12/25/2022 0 Comments Windbound craftingThe joys of sailing with actual sails rather than holding down the W key to row a grass boat everywhere become apparent.This launch video kicks off a three-part Dev Diary video series. There are interesting progression ideas that grant fresh wrinkles to the survival formula. You discover where the story’s going and uncover your people’s past. The thing is - eventually you set sail and Windbound becomes a much better game. What should be an intuitive test of skill instead becomes a trial of beating your head repeatedly against an enemy too cumbersome for its own good. This bison can take loads of damage unless you’re lucky enough to find a bone spear. This is made all the more painful as crucial crafting tools require taking out a massive bison enemy early on. It feels like Windbound is punishing you whenever you enter combat. Add a tediously slow wind-down between attacks, a stamina bar that runs out faster than in a Soulslike, and enemies that spontaneously run or attack in unexpected ways without warning, and you’ve got a bad time. It’s also the only consistent way to see an enemy’s health, though it’s slapped at the very top of the screen rather than above your opponent, so you might not notice anyway. Worse still, lock-on prevents you from sprinting and jumping, yet it is somehow the only mode that lets you dodge. It’s hard to tell if the lock-on camera is even working when hunting beasts directly. You’re often swinging at the wind when targeting an opponent or fighting to properly aim with a sling or bow. Survival games aren’t typically famous for great combat systems, mind you, but Windbound’s are infuriating at best. More concerning though is the clear lack of polish in the combat. This goes double for the mantling animations, which feel stiff and slow, with little visual flair.įor a game early along in development, this all would be fine, except Windbound releases this month. You can upgrade her storage, even building some additional housing on your boat, but you never quite get the elbow room necessary to be fully equipped.Īlthough not bad, there is an emphasis on pre-canned, lengthy animations that, while polished, actively get in the way of efficiently gathering and crafting. When just performing regular survival activities like harvesting and crafting, it is basically a clunkier Grounded, with a heavier emphasis on inventory management due to Kara apparently wearing pockets built for ants. Why? Well, rather than one unified control scheme, Windbound throws two at you, hiding one behind an alternate camera mode. Seriously, the control scheme is downright broken in certain areas. Now, to find your clan and sail home, you’ll have to go on an epic quest to fight Windbound’s controls like they’re an ornery bull. However, all I can say is that eventually, around the second chapter, Windbound starts to come together in ways that offer a much more intriguing experience than its opening lets on, and that remains the case by the fourth chapter.Īnd what an opening it is, with our heroine Kara being shipwrecked on one of many auto-generated isles by a monster attack. The mandatory learning curve, experimentation, and early crafting grind are standards of the genre - making up a healthy portion of Windbound as well. Even the best survival games struggle to onboard players until well after the first hour. Making things trickier is that I’m only allowed to discuss two 30-minute spans from the first and fourth chapters of the game.Īnyone who has played a survival game knows that the first 30 minutes is not when things are interesting. Now if only it didn’t seem to hate being played. It’s gorgeous, with some of the best painterly lighting and flowing water physics I’ve ever seen. I say that after putting a good five or so hours in, experiencing some charming highs and infuriating lows. Windbound deserves to be a better game than it is in its current state.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |