Following last week’s announcement, the new demo for Windblown is outside your front door and ready to play. I’ve just put down the controller and I have to say, it already shows tremendous promise.
The demo for Windblown precedes the Early Access launch of the game later this month, so this is very much a try-before-you-buy situation where you get to have a good rummage around in the game’s first biome and see if it’s the rogue for you.
What is Windblown?
This colourful fantasy action-roguelite is the second game from Motion Twin, the studio that gave us the original Dead Cells. With a debut like that, the developer’s sophomore effort will be of interest to a huge number of people, including me.
Windblown is an isometric action-RPG with a replayable roguelite structure where players take on the role of a Leaper. It’s your job to look after some friendly animal folk who live on floating islands in the sky, and you do this by going on expeditions.
Expeditions involve running around lush 3D environments, with traversal and platforming a big part of the experience. The exploration is punctuated by combat encounters with mobs and mini-bosses.
I’ve only played for a short while, but my initial impression is that the combat is reactive and satisfying, and the first world – Golem Gardens – is a stunning world that defies gravity.
Cute but deadly and full of character
You get to pick what kind of anthropomorphic animal you play as and of course, my first pick was the guinea pig skin that you get for taking part in the demo. There are others including the axolotl, which I’m sure will be popular, and my personal favourite, the bat. They’re all nippy, though.
The traversal around each environment feels lightning quick. You essentially dash between floating platforms but because you stick to land and don’t ping off into the abyss all the time, exploration is quite relaxed and you can just enjoy going fast.
Combat is different, and this is where the roguishness of the game comes into full focus. There are several weapons to try in the demo, and these weapons feel like they’re going to play a major role.
You’ve got primary and secondary attacks and they can be used in tandem for another powerful ranged attack. Most of the time, however, I was mashing my main and trying to line up the timing just so, because if I did everything right I could land the all important final blow in my combo, which deals massive damage. Windblown might be fast, but it’s also about timing.
Windblown Early Access
This limited demo for Windblown has landed just a few days before the Early Access launch of the game on Steam PC on October 24.
As mentioned above, the demo involves one biome, but exploring the Golem Gardens isn’t going to be an isolated experience and your progress will carry on into the main game should you decide to pull the trigger.
Motion Twin predicts that Windblown will be in Early Access for at least one year, and the final game will include even more biomes than the five that will be in the EA version of the game.
The Early Access launch will also see the multiplayer portion of the game come online, with Windblown supporting up to three players.
Finally, just before the game launches on the 24th, the demo will go offline. Check out the Steam page for the demo and all the details.
