the soundtrack – while occasionally sparse with periods of silence – is moving and invigorating. Despite its minor bugs, Windbound is like a great, narrative-driven introduction to the world of survival mechanics and something that is infinitely replayable.

Windbound is a chill survival game, a sort of an ASMR videogame. Unfortunately, its narrative is poor and evanescent and it restricts the game experience.

Windbound is a personal journey, a rogue-like survival action RPG that you will love or hate.

The more I played the less the goings-on of the narrative bothered me, and the more I relished the wavelike rhythm of the action: the roll and crash of sailing and breaking to alight for supplies.

Windbound is a fun experience that breaks the survival game mold. The boat crafting and sailing are innovative features that were exciting to explore. Although the positives were very strong, the quality of life issues made the experience tedious. Windbound excels in standing alone in a saturated genre, but doesn't shine through enough.

Kara's vicissitudes lack the right bite to keep the player glued to his seat and keep one's attention, although the art direction remains delightful overall. Unfortunately Windbound is plagued by a basic monotony that permeates the plot, the islands explored, and even the music. Very pleasant but soon repetitive.

Windbound is a good survival game, but it fails to deliver a real vibrant story and a good rhythm during exploration and crossing phases.

Windbound is a game that requires a lot of patience and by combining survival and adventure gameplay into one, it successfully creates a unique identity. There are a few shortcomings with sailing and crafting could use some additional depth, but 5 Lives Studios have brought us an entertaining adventure. if you can put these issues aside, this is an experience that comes recommended.

With its wind sailing gameplay and island exploration, Windbound takes a unique method of adventure and makes it into a game that players can sink their teeth into for a long time. The driving force of trying to find out what's beyond the next island is going to be something many gamers enjoy, and the gameplay loop doesn't require much more than that to keep players invested. Windbound is a great game and, while it isn't perfect by any stretch, it's well worth checking out for anyone intrigued by its unique blend of aesthetic and gameplay.

Windbound’s visual appeal is sure to lure in players expecting an entirely different experience. That said, I grew to love a game that I initially couldn’t stand. It’s beautiful, charming, captivating, and completely brutal without apology. One of my favorite games of the year so far.

Windbound shines at first glance for its beautiful landscapes and a mix of survival themes with good sea-navigation mechanics, yet it falls short putting these ingredients into action. It's a game that becomes fun if you manage to overcome the learning curve, but it becomes very tedious and frustrating after a few hours.

Not quite a worthy addition to the survival genre, mainly due to its excruciatingly slow combat system and a rather large amount of technical issues. It's a shame, cause if you persevere, you'll find quite a lot of dept hand atmosphere in Windbound.

The story isn’t given as much airtime as it needs. Exploration is thwarted by the survival elements, and although the latter are the most satisfying of them all, clunky combat, the driving need to find food, and constant resource management means that there are better and more balanced survival titles out there.

Windbound looked to be a great many things, but it turned out to be a standard survival-roguelike crossover with some promising areas that never reached their full potential. An overly cruel death mechanic and repeating vistas are what ultimately drag down an otherwise solid and partially fun survival game. With the right expectations, Windbound is a solid offering that doesn't stray too far from its survival core.

At least the game is beautiful. I’ll definitely give it that.

It honestly feels like Windbound could be a great game. There’s a strong foundation and a lot of spirit in the idea, but ultimately it fails to live up to the endless ocean that it promises. I really wish that there was more to this experience and that it took more advantage of the things it does have to offer. Unfortuntely, if you’re looking for a great survival roguelike to put your time into, then you’re probably better off setting sail in more abundant seas.

Windbound is a serviceable survival game that offers a unique sailing experience to keep hardcore fans of the genre interested. But with simplistic and bland-feeling combat and an experience that doesn't engage with its narrative (despite promising to), Windbound isn't recommended at full price.

WindBound is a nice game, offering a pleasant mystical adventure with a good craft system and an artistic direction that is neat but too repetitive despite good ideas, most borrowed from Zelda Breath of The Wild by the way. The game has a potential that it cannot exploit - it does not go far enough.

The start of Windbound feels very promising - the world looks beautiful, the sailing wonderful, and the development of the crafting system well done. However, after the first few hours, things start to fall apart. The repetitive nature and lack of growth of the core mechanics really hold it back from what it could have been. There's still an enjoyable experience here, but it is obvious it could be so much more, and ultimately feels a little unfinished. This is only the second game to come from indie developer 5 Lives Studios, and it's exciting to see what the team comes up with next.

To be honest, Windbound feels a bit shallow. We were expecting a journey of discovery and adventure, but we only got some very repetitive tasks, and a game with a very predictable structure, which ruins the fun. It only leaves us with a few good ideas, like a nice crafting system.

