Windbound

What to Know

Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 73

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Windbound is gorgeous, but it’s neither a compelling survival simulation nor a captivating story-based experience, and the barriers that Windbound puts up makes it a tough game to enjoy.

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Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 73

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 73

Windbound is gorgeous, but it's neither a compelling survival simulation nor a captivating story-based experience, and the barriers that Windbound puts up makes it a tough game to enjoy.

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Critic Reviews for Windbound

Reviews

High Score - 100/100

Low Score - 40/100

Jordan Devore (Destructoid)

6/10

“From a distance, Windbound is a gorgeous oceanic adventure with a fun sailing system that isn’t afraid to push back, but up close, the cracks start to show. The game makes a great first impression that ultimately wears thin by the time you’ve mastered its repetitive resource-gathering roguelike loop.”

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Josh Hawkins (Shacknews)

6/10

“Unfortunately, if you’re looking for a great survival roguelike to put your time into, then you’re probably better off setting sail in more abundant seas.”

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Joshua Wise (VideoGamer)

7/10

“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.”

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**Read all 73 critic reviews on the desktop version of VSG.

Read the Reviews (73 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
33bits	Rubén Rionegro	65 / 100	08-28-2020	Windbound is a small-scale crafting and survival game that will leave a good taste in your mouth. The use of the boat and navigation will remind us of the unforgettable Wind Waker and it is the best of the game. Despite the fact that crafting is not well implemented and has a repetitive structure, we will enjoy it in all its aspects.	Read review
Area Xbox	Unknown	7.5 / 10	08-29-2020	The sound and art style of windbounds makes it standout on the adventure genre, sadly this is a tough act to follow and the combat and mechanics are a bit lacking.	Read review
AusGamers	Steve Farrelly	6 / 10	08-28-2020	I’d love to see this survive as a franchise — all the elements are there, it just suffers identity crisis throughout and needs a bigger hook than “alone among a series of islands trying to find answers”. And unfortunately, that’s the game as is presented — a solitary experience, directionless and without contextual form. Gorgeous, yes, and presented as an ambitious and familiar package with an equally resonant soundtrack, but oddly empty.	Read review
But Why Tho?	Eva Herinkova	4 / 10	10-21-2020	Overall, though, Windbound’s visual and atmospheric aesthetic just can’t save the gameplay. I wanted to love Windbound as a fan of survival games and cel-shaded visuals, but the world was too empty and uninteresting to make the adventure worth it. The survival mechanics were almost unnecessary, making the trek through the world feel even more pointless and empty than it should have. Windbound is an attempt to combine narrative, survival, exploration and aesthetic into one package and fails on every count.	Read review
Cerealkillerz	Manuel Barthes	7.3 / 10	08-28-2020	For an indie title Windbound does a lot right. Graphics and sound feels just right and despite islands being a bit small there is still a lot to do on them. The non existing story and the tedious controls of your own ship are the biggest letdowns of the game.	Read review
Chalgyr’s Game Room	Pierre-Yves Lanthier	6.75 / 10	08-31-2020	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.	Read review
Checkpoint Gaming	Elliot Attard	5 / 10	08-27-2020	I sailed into Windbound with hope and excitement and unfortunately sailed away with disappointment. It’s not all bad, not by a long shot. But there were enough confusing design decisions and awkward control issues to put me off this game completely.	Read review
Chicas Gamers	Igone Martínez	Recommended	08-28-2020	Don’t think that Windbound is another The Legend of Zelda’s tribute, maybe its graphic style reminds Breath of the Wild a little bit but the game concept is so different. Prepare yourself to craft and survive as the same way as Conan Exiles or The Forest and be aware that death is closer than you think. This is a big experience full of mistery.	Read review
