Windblown Review

Windblown is a fast-paced rogue-lite that will take you on a heart-pounding tour of several ever-changing islands in the sky. With a variety of powerful weapons and skills to collect along the way, as well as numerous enemies of varying size, ability and complexity, dying frequently is to be expected! However, does this speedy title get your blood pumping or does it run the risk of sending you to sleep? Read our Windblown review to find out!

Riding the Wind

The first thing you will notice about Windblown is just how darned good it feels to play. Navigation is both fast-paced and controlled – it just feels right. You are able to dash across the gaps between the procedurally generated islands at what feels like near-light speed, which is literally almost too quick to see. This doesn’t sound like it should work, but the reality is that it not only works, but it ends up feeling essential.

You assume the role of an absolutely adorable little animal character who is pretty much immediately shot out of a cannon and directly into a gargantuan vortex that is spinning furiously in the distance. Whilst inside the vortex, you are to work your way through various zones and battle your way through various enemies along the way. Enemies are unique and all have specific attacks that you will get to learn soon enough. Upon defeat, they all drop randomised loot, meaning that each encounter is unique.

The dash ability lends itself perfectly to battles, allowing you to zoom out of harm’s way at a moment’s notice, narrowly dodging life-ending attacks. You can also use it to zip behind an enemy mid-attack and slam them from behind before they can turn around to see what just happened.

Along the way, you will pick up several temporary buffs (known as gifts), and even the ability to launch what is known as an “Alterattack”, which is the ability to pull off a special move using your second weapon (you can have two equipped) after a specified number of attacks from your first one. In fact, these are interchangeable, and you can use the second weapon numerous times before hitting the first weapon button at the right moment to unleash a deadly attack.

Mastering the Elements

The ability to dash is the mechanic that you will use the most, without doubt. It allows you to traverse the environment at break-neck speed, whilst also keeping you out of harm’s way for the most part. However, there is often so much going on on-screen at the same time that it’s often difficult to find a safe area in the first place.

Combat feels fluid, natural and absolutely awesome! Given how many enemies you could theoretically face off against at any one moment, it’s easy to assume that button-mashing your way through battles is the only option. That is not the case. Instead, combinations play a key role here, plus you are able to construct your desired loadout as you progress, meaning that your fighting style is one that you have formulated to your specific desires.

Boss fights are always great fun, with each boss showcasing a totally unique aesthetic and attack patterns. Bosses tend to range from enormous to humongous, and the first encounter with every boss always makes you feel like a lamb being sent to slaughter. However, as you proceed (i.e. die and find the boss again), you get to learn their attack patterns and are thus able to formulate an attack plan for the next time you encounter them.

Combinations are all-important and have the potential to be deadly, and timing them perfectly is everything. Hit the right button at the right moment, whilst facing the right way, and your enemies (literally) won’t know what’s hit them. String together a few combinations, and before you know it you will have wiped out the entire enemy onslaught. You are also able to have some throwable items on hand, such as grenades or frost explosions, to give you a slight edge when in battles.

There are several buffs that you can unlock along the way, each one granting you a useful – but brief – temporary ability. Stacking several of these up as you wish allows you to create a loadout that works for you and makes playing Windblown even better.

The World of Windblown

The cartoon-like graphics couldn’t be a more perfect fit for this type of game. Windblown is all about fast-paced, high-energy encounters, and ultra-realistic graphics almost certainly wouldn’t have worked in this setting. However, given the fantasy genre, the art design is incredible and perfectly suited throughout. Character models are excellent, being simultaneously adorable (for the good guys) and terrifying (for the bad guys).

Environments and biomes in general are exquisite, each with its own unique look and feel, and the enemies found within those biomes look how you would imagine the local enemies to look! Nothing looks out of place and even as you progress, it’s still difficult to not be impressed by the surroundings.

The sound design in Windblown is fantastic, with appropriate background music that adapts to any given on-screen scenario. Attack noises sound great and the noise that accompanies the dash sounds absolutely perfect!

Sharing the Wind

Windblown is a hard game to play. Sure, you will get used to it, but oh boy is it hard! You will die. Yes, you. And you will die repeatedly.

When playing with others, however, Windblown is still hard to get through, but the experience changes totally but in the best possible way! It goes from being merely fast-paced fun to being an all-out explosive experience! Having others along the way means that you can approach enemy encounters in totally different ways from how you would approach them solo.

For example, instead of having to take on seven enemies at once, you can team up with two other people and thus have them keep the enemies busy from one angle whilst you hammer them from another angle with all manner of attacks. This way, the encounters do indeed take less time (and stress) to complete, but the sense of achievement is greater still.

There are also certain points in the map when decisions must be made where all parties are in agreement. For example, you are often required to choose between two rewards, and the way in which this is done is simple – you each have a block to stand on in front of the reward that you want. The rewards will only unlock if all parties’ blocks are occupied. As such, unless you all agree on which reward to choose, nobody can proceed!

Put simply, multiplayer takes the already brilliant experience of Windblown and amplifies it to even greater levels of enjoyment.

Endless Horizons

Given the procedurally generated levels, randomised rewards, abilities, weapons and skills, each Windblown experience is unique. For example, I have played for several hours solo and a handful of hours with others, yet each time I dip back in again, the whole game still feels fresh and exciting.

Couple that aspect of the game with the fact that you can customise your loadout to be as specific as you like to your preferred style, and there you have yet another reason to keep going back for more.

Conclusion

Windblown is an absolute triumph in the already-overcrowded rogue-lite arena. It does so many things right and it is very difficult to not have fun while playing it. The fast-paced nature of Windblown, great combat mechanics, procedurally generated levels, randomised item drops, a plethora of skills and abilities to unlock, and a ton of weapons to acquire, means that it is always a fun and invigorating experience. However, outside of dying and returning to your base, there aren’t many moments where you can step back and take a breath, and this may put some people off who prefer to take things a little slower. Despite that, if you enjoy rogue-lites, great combat, and don’t mind dying a few dozen times each time you play, then Windblown is an absolute must-play! This holds true even more so when you experience Windblown with others as it takes the whole experience to another level.

Grade: 9/10