![]() So the faster you pick that up - or don’t - the more you’ll get out of the game. You’ll have to engage with it whenever Kara wants to regain stamina - because eating is a crucial part of survival.īut for the most part, it’s the sailing that really defines Windbound‘s gameplay. Fortunately, there was supremely little combat in my three hour playthrough. The controls themselves are a little bit floaty, and the rudimentary sling you start with has an arc that can be a bit of a pain to properly aim. It’s completely straightforward: Line up the shot, dodge out of the way, shoot some more, craft extra arrows if you need them, or safely dodge in and out for single melee strikes. The biggest fight I encountered was with the rhino-esque Gorehorn, who charges and kicks at Kara once she becomes too much of a nuisance. There’s a little bit of combat in Windbound, but it’s absolutely not the game’s core focus. The Gorehorn will quite literally kick your arse, if it doesn’t run over you first. ![]() I couldn’t actually see anything that would let me fall asleep or rest to recover HP, at least in the preview I played. You can make fires fairly early on, although the game warns that the fires you can make - including one that you can have on your boat - aren’t quite enough to keep you warm at night. This’d stop you from sailing every time it happened, but you can upgrade your boat with spikes to make it sturdier.Īlong the way, you’ll also be dealing with Kara’s starvation. The islands around this area were more hazardous, with small creatures jumping out from the water and attaching themselves to Kara or the boat. That’s especially the case once your boat starts getting bigger and you’re having to navigate rockier, more difficult terrain.ĭuring the preview, Windbound‘s publisher loaded the game into a save further in where more materials and weapons were unlocked. There’s also a lot of stiffness when loosening and tightening the sail - and while I’m sure that’s completely fair and accurate to what actual sailing is like, it feels a little unwieldy and unresponsive in a video game.įor me, 3 hours wasn’t sufficient to get comfortable with the way sailing works. (I was using mouse and keyboard, largely because that was the simplest control scheme for the remote streaming software used for the gameplay session.) Raising and lowering your sails does absolutely nothing for your forward or backward movement though, and unlearning that natural habit after decades of using W and S for basic movement takes time. It’s tricky, largely because W and S lower and raise your sails. The game explains that “tightened sails allow you to sail across or into the wind”, while you’ll want to loosen the sail for the most speed when the wind is at your back. ![]() Kara’s main job is really to steer, while “loosening” and “tightening” the sail. Instead of being like every other video game, sailing is all about managing the direction of the wind. It’s here where the control scheme totally changes. You start with just a canoe and an oar, but the next island contains sticks, which unlocks the recipes necessary to make basic sails. The exploration in the beginning is actually the easiest, too. Windbound wants you to explore of your own volition. ![]() There’s bars for your stamina, various weapons you might have crafted, but there’s no compass or quest log. The only direction you have at this point is line of sight. Coupled with the grass and rope you’re already able to fashion, Kara’s then able to build her first boat, enabling travel to the next island. It’s just you - or Kara, the adventurer for this nautical journey - bouncing from one island to the next, navigating the wind, collecting rocks, wood, grass and chasing small animals and boars to get the various materials you need.Īfter being washed ashore on a small island, Kara comes across a small shrine that eventually gives her access to an oar. You’re not given a great deal of direction. Windbound has looked like an indie blend of Breath of the Wild exploration and Windwaker-style sailing from the start, and after spending three hours with the game via remote streaming, that’s exactly how it plays. The latest game from 5 Lives Studios, the Brisbane makers of Satellite Reign, is pretty upfront about its inspirations. We go from point A to point B, often only diverting because of impassable terrain, invisible walls or the occasional side quests. Similarly, it’s a wholly unconventional form of travel for video games. Knowing how to sail is not a normal activity or skill for the majority of people.
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