Video Game Review: Windbound

During the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite era, I thoroughly enjoyed the Lost in Blue games, wherein you play as one or two characters shipwrecked and marooned on a deserted island. You search the island for food and resources to make tools and improved weapons, all of which help your explore farther outward from your home base in your efforts to escape the island. Recently, I had an itch to get back into the resources management and survival aspect of Lost in Blue, so I went looking for something similar.

The closest I found was Windbound, an adventure RPG available on the Nintendo Switch, which to my eye looked like Lost in Blue but with sailing. So like The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker, a sailing mechanic I found very fun for exploring. Windbound promised the ability to upgrade your ship, hang glide, and explore islands. There were negative reviews, but what games doesn't have those? I jumped in anyway.

That... that was a mistake. Let me explain why.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps Gameplay Mechanics: why I quit and why I came back

This assessment of the gameplay mechanics in Ori and the Will of the Wisps comes from a player who dislikes making mechanics choices. From leveling trees to deploying finite resources, I would just rather not. Yet Ori and the Will of the Wisps manages to incorporate both of my weaknesses and for this reason, I bounced off this game almost at once. Despite my love for the first game, Ori and the Blind Forest. Despite my being excited enough to pre-order the game.

But two years later, I came back and loved it.

Let me explain why.

Everything I loved about Outer Wilds

The title of "my favorite video game" has long been held by Beyond Good and Evil, but it's been a month since I finished Outer Wilds, and I think... this might be my new favorite game. At least top three. This article won't be a video game review so much as a wild romp through annotating the parts that interest me. There will be spoilers. Brace for impact.