COGconnected	Alexander Thomas	71 / 100	08-28-2020	Windbound is a beautiful, relaxing experience that uses its survival mechanics not to force tension, but encourage you to keep moving forward.	Read review
Cubed3	Drew Hurley	6 / 10	08-28-2020	The start of Windbound feels very promising	Read review
cublikefoot	Chase Ferrin	Not Recommended	09-03-2020	While Windbound may have some good ideas, the overall experience just isn’t worth it. It feels more like a mess of things thrown together without any of those things having the depth necessary in order to make a fun video game. The combat is barebones and clunky, the survival mechanics feel tacked-on, and the core game loop just isn’t satisfying.	Read review
Cultured Vultures	Mike Worby	5 / 10	08-28-2020	While Windbound initially instills the awe and wonder of a brave new world to explore, the game quickly grows stale once the structure of it becomes readily apparent.	Read review
Daily Mirror	Eugene Sowah	4 / 5 stars	08-27-2020	This is certainly one of 2020’s hidden gems, and survival enthusiasts will want to get stuck into this gruelling but beautiful experience.	Read review
DASHGAMER.com	Dan Rizzo	5 / 10	09-03-2020	There’s a lot to learn from Nintendo’s initial offerings, and Brisbane based indie studio may have a bright future but much like the title’s “Survival” mode, Windbound sets sail into tumultuous tides that may have washed them ashore, and back to the drawing board.	Read review
Destructoid	Jordan Devore	6 / 10	08-28-2020	From a distance, Windbound is a gorgeous oceanic adventure with a fun sailing system that isn’t afraid to push back, but up close, the cracks start to show. The game makes a great first impression that ultimately wears thin by the time you’ve mastered its repetitive resource-gathering roguelike loop.	Read review
Digital Chumps	Dillon Sweeney	7 / 10	02-22-2019	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.	Read review
Digitally Downloaded	Harvard L.	3 / 5 stars	08-31-2020	In survival games, death is supposed to mean something. Loss of progress represents the stakes; repetition is the barrier of entry. For players ready to take that plunge, there are some far-and-few-between moments of Windbound which are exhilarating.	Read review
DualShockers	Rachael Fiddis	5 / 10	08-28-2020	On the tin, Windbound offers a fulfilling and exciting survival/adventure endeavor but when delved into, I was left with an empty and exhausting experience.	Read review
Explosion Network	Dylan Blight	7 / 10	08-28-2020	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.	Read review
FingerGuns	Toby Andersen	6 / 10	08-28-2020	Windbound is a fun sailing game set in a world that’s different every time you play, but it’s a frustrating and punishing survival game at the same time. It’s highly likely to not be the game players expect it to be. Without any story or narrative to anchor it, the player is left adrift at sea without a raft.	Read review
Gameblog	Jonathan Bushle	6 / 10	10-06-2020	Windbound is a survival game with rogue lite components. If the game have good ideas and design, the controls lacks of ergonomy, and the game is quite repetitive.	Read review
GameCrate	Angelo D’Argenio	5.5 / 10	09-14-2020	Windbound is a game that sounds good on paper but in practice, it falls apart. It’s a very interesting case study in design that takes inspiration from certain games yet doesn’t quite understand what made them fun in the first place.	Read review
GamePro	Linda Sprenger	58 / 100	08-28-2020	Windbound looks pretty, but lets you get frustrated and bored while playing.	Read review
Gamers Heroes	Blaine Smith	7 / 10	08-27-2020	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.	Read review
GameSkinny	Henry Stockdale	7 / 10	08-27-2020	Windbound is a brief but enjoyable journey that merges Legend Of Zelda-style adventure with survival crafting.	Read review
GameSpew	Kim Snaith	5 / 10	08-28-2020	If the gods of random generation line everything up in your favour, Windbound could be a truly captivating adventure. It’s unlikely to happen that way though, and sadly its many frustrations outweigh the beautiful game it could have been.	Read review
GameSpot	Andrew King	5 / 10	08-28-2020	Windbound drops you in a world of wilderness and open water but fails to make exploration compelling.	Read review
