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- 5 Lives Studios
- 5 Lives Studios
- 5 Lives Studios
- 5 Lives Studios
Windbound
Released On: Aug 28, 2020
64
5.3
Where to Buy
Where to Buy
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 48 Critic Reviews
64
17% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
81% Mixed
39 Reviews
39 Reviews
2% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 48 Critic Reviews
64
17% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
81% Mixed
39 Reviews
39 Reviews
2% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Windbound is a delight. With a few UX issues and a bit of repetition holding it back from all-time-great status, this game is still a wonder to explore and discover. The sailing is fantastic, the island exploration is intriguing, and the sting of dying isn't so bad that it should scare away roguelike-haters. The world of Windbound is so well made that you may want to dip into it just to hang out for a while. Fun, exciting, and rewarding.
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.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 23 User Ratings
5.3
35% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
22% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
43% Negative
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 23 User Ratings
5.3
35% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
22% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
43% Negative
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
If you like rogue-like survival games, great music, beautiful art style and a decent crafting system you should try this game, the only problem is that navigating in your boat gets a little **** at times.
You can pick from a survivalist mode, or storyteller mode:
If you die in survivalist you lose most of your items upon death, except the ones you held in your possession outside your pouch (if you have any), but you retain all the skills and crafting recipes obtained between chapters, this include some unique unbreakable items.
In storyteller you don't lose anything, this mode is perfect for those who are not into that kind of gameplay.
Crafting includes food, weapons, survival tools and upgrading your boat, improving your boat is extremely rewarding and you can build it the way you want, and since you need to survive tides, sea creatures and other kind of hazards it is a core mechanic on this game,
Combat is rather simple but that is not a bad thing, you face big monsters to obtain unique materials, you have melee (spear/knife) and ranged combat(bow/slingshot) to complete this task and even minor stealth mechanics, every chapter the game introduces new types of creatures and types of biomes
I highly recommend this game, if you like survival/crafting games.
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PlayStation 4
I recommend it, it is a fun game with a lot of exploration and good mechanics. Perfect if it is on sale or at a slightly lower price.
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PlayStation 4
Windbound is a good survival game, but it fails to deliver a real vibrant story and a good rhythm during exploration and crossing phases.
At least the game is beautiful. I’ll definitely give it that.
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.
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.
Even though some of you might find enjoyment in the survival element of this title, ridiculously slow loading times, progress, strangling repetition, unintuitive controls and a surprisingly annoying hunger indicator, made this author seek enjoyment elsewhere. No doubt there is quality here, but my hands were just too tired from digging to look for it any deeper.
I’m a couple of hours into Windbound and so far it’s really enjoyable. I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece, nor a top tier game, but it has an intriguing story, nice soundtrack and rewarding gameplay. I’ve heard it can get repetitive but so far I don’t mind that because of the new crafting recipes I unlock fairly often. I recommend that you give it a try, perhaps when it is on sale for a slightly lower price.
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PlayStation 4
Windbound is a rogue like, third person survival game where your character, Kara starts of stranded on a small island. The story begins here as you progress from island to island (all procedurally generates) activating beacons before ultimately heading to your next set of islands.
The story is okay and spans five chapters but failed to keep me interested past the second chapter.
The rogue like mechanics in the game conflict with the open areas that kind of deter you from setting out on your crafted boa and exploring what the seas have to offer. Whilst this is generally the norm for rogue likes, I found myself feeling like it didn’t fit the style of the game. Whilst there is an easier difficulty the only real difference is either restarting from chapter one, or restarting from the chapter you’re currently on. You also keep all your items on the easier difficulty, compared to only keeping what is held on your person on the survivalist difficulty.
The game looks pretty, clearly drawing inspiration from Breathe of the Wild, this translates to combat aswell, however it never felt as clean and smooth as you would expect.
Sailing is disappointing until the later parts of the game once your boat has been upgraded and your used to the way you should be sailing, however it never felt rewarding enough.
There are slight performance issues and occasional frame rate dips at time but that doesn’t takeaway from the experience too much.
The only major bug I encountered was playing on story difficulty, for my second play through, but the game not registering that I was on story difficulty, therefore resetting all my progress upon death.
Overall my experience with Windbound was not as great as I had hoped for this game.
The repetitive nature combined with the rogue like elements don’t make exploring outside of the story path worth the risk.
The combat isn’t as intuitive as it could of been and the game is definitely lacking polish.
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PlayStation 4
There are some things that this game does right, like the feeling of heading out on uncharted waters. But when everything around those few good moments is full of clunky movement, bad design choices and bugs, then it's really hard to forgive this game.
The worst design choice is the difficulty setting this game wants to be played on. Having potentially hours of progress erased everytime you die is a really stupid decision in a game where there is so much trial and error. Also, when the overall gameplay is both tedious and unintuitive you get bored really fast if forced to repeat everything over and over again because of something stupid the game did.
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PlayStation 4
I tried so hard to like this game. The only thing positive I can say about it is that it has an interesting artistic style…I guess. The inventory is frustrating, the sailing is ridiculous, the combat is simple and repetitive and the story is lacking. Not just the worst “survival” game I’ve played, but one of the worst overall games I’ve ever touched. The worst pita rat about this is the game seems like there is actual potential, but somehow just threw it away. It does blatantly rip off elements and styles from games like BOTW, but fails to use them in any meaningful way and thus falls flat. Your stamina will immediately drop after eating and your character will be perpetually hungry. Resources are scarce and sailing is an absolute nightmare. You’d be better off never upgrading your boat and simply rowing through the game. It gets a 1 because underneath this awful trash fire I can tell there was the possibility of a decent game. Avoid it even if it’s free. Save your time for something better.
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PlayStation 4
After combat my character kept losing health and had no idea why she was losing health as the game gave me no explanation and eating didn't solve this situation so my character died and was sent back to the very beginning again.
Combat is awful especially using the sling even melee combat is basic and rubbish. I was hoping for an enjoyable game but this game with its bugs and horrible game mechanics frustrated me to no end. Complete waste of money.
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PlayStation 4
Summary Embark on a personal journey and discover the history of the idyllic forbidden islands; each holding the key to a mystery and unexpected revelations. Head towards the horizon, advancing across the islands, each with their own wildlife, landscapes and challenges to face. Scavenge the island's untamed terrain for resources that you can use...
Platforms:
- PC
- Nintendo Switch
- Xbox One
- PlayStation 4
Initial Release Date: Aug 28, 2020
Developer:
- 5 Lives Studios
Publisher: 5 Lives Studios
Genres:
