The survival genre has been around for decades, but it seems that the rising prominence of indie game development over the last decade has led to survival games experiencing something of a renaissance, much like the Metroidvania and roguelike genres. Windbound – the newest release from 5 Lives Games – is the latest entrant in this long lineage of survival games, then, with the main hook here being the obvious influence from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. All comparisons aside, Windbound implements its survival mechanics well enough to stand on its own, and though it isn’t exactly a game that demands you rush out to buy it immediately, it’s still an enjoyable experience that’s worth looking into.
The story of Windbound follows Kara, a silent protagonist who finds herself shipwrecked and alone after a dangerous encounter with a massive Kraken-like creature. Kara’s goal is, of course, to find her way back home, but there’s a bigger narrative at play which is slowly unwound by encountering a series of mysterious magical shrines dotted about the islands of the strange waters she's been cast into.
Broadly speaking, this story is about the rise and fall of an ancient civilization, while offering more backstory on the Kraken you encountered. It’s all interesting enough in its own right, but as you’d probably expect, the narrative isn’t exactly the central focus here. Still, it nonetheless offers a nice backdrop for the mostly chill gameplay and helps to give it some context.
Windbound is a roguelite survival game at first glance, in the sense that your moment-to-moment action consists of a continuous search for food and materials for crafting, but the influence of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is unmistakable. Elements like exploring the stony ruins of a technologically-advanced ancient civilization or the meandering and low-key sense of open-ended exploration certainly call to mind Nintendo’s seminal open-world adventure. Even so, the similarities mostly stop there, as the underlying mechanics don’t feature any puzzle-solving and combat is kept to a simplistic minimum. Kara’s adventure notably echoes Link’s in some ways, then, but her primary struggle is always against nature itself and the uncaring, unfair way that it treats its inhabitants.
The typical flow of a session of Windbound consists of five chapters that are nearly indistinguishable from each other. Each chapter sees Kara and her boat dropped into a big, circular cutout of the ocean, and her task is to sail between the islands to find three magical shells that unlock a gate (and a random upgrade) so she can further progress. Islands are randomly generated and dotted around the map, and the resources that they hold are similarly unpredictable.
This unpredictability proves to be the source of the most enjoyable sort of tension that Windbound has to offer, and is sure to keep you hooked at least for a few hours. Kara has a stamina gauge that governs her ability to run and do other actions, but its cap is constantly being eroded away as she goes longer without food. If it runs out, her health bar starts to go instead, possibly resulting in death. Your primary goal is to find all those shells, then, but pursuing that goal will necessarily require you to search every island along the way for goods that you urgently need.
You may very well arrive on an island and find that there’s no local wildlife to hunt and eat, but there are some berries to take the edge off your hunger and some palm fronds to help you build a new mast for your boat. The reverse may be true the next island over; you never really know what you’re up against with Windbound and that’s what makes it such a joy to play.
That sense of desperate improvisation makes each decision you make meaningful and impactful because you’re constantly having to balance the cost against the risk. Do you try to take down that Gorehorn for its parts, or do you pass because your spear is likely to break mid-fight? Do you sail for that island on the distant horizon, or stick with a closer one that you’re pretty sure doesn’t have the food you need?
Whatever choice you go with, you’re sure to make at least some progress towards making the journey a little easier. Kara can use various materials she finds on her journey to build things like a stronger boat, new weapons, and new tools for getting better materials. None of this is necessary, of course, you can feasibly go through the whole journey with just your starting knife and nothing else, but it's far more enjoyable to set for yourself a series of mini-goals for new tools that’ll make it that much easier to see Kara through her quest.
For all the subtle intensity of having to survive in the wild, it’s remarkable how relaxing it can feel to play a session of Windbound. Other than the encroachment of hunger, there's no rush or sense of urgency to your actions, meaning that there are plenty of stretches along the way where you can explore islands at a leisurely pace and sail this way and that as the wind takes you. Chill moments like this prove to be another strong point of the Windbound experience, though they soon give way to repetition, which is the largest shortcoming of Windbound’s gameplay.
Kara controls just fine and the survival mechanics are solid, but as the hours wear on, Windbound slowly begins to feel more like it’s dragging its feet. Each chapter has a bigger explorable radius than the last, which leads to a lot more dead time just sitting on the boat as you go between islands. And once you’ve got yourself a decent stockpile of materials and tools, collecting for survival becomes more of a chore than it does a joy. A lot of this comes down to how Windbound doesn’t introduce a ton of new content as you move through the chapters, which can make the overall experience feel homogenous and overlong.
Things are made even worse if you choose to play on the harder of the two difficulties, which will kick you all the way back to chapter one if Kara should be unfortunate enough to bite the dust. Considering that there can sometimes be accidents and attacks that are entirely beyond your control – prepared or not –losing four hours of progress can be quite discouraging. When faced with this, it’s hard to muster up the will to try again, as there’s not nearly enough variance in the gameplay loop to justify sinking all that time in to get back to where you were.
Presentation is another area where the Zelda influence is strongly felt, as the art style almost perfectly mirrors that of Link’s adventure. Characters have realistic proportions, but there’s an overall cartoonish, cel-shaded look to the art style that’s pleasing to the eye. Monster designs are mostly pretty cute, and the world itself has a brightly-lit and diverse colour scheme that keeps the seascapes visually interesting.
This is all supported by some solid performance, too; we only saw one or two times where Windbound dropped below its 30FPS target and the drops weren’t too significant. All of this is accompanied by a near-nonexistent soundtrack, with the odd piano or violin piece occasionally fading in when you’re exploring. This is a good choice, though, as it allows the visuals to speak for themselves, and the music can make itself known when it needs to, such as the pounding drums that start-up during intense fights.
Conclusion
Windbound is most certainly not the Zelda-lite adventure that you may have expected it to be, but it still manages to pull off an impressively well-made survival experience that’s fun to roam around in for a few hours. The open-ended progression, pleasing art style, and relaxing pace make this one an easy recommendation for fans of the survival genre, though it’s held back from greatness due to issues with repetition. Still, it’s tough to go wrong with what’s on offer here; you might want to give this one a look.
Comments 45
Sequel is already in the works apparently, tentatively titled 'Eggbound'.
Why are so many games nowadays compared relative to other games?
I was somewhat curious initially but it's been getting pretty underwhelming reviews across the board which has killed any interest I might have had in the game, especially at the high price it costs.
Good effort - but it seems one of the hardest jobs for smaller companies is to avoid characters, including the all-important protagonist, from looking too generic.
This one falls into that trap for me. But it definitely shows some labour of love in general, and we need more developers daring to make these kinds of projects now - and moving on from 2D Metroidvanias.
@Pat_trick Or because it's easy to give someone an impression of a game by directly relating it to one they're already familiar with?
Check the word count of this review. Hardly what I'd deem to be lazy
Don’t let a 7 stop you if you like this sort of game. I bought it day one and have sunk so much time into it meticulously crafting and surviving. More like The Flame in the Flood than zelda.
@acNewUpdates because comparing a game to another game also describes a genre. One of the first aspects a potential buyer usually wants to know.
What can easily describe the genre / feeling of the game otherwise?
The art style owes a debt to BotW, but aside from that it is it's own game and I am enjoying it thoroughly. It is relaxing, but can be a bit intense when you are on the brink of death and need food quickly.
Great survival/crafting game!
I've been honestly loving this game so far, but it is missing that little extra that would make it one of my all-time favorites.
I'll get my fill of my enjoyment from these 5 chapters, but part of me laments the missed opportunity of a large unified map with more varied and organic feeling locations, landmarks, and progression.
I've been playing it since day one and it is a good experience. Building your boat and customizing and expanding on it is a huge draw to me. There are a number of bug s and crashes I encountered, and they've caused me problems, but I plan to keep playing it.
@Damo Fair point, I withdraw my previous statement.
@acNewUpdates it’s not really a ‘nowadays’ situation. If you look back to old gaming mags, for example the Nintendo Magazine, as far back as the 90’s they would have a little header in the game description along the lines of ‘most like’ or ‘you’ll like it if you like...’
Reminds me a bit of Rime, which is a nice game.
Something about this reminds me of Rime and I hated that game ha
Complete Zelda rip off I’d rather just play Zelda.
@Pat_trick No worries! 😃
Definitely enjoyed my time with it, but I've noticed that it seems the issue with repetition is something all Survival games have in common. Like, in Don't Starve, you basically have to go through the same basic motions and crafting recipes at the beginning every time before you can start to make choices to make that run unique. Does anybody know of a Survival game that sidesteps this? I'd be curious to try one that allows freedom of choice from the get go, rather than a limited first few hours and then freedom of choice.
@Lordplops Maybe they will call it Father 2?
I'll get me "like zelda" fix with Genshin Impact. If not playing the real thing, might as well do it for Free.
SABLE has that exploring with "climb or glide anywhere" mechanic and uncovering an old civilization with puzzle ruins vibe. And love the Ligne Claire-inspired art style.
The review mentions that there's permadeath in the higher difficulty mode, but what about the other one? What happens when you die?
I adore Don't Starve, but I really think forced permadeath is a huge bummer. I'm not about to risk losing hours of progress in the name of "realism" or whatever else, so I end up playing survival games in an extremely conservative fashion, and never take any risks. It would be great to have a survival game that allowed me to experiment without risking such an enormous setback.
@acNewUpdates Because the best way sometimes to make a point or to argue for the quality of something, a comparison is necessary for reference. Nothing wrong with that.
@ricklongo Permadeath mode kicks you back to chapter 1 and start over. The easier mode just has you restart the current chapter, and you can keep some of your stuff.
Is the sequel called earthbound?
It certainly sounds ok and passable. The art syle is quite nice. Beyond that though, "why would I spend some of my games budget on this?", I ask myself. Not sure. Highly competent creation but....
I've heard this game is extremely glitchy at the moment, but I see no mention of it in this review. Did you experience any bugs?
@acNewUpdates they are compared because all original ideas have pretty much been done. Everything is a rehash of something or another anymore. The market is saturated with crap everywhere. That goes for any and all industries.
Was interested until a review on another site, as well as this one. The other site mentions survival mode vs storyteller mode, and says that the game mechanics are more interesting in survival mode, other than that 'lose all your progress' aspect. If the devs hear that repeatedly, maybe they will patch to make storyteller mode more varied. Not holding my breath. May try it on sale at some point.
I had read that the sailing is a major pain in the neck due to the high winds and that you can't go back to using oars at all once you have sails. Is this true?
I was hoping this would get a review. Not bad... Kinda what I thought. I'll leave it on my backlog and wait for a strong sale.
@daebiya That's what I've been wondering about — how does it compare to The Flame in the Flood? I've enjoyed Flame in the Flood, but haven't played it for tons of hours (some great music though!). I like that they both have water travelling.
@SwitchVogel Playing a river run attempt in The Flame in the Flood doesn't require hours, so anytime one plays the game it's normal to die after I guess about 5 to 20 minutes. I've never gotten to wherever the flooded river goes, but always enjoyed trying. Maybe I'd need to play more of it to give a better estimate. You have to craft some basic stuff at the beginning, but it's not a huge repetitive time sink to play the beginning over and over. I love going down that river in my crappy raft.
@60frames-please I'll have to give that one a look, I've heard it's a pretty great survival game!
I've loved it! The crashes are tough to handle, but the gameplay loop is so much fun.
@60frames-please So I'm 12 hours into Windbound now and I'm hooked! I was initially hating it after dying a bunch in the clunky start, but I haven't died in 3 days and love my big boat, and loaded arsenal. Progress feels very satisfying. So yes, in that regard it's just like Flame in the Flood. Enjoyable exploration, grab resources, manage time, and get better tools to hunt.... but Flame in the Flood had late difficulty spikes where dying and starting over felt unfair & frustrating. Windbound is MUCH MORE forgiving after you get through the initial hump. I now have a big boat, deep arsenal/armor, and when I see a new monster I feel confident with patience I can kill it (slow hunter style). Closest to dying in 3 days was food shortage stuck in the ocean with no wind... lesson learned, have lots of food just in case. (ps I did beat Flame in the Flood... lots of luck in the final parts of the river. Ending was surprisingly worth while as a narrative).
