Windbound

 PlayStation 4
Windbound Image
Metascore
64

Mixed or average reviews - based on 48 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
5.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 18 Ratings

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  • 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'sEmbark 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 to craft a full range of tools and weapons to hunt wildlife and upgrade your boat. You must set sail when resources become scarce. Your boat is your key companion on this journey, carefully craft your own custom sailing vessel to take on the treacherous waters, traversing from one island to the next.… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 48
  2. Mixed: 39 out of 48
  3. Negative: 1 out of 48
  1. Gaming Nexus
    Aug 28, 2020
    95
    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.
  2. 3DJuegos
    Sep 19, 2020
    75
    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.
  3. Multiplayer.it
    Sep 5, 2020
    70
    Windbound is a personal journey, a rogue-like survival action RPG that you will love or hate.
  4. Twinfinite
    Aug 28, 2020
    60
    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.
  5. Siliconera
    Sep 15, 2020
    60
    At least the game is beautiful. I’ll definitely give it that.
  6. Gaming Age
    Aug 28, 2020
    58
    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.
  7. PLAY! Zine
    Sep 5, 2020
    45
    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.

See all 48 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 5 out of 7
  1. Tronyel
    Aug 30, 2020
    10
    If you like rogue-like survival games, great music, beautiful art style and a decent crafting system you should try this game, the onlyIf 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 wanky 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.    … Expand
  2. Penwooh
    Aug 29, 2020
    8
    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 anI’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.… Expand
  4. Redlightsaber13
    Aug 29, 2020
    4
    Windbound is a rogue like, third person survival game where your character, Kara starts of stranded on a small island. The story begins hereWindbound 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.    … Expand
  5. Antibomb
    Sep 1, 2020
    2
    There are some things that this game does right, like the feeling of heading out on uncharted waters. But when everything around those fewThere 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.    … Expand
  6. Stratslinger315
    Sep 21, 2021
    1
    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. TheI 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.… Expand
  7. Lestatman
    Sep 11, 2020
    1
    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'tAfter 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.    … Expand
  8. HunterV
    Aug 30, 2020
    0
    Now I don't know if this is a cross-platform issue, but I encountered a rage-inducing impact to my experience with this game that brought itNow I don't know if this is a cross-platform issue, but I encountered a rage-inducing impact to my experience with this game that brought it from a mid-to-high score back all the way down to zilch.

    On Nintendo Switch, Survivalist and Storyteller modes have no discernible difference. I enabled Storyteller for my first playthrough specifically for the purpose of enjoying what the developers made without losing it at the cost of beginners' mistakes. I got to the fourth chapter, a monster wandered up to my marooned ship, and continually pulled me off of it until I died.

    I reload after death (and have continued to try doing so by suspending, closing, exiting the game and turning off the console) and I am back to square one, no progress, no items, nothing. Just like survivalist mode. So as per my experience, the only option implemented that can vary you experience of this game which blatantly rips off the concepts of multiple big-name IPs to begin with, doesn't even work.

    You could have had something, guys. Instead you just tried to piggy-back off of better ideas and couldn't even manage to do that right.    … Expand

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