One of the bigger issues I have with Windbound is its inability to create truly memorable environments. Since Windbound is procedurally generated, the islands are never the same - except they are. Finding the required resources is key to survival, as both wild creatures and your own hunger are out to get you.
Survival games are all about exploration. The quieter moments lose their impact through frequent repetition. It is calming to sail between tropical islands to a somber piano score while you look at beautiful vistas on the horizon. Sea traversal can become quite dull once you get the hang of it, since nothing happens during the voyages. It takes some getting used to at the beginning, but it quickly becomes second nature. Windbound aims for a more realistic approach, where moving against the wind is only possible in certain angles and with a completely tightened sail. While rowing is straightforward, as soon as you get a sail, you can move much faster either with or against the wind. Getting across the sea with your boat is another matter. Because of these constant upgrades that improve the maneuverability of the boat, you do grow attached and, it's a great way to see your progress as you learn new tricks and recipes. We may also find additional improvements and upgrades to increase carrying capacity and sturdiness as we go along. In a game session, we quickly went from a simple rowboat to a sailboat. As mentioned, the world of Windbound consists solely of randomly generated tropical islands, so having a boat is of the utmost importance. The most vital piece of equipment is our boat. As we collect new resources, new recipes automatically unlock to offer up better equipment and upgrades. The first order of business when starting a new game is collecting as much as we can. At the same time, the game can feel disinterested in the exploration and environmental storytelling, which means that some interesting moments and structures are often undermined by the gameplay. It creates intrigue and a desire to figure out how all of this fits together while you try to survive and explore a collective of deserted islands. The towers, which grant a currency (shells) and emit a light to power gates and portals, are at the heart of the story and progression. It sounds simple enough, but it's not quite as formulaic as it might sound on paper. After activating a certain number of them, we'll open up a way to progress to the next stage to continue our journey. On those islands are towers that need to be climbed and activated. Our goal is simple: collect resources, don't starve or get killed, and build a boat to reach the surrounding islands. In Windbound, we play as a nameless woman who's separated from her tribe during a terrible storm involving a frightening sea creature, she washes ashore on a deserted island and is armed with only a knife. It doesn't quite manage to deliver on all of that, though. With visuals somewhere between Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Wind Waker, it invokes similar feelings of mystery and freedom to explore. While I'd argue that none of this is exciting or unique on its own, Windbound has an ace up its sleeve. Similar to a roguelike, it even has permadeath and a linear story. Windbound is a survival game that's firmly rooted in survival mechanics and random world generation.
As soon as the first survival indies took off, the floodgates opened, and it's difficult to not stumble over one these days. The gaming industry has always been quick to adjust to new trends and genres.
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