ValeVelKal
Arcane
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2011
- Messages
- 1,605
Well, I would say this matches what I told youOk, It started pretty good but by the end of chapter 2 I have enough of it.Just a quick impressions from dipping into Windbound for about half an hour so take it with a big grain of salt:
+ no handholding, you're washed ashore a small island and basically fuck you
+ combat is simple but perfectly functional, you have melee attacks with a knife/spear, ranged attacks with bow/sling, there's a lock on and dodges, basically miles ahead of Subnautica which had only a knife and torpedoes (there's also sneaking and hiding in bushes), I have not encountered any glitches, bad hitboxes or general jank which was mentioned in the Steam reviews
+ I like how your hunger bar doubles as your stamina, basically the hungrier you are the less stamina you have
+ resources are scarce and your inventory is very limited (you can carry a single bag + a basket on the boat)
/ you can swim but there's no diving (though I don't see any point in swimming at the moment, it quickly drains your stamina and when it's empty you drown and wake up on the nearest island or your boat if you crafted an anchor)
/ low poly cell shaded graphics, the game as a whole looks pretty nice and vibrant but there's no denying the individual textures and models lack details
/ the game takes place in some fantasy/alien setting which is a plus (I hate realistic survival games because they lack the "unknown") but so far the environments are pretty standard islands with trees, stones and some cute creatures
- no base building, I think having a home you can decorate with various trophies, flora and other random things is quite important in those kind of games
So far I'm very positively surprised. Especially for a 3€ game (currently -85%).
- no meaningful exploration
- the environment consists of almost identical copy-pasted islands and there's nothing else
- closed chapters instead of a single large world map
- sailing the boat is slow and tedious unless you're sailing with the wind
- the objectives in each chapter are the same, find three "totems" then fuck off to the next chapter and everything you've built like campfires, drying racks, kilns etc are gone and you have to rebuilt them every single time
- lack of content (especially compared to other survival/crafting games)
- pretty easy even on the highest difficulty level (and there are only two)
The combat is not pure glitchy jank, but mediocre and flavorless. You won't enjoy or hate it anymore than, say, mining stuff. Once you have a bow you will just use that anyway and it will quick & efficient.
Again, the huge problem of the game is repetitivity :
Chapter 1 : collect components, build a ship, explore the place/"chapter" until you find the 3 islands with a monolith, move to next chapter,
Chapter 2 : collect the new components, improve your ships with new tech, explore the place/chapter, find the 3 islands with a monolith, more to next chapter
Chapter 3 : Same as chapter 2
Chapter 4 : Same as chapter 3 etc
except this :
"Your ship is interesting to handle from chapter 2 iirc, and then really fun to handle from chapter 3" ; it looks like you did not like it.