Gaming Nexus	Lee Mehr	9.5 / 10	09-14-2020	Windbound is a delight. With a few UX issues and a bit of repetition holding it back from all-time-great status, this game is still a wonder to explore and discover. The sailing is fantastic, the island exploration is intriguing, and the sting of dying isn’t so bad that it should scare away roguelike-haters. The world of Windbound is so well made that you may want to dip into it just to hang out for a while. Fun, exciting, and rewarding.	Read review
GamingBolt	Shubhankar Parijat	5 / 10	08-28-2020	Windbound can be made to sound excellent in an elevator pitch, but the actual game is plagued by conflicting ideas, inconsistent design, and unrealized potential.	Read review
GBAtemp	Ben Sellwood	5 / 10	08-28-2020	Windbound should have been better. The potential and aesthetic are strong, but it is such an uninterestingly strict jaunt that I really couldn’t find many redeeming features to make me want to play it any further than I have.	Read review
Gert Lush Gaming	Jim Smale	6.8 / 10	08-28-2020	Windbound is a game trying to do something but never nails the formula and instead comes off as an almost incomplete experience.	Read review
God is a Geek	Nicola Ardron	6.5 / 10	08-31-2020	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.	Read review
Hey Poor Player	Heather Johnson	3.5 / 5 stars	08-29-2020	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.	Read review
Hobby Consolas	David Rodríguez	72 / 100	08-28-2020	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.	Read review
IGN	Tristan Ogilvie	5 / 10	09-01-2020	Neither compelling as a survival simulation nor captivating as a story-based experience, Windbound is all at sea.	Read review
IGN Italy	Angelo Bianco	8 / 10	08-27-2020	Windbound is a pleasant and not too challenging survival game, ideal for those who love the sea and want to explore incredible natural landscapes.	Read review
IGN Spain	David Soriano	6 / 10	09-01-2020	Windbound starts off promisingly, but after a few hours it already seems to have shown everything it has to offer and from there we will only be hooked on solving its narrative mystery based on repeatability of objectives.	Read review
Impulsegamer	John Werner	5 / 5 stars	08-29-2020	Windbound is a beautiful journey that says a lot without needing to rely on spoken dialogue.	Read review
LevelUp	Fernando Salinas	6.5 / 10	09-14-2020	Windbound shines at first glance for its beautiful landscapes and a mix of survival themes with good sea-navigation mechanics, yet it falls short putting these ingredients into action. It’s a game that becomes fun if you manage to overcome the learning curve, but it becomes very tedious and frustrating after a few hours.	Read review
MonsterVine	Frank Wood	3.5 / 5 stars	08-30-2020	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.	Read review
New Game Network	Kiran Manan	59 / 100	09-26-2020	Windbound offers a simply adequate sailing adventure. The crafting system is predictable, the story simplistic, and the world is beautiful but quite empty. You might find some enjoyment from the bigger islands toward the end of the game, but not everyone will have the patience to make it that far.	Read review
Niche Gamer	Jamie Sharp	9 / 10	08-28-2020	This is a very chilled out game. It’s also one that I can see myself playing through multiple times. There’s so much to unpack, and for the price it really is a no-brainer. Don’t waste your time with other survival games, Windbound is all you need for years.	Read review
Nintendo Life	Mitch Vogel	7 / 10	09-01-2020	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.	Read review
Nintendo Times	Chris Laramie	7.5 / 10	08-31-2020	GOOD	Read review
NintendoWorldReport	Neal Ronaghan	8.5 / 10	08-28-2020	undefined.Windbound succeeds in how it balances so many different elements. Sometimes it can get precarious	Read review
Noisy Pixel	Ian Goudelock	6 / 10	08-28-2020	In its early moments, Windbound had my attention, and I was completely ready to discover more about this world. However, after the first chapter, I was left mostly disappointed with the lack of execution the game provides through the systems it introduces. A rather tedious travel system enhanced this feeling. Through its colorful scenery and a heartwarming soundtrack, are some decent experiences to be found, with the help of some fine-tuning.	Read review
PC Invasion	Andrew Farrell	6.5 / 10	08-28-2020	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.	Read review
