Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands Reviews
Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands at its best feels soulless, and at its worst it doesn't even function. If this is targeted towards young children, it's an insult to their intelligence. This is easily one of the worst games I have ever played.
Stranded Sails is one of the weakest titles released this year. A game lost in the search for its identity with the combination of survival and agriculture themes has created a boring and repetitive title. Despite all the bugs, you have to experience this gameplay again and again. No one is advised to experience this title with its current state. Even if we ignore the bugs, the whole game is not really worth the time.
Review in Persian | Read full review
While the experience is not an entirely negative one, it leaves little to enjoy when problems start coming up. The charming atmosphere and stylization lends itself well to being a sort of survival-lite adventure for a younger audience; the quests are straightforward; and, finally, the difficulty is forgiving. Those looking for an exploration game will find frustrations abound in this title, and unfortunately the design choices lead to a rather disappointing experience as a whole.
Stranded Sails doesn't earn its widespread comparisons to Stardew Valley.
Simulation & farming fans will likely want to skip this title, unless they are dying for something new to play until a notable game in the genre is released.
Stranded Sails is the perfect game for those who enjoy learning and structured game play. I found every new discovery exciting, cooking food for my crew rewarding and fishing as always put me in my zen zone but unfortunately I did not get the adventuring survival I was hoping for which is a shame really because it is also obvious that a lot of hard work has gone into this title as a studio and I look forward to watching Lemondrop evolve.
At its surface, Stranded Sails: Explorers of the Cursed Islands looks like an adorable and endearing addition to this genre, and though I so badly wanted to love it, I’d have difficulty recommending it to almost anyone other than young children. There is certainly a place in the gaming world for peaceful, low-pressure exploration and farming games, but unfortunately, I’m not convinced that Stranded Sails is one that belongs.
MEDIOCRE - A farming sim adventure on a deserted archipelago certainly has a great ring to it, and the setting is ripe for a lot of exploration, discovery, and some clever mechanics. Stranded Sails however falls a bit short in nearly every department. A heavy over-use of a convoluted cooking mechanic and other issues prevented the game from reaching that addictive quality that is required for games like these.
Farming, crafting, exploring, discovery… all check-boxes marked. Unfortunately, Stranded Sails never introduces enough depth or reason for fans of the genre to really dig in and stay a while.
I can’t find the entertainment in Stranded Sails. The quests aren’t fun, what little progression that exists is there to help ease the tedium of completing the repetitive fetch quests in the first place. I can’t even say it is a relaxing game because the energy bar is frustrating and the sole means of combating it lacks any kind of interesting engagement. Yet if it was removed the game’s existence would be that much more mindless bordering on an idle game.
Stranded Sails: Explorers of the Cursed Islands is a solid entry into the farming and exploration space, and a perfect entry level title for younger gamers or those new to the genre. Its simplicity helps it stand out in the crowd, but not always for the best reasons.
In summation, Stranded Sails feels like a lot of potentially interesting combinations of systems and ideas that, in execution, is just too shallow and tedious to be all that much fun.
Stranded Sails is an okay exploration game that rewards you for adventuring into the nooks and crannies of its tropical islands.
Stranded Sails I would say fits just right in the genre with its own take. If the intro hours were a little quicker I think the pacing would feel much better and I worry some folks will stop before getting there. It reminded me of the first time I played Harvest Moon 64. I had no idea what I was doing, but slowly and surely I came away feeling accomplished and satisfied. Stranded Sails gave me that feeling of heart and charm with a pirate twist.
Stranded Sails will be too simple for most players, yet kindly welcoming for those new to the survival/crafting genre
Stranded Sails: Explorers of the Cursed Islands is an interesting adventure RPG with plenty of mechanics that involve resource-gathering, cooking and exploration and which features a world with a soul of its own. Where Stranded Sails disappoints is in what regards its rather shallow combat and repetitiveness of some objectives, as well as the technical bugs that affect the experience. A work that's aimed at those who are very much into gathering and production of resources.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Stranded Sails offers some terrific farming simulation which does the majority of the game's heavy lifting, but it's held up by middling RPG-esque mechanics. Mixing things up and throwing a selection of genres into a pot to see what comes out is arguably commendable, and there's an awful lot to like about Stranded Sails, but some frustrating and bizarre choices in regards to recipes and the energy meter system hamstring the game for those hoping for a less taxing castaway experience.
Even though we ran into the occasional bug (nothing that couldn’t be fixed by rebooting), this is a fun game if you just want to relax with something nice and easy.
Stranded Sails: Explorers of the Cursed Islands is an absolute wannabe that only hardcore fans of this genre could possibly enjoy. Tedious exploration full of repetitive tasks.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
If you can get past the somewhat slow returns on quite a bit of grind, it has some survival appeal