Windbound is full of inspired ideas, especially when it comes to the potentially open world sea exportation. Those aspirations fall considerably short, though, as a lack of depth and creativity in its world gameplay sap the wind from its sails, leaving it adrift amidst a sea of better survival games...That being said, if you like survival games with a good atmosphere, you might want to give Windbound a try. Just be sure to temper your expectations. Anyone going into it thinking this will be a Breath of the Wild level survival title will be immensely disappointed.

From a distance, Windbound is a gorgeous oceanic adventure with a fun sailing system that isn't afraid to push back, but up close, the cracks start to show. The game makes a great first impression that ultimately wears thin by the time you've mastered its repetitive resource-gathering roguelike loop.

In its early moments, Windbound had my attention, and I was completely ready to discover more about this world. However, after the first chapter, I was left mostly disappointed with the lack of execution the game provides through the systems it introduces. A rather tedious travel system enhanced this feeling. Through its colorful scenery and a heartwarming soundtrack, are some decent experiences to be found, with the help of some fine-tuning. Perhaps in the hands of the more diehard survival game fans, Windbound may catch a breeze, but it never truly set sail for me.

The barriers that Windbound puts up makes it a tough game to enjoy, at least initially. It will take time to appreciate what it brings to the survival genre with its clever boat-building and authored open world action, though these smart nuances often go hand-in-hand with tedious, sometimes frustrating stretches of playtime.

Windbound is a fun sailing game set in a world that’s different every time you play, but it’s a frustrating and punishing survival game at the same time. It’s highly likely to not be the game players expect it to be. Without any story or narrative to anchor it, the player is left adrift at sea without a raft.

Windbound offers a simply adequate sailing adventure. The crafting system is predictable, the story simplistic, and the world is beautiful but quite empty. You might find some enjoyment from the bigger islands toward the end of the game, but not everyone will have the patience to make it that far.

Simply being pretty and functional isn’t enough to make Windbound any more interesting. It’s built around a survival gameplay loop that’s not particularly deep or fun. It may be great if you enjoy sailing, but beyond that, there’s not a whole lot here.

Windbound is a game that sounds good on paper but in practice, it falls apart. It’s a very interesting case study in design that takes inspiration from certain games yet doesn’t quite understand what made them fun in the first place.

When conditions are favorable, there’s so much to like about Windbound. The combat was a blast when the character had enough energy, and I had a fantastic time taking a grass canoe and transforming it into a six-hulled behemoth that sped me across the waves. It’s just unfortunate that every moment of joy has to be sifted out from a pile of annoyances and frustrations — the developers had a beautiful exploration experience within their grasp, and they diluted it with some of the harshest survival mechanics I’ve seen in ages. These are all simple balance issues that I’m sure could be patched out, but for now, Windbound just isn’t the game it deserves to be.

Windbound can be made to sound excellent in an elevator pitch, but the actual game is plagued by conflicting ideas, inconsistent design, and unrealized potential.

Windbound is a pleasant oceanic indie. It does a very fine job of balancing itself between being a calming experience in a deserted island world and a title that is genuinely tense thanks to its survival and permadeath nature. The inventory management is extremely frustrating early on, but eventually, the crafting nature of the game clicks and it becomes enjoyable to create helpful tools and a resourceful boat to explore the world. The objective of the game, unfortunately, becomes repetitive just as the other aspects of the title come into their own. But simply traversing the islands, discovering new materials and recipes, and surviving in the charming world of Windbound is fun enough to outweigh some of the game's shortcomings.

Despite its genuinely breathtaking scenery and interesting castaway premise, Windbound is ultimately a let down. Neither compelling as a survival simulation nor captivating as a story-based experience, Windbound is fundamentally all at sea and should be given a wide berth.

From the gorgeously animated visuals to the expansive open world filled with mystery, there really is a lot to love about Windbound. Although bogged down by some rather technical gaffes, there’s a satisfaction that comes from exploring each area, scavenging for resources, and building an awesome sailboat to take you between islands. A little tightening up would take Windbound into the realm of open-world survival games that it’s trying to be a part of, but as it stands, it’s doing its best to stay afloat.

On the tin, Windbound offers a fulfilling and exciting survival/adventure endeavor but when delved into, I was left with an empty and exhausting experience.

Windbound has its moments. Much of the time, it was relaxing enough to zone out and search for crafting materials. But the game is built around finding towers, and that process becomes significantly less fun after the first level. There are only so many times you can search for a tower, no matter how winsome the presentation.

The decision to segment Windbound into discrete chapters isn’t ruinous on its own; the game only spirals into tedium through the slow drip feed of new areas, items, and enemies on a per-chapter basis.

While Windbound initially instills the awe and wonder of a brave new world to explore, the game quickly grows stale once the structure of it becomes readily apparent.