@daebiya Nice! I'm really wanting to try Windbound. Cool, maybe I'll watch a youtube playthrough of Flame in the Flood so I can enjoy the music, story, and narrative without having to deal with the very likely frustration of dying (and I can also avoid having to clear space to redownload the game). Thanks for the feedback!
This review is actually fair and unbiased well done. I've seen couple other reviews on this game that were far too harsh imo, and I even took a little heat for saying so. I'm VERY glad to see a reviewer really focus on the things that ACTUALLY MATTER in a game of this type. A reviewer that judged based on what it IS instead of what it isn't. And while the final score is only one point higher, this review is much more trustworthy and informative. Sad as it may be, a good game reviewer is super rare nowadays. So once again I say, WELL DONE
@60frames-please hehe that sounds like a good plan. A good thing Flame in the Flood does that I hope Windbound adopts, when you're deeper in the game and die you don't have to start at the beginning, but choose a checkpoint on the map. Huge gaps between the points, but it helps a lot! And it's helpful to start several stops back because you released where you F'ed up and try your best to avoid how you died.
@Sam_Loser2 I feel the same, but it's all I want to play at the end of the day! Hoping it's successful and finds a community so they can make a larger and tighter sequel. I'm on the 5th world and my boat looks like a floating fort, love it.
@daebiya I can't pull myself away from it!
In a way that's what makes me lament the missed opportunity more, but I do hope success could pave the way for a bigger and better sequel!
@daebiya Funnily enough this game (among MANY other games) came on my radar due to similarities to Flame in the Flood. I love that game.
If I decide to get this, I think I will wait for patches/updates to fix bugs. May wait for a discount too.
I admit that I've never played BOTW, or any other survivalist game either, so most of the comparisons given mean little to nothing to me. This game piqued my interest about trying out the genre though. The reviews that I've been reading about it have given me pause about jumping right in at this time. Maybe down the road.
Other than BOTW, are there other survivalist games that people have enjoyed? I'm open to recommendations.
Makes me want to replay BOTW again
please, I urge people to rethink before buying this game, because it isn't worth purchasing as of now ;-; it's really bad objectively sadly, unfortunately I find it horrible how nintendo is lying about this game yet they have no problem being straight forward strong towards the other indie games instead of this one, really is a red flag.
the issue with this game that it has noticable bugs, it is nothing at all close to even botw - do not fall for that false hope. the game is extremely short - it's 6 hours long for a 30$ game pretty pricey for a short game, and i find it distasteful that the devs raved about how it is supposedly a "40 hour game" - like where do you see that?? (important note: I have to give credit for this information thanks to Jopa Quest on youtube, I saw his video and he is pretty good at criticizing it's flaws much more), other fact is the stamina/hunger feature are both linked together; not kidding here, your character will get hungry every single minute..so it gets very annoying, not such a good mechanic for a game like this, and of course you can increase your stamina but it doesn't fit in..feels like they just rushed to add it in.
further add on; the game has a rogue lite system meaning if you die, you have to repeat the entire game from chapter 1, another thing worth noting of how badly this was put into the game is that um..if ya main girl falls on a darn rock like legit jumps a height that a character can survive it - she takes a lot of damage which is utterly ridiculous. fairly enough you can play without the rogue lite mechanics feature, but it still has the annoying thing of having to walk down a darn rock and taking so much damage :/.
when I mean it has bugs..its noticable.. ;-;..sigh.. - the controls are awkward and clunky lol like I mean meme worthy, finally the kombat is just so boring..its not interesting, it's the same thing over and over again.
So if you still want to buy this game, support the devs in Hope's they actually patch the game and lower the price down for people to play it. then by all means go right ahead nobody stopping you, I just would not recommend spending much money on it until a sale drops.
I would see this game a 5/10 medicore..
@BenAV dude it's an amazing game I have it on pc and its super cool! I would give it a 10/10!
Just bought this, it's downloading now!
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