Windbound Reviews
Windbound is a game that presents a great approach, but fails to execute. However, despite its mistakes, it manages to stand out thanks to its artistic design, its own identity and a solidity in its survival system.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Windbound is a beautiful, relaxing experience that uses its survival mechanics not to force tension, but encourage you to keep moving forward.
The more I played the less the goings-on of the narrative bothered me, and the more I relished the wavelike rhythm of the action: the roll and crash of sailing and breaking to alight for supplies.
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.
Windbound is a fun experience that breaks the survival game mold. The boat crafting and sailing are innovative features that were exciting to explore. Altough the positives were very strong, the quality of life issues made the experience tedious. Windbound accels in standing alone in a saturated genre, but doesn't shine through enough.
Windbound is a good survival game, but it fails to deliver a real vibrant story and a good rhythm during exploration and crossing phases.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Windbound's visual appeal is sure to lure in players expecting an entirely different experience. That said, I grew to love a game that I initially couldn't stand. It's beautiful, charming, captivating, and completely brutal without apology. One of my favorite games of the year so far.
Windbound is a brief but enjoyable journey that merges Legend Of Zelda-style adventure with survival crafting.
There’s a sense of achievement that comes with beating a game like Windbound. It may not be as difficult as something like Bloodborne, but it feels like you’ve run a marathon.
The central roguelite mechanic of the game is the weakest one and most frustrating - when you turn it off, Windbound is an enjoyable experience that's just held back by technical flaws. The story, however, partly makes up for that and Windbound has moments with the most remarking atmosphere.
Review in German | Read full review
Beautiful in visuals and in sound with a survival system that works best when the player learns from mistakes made, Windbound is a charming budget entry in a very crowded entry genre and may have stood out more if less of it was a tribute to a game like Breath of the Wild that simply does everything far better.
Windbound is a fun experience that often finds you wishing for a little bit more: more responsive combat, a few quality of life features, and the ability to control the wind to name a few.
Windbound strikes me as a victim of overachieving — it wants to do so much that it ends up tripping over its own feet. Is it a survival game? Yes. Is it an exploration game? Also yes. Is it a crafting game? Yes again. Is it a story-driven game? Yep. Does it do any of those things perfectly? No. You need to explore to move onto the next area, but you’re tethered in place because the survival mechanics are a little too overbearing. Topped off with a more nuanced story told through a repetitive loop, Windbound’s balance is less a scale and more a see-saw, swinging from one side to the other with the player clinging on for dear life. It’s still a solid experience and one that I would recommend, but carefully, and only to fans of the survival genre. If you’re looking for another Breath of the Wild or Wind Waker, breeze past this title.
Windbound almost feels like a mixing pot of some of this decade’s most visually striking and compelling games, and for the most part, the end result is surprisingly effective. It could do with more depth, but its focus on exploration and fantastic ship-building mechanics make for a pretty liberating survival experience.
Windbound is a game trying to do something but never nails the formula and instead comes off as an almost incomplete experience.
So overall, Windbound is a lighter survival experience that I would recommend if you’re looking for a more relaxing experience. Regardless of the modes, there’s never anything that will outright destroy your rafts or kill you because you landed on its island. Taken at your own pace, this is perfect for those quiet Sunday afternoons where you have nothing planned and simply want to listen to the sounds of the waves or some light ambient music.
Windbound is a story based survival game set across five procedurally generated worlds. It features a cool boat building mechanic and a strong sense of discovery, but some of its systems and mechanics get in the way and can strip the fun away.
Windbound has lovely visuals and some solid ideas. But it's held back by how old the game's loop gets. Plus, the sailing is so slow and janky that it really . . . takes the wind out of the game's sails. Okay, I'm sorry about that one.
The overall result is a game that doesn't quite achieve what it wants to be. The story isn't given as much airtime as it needs. Exploration is thwarted by the survival elements, and although the latter are the most satisfying of them all, clunky combat, the driving need to find food, and constant resource management means that there are better and more balanced survival titles out there.
Windbound throws a wide net of ideas in the hopes of catching something magical but a lack of depth leaves it high and dry