Player2.net.au	Dylan Burns	Not Recommended	08-28-2020	While Windbound failed to shake my sails, being too repetitive and pressured, it should appeal to survivalists. Respect must be afforded to the interesting sailing mechanics, which elevates the exploration.	Read review
PlayStation Universe	Joe Apsey	6 / 10	09-02-2020	Windbound is a serviceable survival game that offers a unique sailing experience to keep hardcore fans of the genre interested. But with simplistic and bland-feeling combat and an experience that doesn’t engage with its narrative (despite promising to), Windbound isn’t recommended at full price.	Read review
PowerUp!	Leo Stevenson	5.7 / 10	08-28-2020	Windbound had a tonne of potential but the finished product is more Titanic or The Perfect Storm than a soothing day at sea.	Read review
Press Start	James Mitchell	5.5 / 10	08-28-2020	Windbound is a beautiful artistic accomplishment in terms of presentation, but fails to make good on its promise of bringing together an open-world single-player game and typical crafting-survival elements. Despite attempts to make it approachable for all, it is an ultimately frustrating affair that squanders its potential with the same rigid survival mechanics that we’ve seen in a lot of other games and that’s a real shame.	Read review
PSX Brasil	Bruno Henrique Vinhadel	75 / 100	08-28-2020	Some problems collaborate to not show all the potential that Windbound has. Navigation and creation system are excellent and fun. However, the narrative development could be less repetitive and clearly lacking a free game mode where gameplay would be better used. Still, the title from 5 Lives Studios is a rewarding experience.	Read review
Pure Playstation	Chris Harding	8 / 10	08-28-2020	Windbound may look like a Zelda knock-off, but it has a lot more going for it. The core gameplay is solid as a rock, and aside from some niggles with combat and the pressure to survive, it’s a really fun game.	Read review
Rapid Reviews UK	Domenic Paolo	2.5 / 5 stars	08-28-2020	With just a single trailer, Windbound captivated the minds of many gamers. As more news came out about this indie title, anticipation grew larger and larger. Developed by 5 Lives Studios and published by the illustrious Deep Silver, the journey known as Windbound has finally seen its release on today’s consoles.	Read review
Saving Content	Evan Rowe	3 / 5 stars	09-09-2020	Windbound seeks to move beyond the “emergent story through gameplay” standard among survival games, and while it succeeds somewhat, I think it still has some room to grow. There are also some balance issues with some of the systems that the developers have talked about tuning post-launch, so it is entirely possible that Windbound will grow into something that feels overall really polished, but at present it just isn’t quite hitting all the right notes for me. There’s a lot to like about Windbound, and maybe with a little more time and care, there will be a lot to love. For now, it’s a strong concept with some really well implemented mechanics that just leaves me wanting for the better, more fleshed out version of this same thing. In the meantime though, it is a joyful, bright game that has enough going for it that you may want to keep dipping your toes back in. Just know that the waters may be a tad more shallow than they appear.	Read review
Shacknews	Josh Hawkins	6 / 10	09-03-2020	Unfortuntely, if you’re looking for a great survival roguelike to put your time into, then you’re probably better off setting sail in more abundant seas.	Read review
Slant Magazine	Steven Scaife	2.5 / 5 stars	08-28-2020	Windbound is an exploration game whose sense of exploration is painfully rigid.	Read review
SpazioGames	Domenico Musicò	7 / 10	08-28-2020	Windbound is a good survival game, but it fails to deliver a real vibrant story and a good rhythm during exploration and crossing phases.	Read review
TechRaptor	George Glynn	6 / 10	08-28-2020	Windbound loses its potential in getting bogged down by unbalanced survival mechanics that distract from it’s best features.	Read review
The Games Machine	Alessandro Alosi	7.5 / 10	09-02-2020	Windbound has several interesting ideas and is very nice to look at and listen to, but unfortunately the experience suffers from some flaws – for example, the procedural generation doesn’t make for particularly interesting level design. But above everything else, it lacks rhythm.	Read review
