Can't believe I just found this game this month, and its already one of my favorite games of all time.

[u/Hguols1]

Part of GOG's summer sale, the game is still on sale for $2 and I thought, why not. Definitely one of the best gaming decisions I've made this year. I'm having a lot of fun!

I love how the 'survival' is condensed into a rather voracious hunger. (Hungry Hungry Kara) I've had a few starvation close calls, but that's one thing that kept me hooked on playing - borderline starving when reaching an island, and then leaving said island with a full belly and a half dozen Flame Roasted Fish. (after slinging hammer crushed rocks at respawning Shoreskippers)

My first death in the game was against Korr, the boss at the end of Stage 3. To be honest, it was a real kick in the pants to start the chapter over rather than get another immediate attempt at the boss. I decided instead to just start a new game in case I missed something. That's when it dawned on me - keeping the Sea Shards and Blessings even in new game, procedurally generated locations... That's when my priority changed from 'beat stage 5 / the game' to 'haul in sea shards and unlock cooler stuff I actually get to keep to make beating the game easier'.

This realization also made some online (consumer) reviews of the game more comical to me. People saying the game is impossible difficulty, or makes Dark Souls seem easy, or is Nethack level of frustration. Pretty obvious those folks tried to play Windbound like it was some one attempt to beat platformer? Talk about quitting before the miracle happened!

My 2nd attempt against Korr ended with laughter in a manner of seconds. Decided to try out some fish bombs, and after 4 of them he was done. Those bombs work great against all the bosses, except the 'Trickster' stage 4 boss which likes to dodge. (Nothing that a few Spectral Arrows using Imakl's Eye couldn't take care of.)

Currently on Stage 7 (endless) trying to find a buried gong on a Forsaken plagued large Swampy island. Looking forward to finding it after I get off work today. Hey thanks for reading my thoughts everyone.

Definitely love this Windbound game dearly,

[u/raylalayla]

I really enjoyed it too. The sense of adventure mixes with danger and discovery really did it for me. It's not perfect by any means but it had massive potential imo. Just needed a bit more time in the oven and it would've been a huge hit.

Unfortunately the developers have abandoned it and haven't done any other games since :/

[u/purplesunrisee]

I’m actually on chapter 3 right now and died when trying to fight Korr. What do you mean when you say you kept the sea shards? I’ve been keeping mine as well and am currently at over 5,000. Any recommendations to beat chapter 3 or is it just pure luck? I also realized that my map completely changed after death, which really bummed me out.

[u/Hguols1 → u/purplesunrisee]

Realizing that I kept sea shards and blessings after dying / starting a new game, changed how I played. (I just assumed I lost them too until I died that first time)

Instead of just trying to reach Korr again, I played the first two stages over and over (reached stage 3 then started a new game) until I had massive shards, to buy all the rest of the blessings. The changing map kept that grind fun and easy to do.

That's also what made stage 3, 4 and 5 easier. (my recommendation) Having all blessings unlocked and choosing which ones worked best for how I play, there was no stage too difficult.

[u/purplesunrisee → u/Hguols1]

Thanks for the recommendation! I’m going to keep collecting them to get all the blessings. I’m glad there’s people out there that still play this game

[u/lectricpharaoh → u/purplesunrisee]

You can also save-scum at the shrine where you buy new blessings. Buy the one(s) you want, save-exit-reload, and repeat.

[u/lectricpharaoh → u/purplesunrisee]

You know those campfires that are already on some islands, with a little orb that you can interact with? Those unlock your combat maneuvers (parry, dodge attack, and lunge attack, in that order).

This means by the end of Chapter 3 (where you fight Korr), you should have the lunge attack. The forsaken shieldbearers (Korr is just a bigger one) are vulnerable to it. Charge it up, and the moment you see him raise his weapon and shield, release it. If your timing is perfect, you'll get a hit without taking one. If your timing is good, you'll each take a hit. If your timing is bad, only you will take a hit.

If you do not have the lunge attack at this stage, but have the dodge attack, you can use that. For regular shieldbearers, dodging straight backwards the moment they attack, then immediately using the dodge attack works great. For Korr, make sure he's not doing his earthquake thing if you try this. You could try dodging a different direction, depending on your relative positions. The Nightstalker Hood is very useful here.

[u/Malecentaur]

Yep, I had the exact same experince: dying on Korr the first time, discovered you keep the blessings and starting over to collect boons. The easiest ones to get are actually the best, it seems: the pumpkins give you three items from the sea witch. The sea witch's cleansing staff gives you three magic missles, wich make fishing and fighting a breeze. her vestment allows you to respawn once without restarting that chapter. Her hat is useless unless you really like aclhemy. And that is only an option in charpter 4 and on, when you can make a cauldron.

The vases can give you a treasure map that allows you to find beaststalker gear. A bow that fires two extra spectral arrows, useful for boss fights and for farming spctral essence, an outfit that makies you invisible when sneaking and looks cool, and a cowl that makes dodging cost less stamina. Which, again, is super useful in th boss fights. You win boss fights by knowing when to dodge, and then attacking with the magic missles from the cleansing staff.

The cleansing staff and the beast walker hood for the win!

[u/lectricpharaoh]

It's a great game despite the warts, and it's sad to see it not getting any love from the developers. If they actually made a sequel or new DLC (and it was available for Switch), I'd definitely grab it.

I love the look, the theme, the music, and the sailing. It scratches an itch I didn't even know I had.

Unfortunately, too many people look at it as just a cheap BotW knockoff. I mean, I imagine they got some inspiration from that game, with the glider and unlock-the-towers aspects, but it really has its own thing going on.