Windbound’s hunger meter constantly nags at you to drop anchor at every landmass you see in order to search for food, a search that can frequently prove futile when the procedurally generated island you manage to land at has no procedurally generated flora or fauna to eat. In fact, the most persistent threat in Windbound isn’t the deadly inhabitants of its islands nor the turbulence of its waters it’s the rumbling of Kara’s stomach. There’s all this crafting to do in Windbound, but no compelling reason to bother with any of it. There aren’t any creatures of significance that force you to strengthen Kara’s combat capabilities in order to overcome them, nor are there particular stormy seas that require extensive boat upgrades to cross. You can play all the way through Windbound’s story existing on a pacifist’s diet of mushrooms, avoiding all enemies and not making a single modification to your canoe. But aside from a basic boat and perhaps a sharpened stick to defend yourself with, none of it feels particularly essential. There’s a fairly extensive crafting system at Kara’s disposal, as almost everything in her surroundings - from grass and sticks to animal bones and hides - can be gathered and converted into rudimentary tools like shovels and hammers or enhancements to her boat in order to make sailing speedier.
Survivalist strips you of most of your inventory and returns you to the beginning each time Kara perishes, and I found those high roguelike stakes made me particularly careful about which beasts to engage with and which craftable objects to prioritise as I made my way from one island to the next.
WINDBOUND SHARK FULL
Before you begin the adventure you’re instructed that the ‘Survivalist’ difficulty setting is ‘the full Windbound experience’, and so that’s exactly what I chose to play it on.
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