![]() Crafting and living off the land, while a gameplay element, never feel fully realised to the extent the studio might have wanted. So, Zelda references aside, what exactly is Windbound? It’s a third-person action-adventure with survival components. This gets compounded because it’s not a fast-paced game, so travel between islands by boat (another Zelda nod via Wind Waker), starts to feel like a chore and, well, having to rebuild boats over and over again gets tired, fast. Dodging the Gorehorn as they attack isn’t really difficult, but the nature of how all of these things come together builds on that “cumbersome” adjective - the world partially resets because it’s mostly procedural. It’s not that the game is particularly hard. Inputs feel delayed and cumbersome, and the aggro Gorehorn that stalk you while you’re trying to cook up some delicious Razorbub fillets, and just China Shop your BBQ like some sort of angry. The initial awe of the game’s visuals and charm wears off quickly when you die the first time. Dodging the Gorehorn as they attack isn’t really difficult, but the nature of how all of these things come together builds on that “cumbersome” adjective - the world partially resets because it’s mostly procedural." "It’s not that the game is particularly hard. And so that anxiety I mentioned, that fear of being too harsh hits home here because I get what 5 Lives has attempted with Windbound - I mean, who doesn’t want to make a Zelda-like? This rears its head most in Windbound because, well, it’s directionless. But what’s emerged from the studio wearing its heart on its sleeve is that even homaging Nintendo from a design perspective, let alone trying to 1Up them, is an exercise in futility. When I say this is a love-letter to Zelda, I mean it. Windbound is utterly gorgeous and sports a beautiful score and a measured sense of self.
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