TheSixthAxis	Jim Hargreaves	6 / 10	08-28-2020	The barriers that Windbound puts up makes it a tough game to enjoy, at least initially. It will take time to appreciate what it brings to the survival genre with its clever boat-building and authored open world action, though these smart nuances often go hand-in-hand with tedious, sometimes frustrating stretches of playtime.	Read review
ThisGenGaming	Justin Oneil	8 / 10	08-28-2020	Windbound blends gorgeous visuals, an effective soundtrack, and survival mechanics together to create a fun, mostly relaxing experience.	Read review
Thumbsticks	Callum Williams	3.5 / 5 stars	08-28-2020	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.	Read review
Twinfinite	Andrew McMahon	3 / 5 stars	08-28-2020	If you like survival games with a good atmosphere, you might want to give Windbound a try. Just be sure to temper your expectations. Anyone going into it thinking this will be a Breath of the Wild level survival title will be immensely disappointed.	Read review
Use a Potion	Unknown	7.5 / 10	08-28-2020	Windbound offers an enjoyable blend of survival and adventuring gameplay, though some technical issues and a tricky difficulty can make for some frustrating moments. There’s certainly more good than bad to be found on your journey through the Forbidden Islands and there’s plenty of enjoyment to be had sailing through its turbulent seas, but there’ll also be times where a particularly brutal (and sometimes unfair) battle with an enemy or a random glitch will annoy you too…	Read review
VGChartz	Jacob James	4 / 10	09-21-2020	Whatever potential Windbound had went down with the ship.	Read review
VideoGamer	Joshua Wise	7 / 10	08-31-2020	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.	Read review
WayTooManyGames	Jordan Hawes	8 / 10	08-28-2020	Windbound is an intriguing game full of mystery and wonder, and does a lot right. I’m not the biggest fan of survival and crafting games, but these systems are well implimented and balanced properly. They also add a lot to the feeling of being lost, but pushing forward in order to uncover this mystery.	Read review
Wccftech	Chris Wray	4.5 / 10	09-05-2020	Windbound wants to offer a deep story backed up by rewarding exploration, crafting and survival in a beautiful open world. However, it only really lands the beautiful open world part of this, with it getting close to the line with the rewarding exploration and crafting aspects. The problem is that for all it wants to offer, Windbound is just too shallow and repetitive and offers no real replay value.	Read review
WellPlayed	Kieron Verbrugge	6.5 / 10	08-28-2020	Windbound throws a wide net of ideas in the hopes of catching something magical but a lack of depth leaves it high and dry	Read review
Windows Central	Rebecca Spear	4 / 5 stars	08-28-2020	Windbound was most definitely inspired by Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but with a much heavier focus on survival and crafting. If you enjoy survival games and want something to scratch that Zelda itch, you should check this game out.	Read review
Worth Playing	Andreas Salmen	6.3 / 10	09-11-2020	Windbound looked to be a great many things, but it turned out to be a standard survival-roguelike crossover with some promising areas that never reached their full potential. An overly cruel death mechanic and repeating vistas are what ultimately drag down an otherwise solid and partially fun survival game. With the right expectations, Windbound is a solid offering that doesn’t stray too far from its survival core.	Read review
ZTGD	Ken McKown	6 / 10	09-01-2020	Windbound is a fantastic adventure wrapped in a questionable package.	Read review

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About Windbound

Game Description / Storyline:

Shipwrecked alone on an uncharted island, explore, adapt and navigate the land and perilous seas to stay alive. As Kara, you are a warrior, caught at sea in a fierce storm, adrift from your tribe. Thrown from your boat, at the mercy of the turbulent waters, you are tossed on to the shores of the Forbidden Islands, a mysterious paradise. With no boat, no food or tools, just the will and skill to survive, uncover this beautiful island’s rich resources. Craft tools and weapons to hunt and defend yourself against nature itself with its wild and fantastical creatures. Whilst exploring further islands and the scattered ruins across their lands, secrets of the past and glimpses of the future are revealed. Unravel the mystery behind them all and you may find more than just your way home.

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