Windlands

Windlands is an adventure game that takes exploration to new heights, literally and figuratively. It features an immense and unique desert world where giant war golems exist, temples float, villages are built on mountain tops and it’s up to you to end a war.

Right of the bat, Windlands won’t impress you with ultra detailed graphics, they’re rather minimalistic and cartoonish but in no case do they look unappealing. After a few steps through a little forest you get to a ledge from where you can see a portion of the world that lies ahead, waiting to be explored, and that is impressive.

The scale at which everything is built makes you feel like your character is kind of insignificant, especially when you get close to the entangled and defeated golem. But that’s part of the chart to Windlands, you get to perform huge jumps into the air, use your grappling hooks to latch on to tree to make your way up, higher and higher, all of which give you a great sense of freedom.

The goal of the game is to explore the world around you and find a way to deplete the power source for the golems, thus ending the war. Clues as to how you can do this are rather obvious, visible actually, but the true challenge is to reach their location.

To get to where you need to be your character can make use of two grappling hooks that can grab onto trees or grass. He can also perform wall jumps and some pretty huge leaps if he catches enough momentum. It seems fairly simple but the controls are kind of sensitive and jumps need to be timed precisely.

Windlands is a wonderful place to explore but it’s also built to challenge your sense of observation, patience and coordination.

From an atmospheric point of view, Windlands is great. As you glide from tree top to tree top and gain more speed, the intensity with which you can hear the wind passing by your ears connects you even more to the world you are in.

Moreover, seeing as how Windlands is designed primarily for Oculus Rift, you’re bound to have an excellent time ahead. All you have to do is take a leap of faith.