Today we're doing an in dept review of the first Windlands! Another title that's been released 9 years ago. Does this rope swinging platformer stand the test of time? Let's find out together!

Windlands first released back in March 2016, and is available on many VR platforms! Rift store, Steam, Meta Quest, Vive, and I'm probably missing some. The price varies, but you'll generally see it for $19.99. The developers are Psytech Games who are a proud team of indie developers. They recently announced their new upcoming game, Titan Isles, so I thought that it'd be a great opportunity to visit their older titles.

Mechanics

So the main aspect in the game, as you can see, is all about swinging from branch to branch to get to certain places. The mechanics are pretty simple. If you play on the easiest difficulty, you'll pretty much be able to grab anything to swing onto, but for me the fun is on the hardest difficulty where you are only allowed to hook on green bushes. After a while, when it becomes second nature, it's very satisfying just swingin mindlessly to get to your destination.

After you're hooked to a bush, you can then extend your rope or retract it when needed, when you retract it, you can then let go off the hook to launch yourself onto another platform. You can also move with your joystick, and jump fairly high with the jump button. You can somewhat control your movement a little when in the air, but it's very minimal, so you still need to make sure that your going at the right direction when jumping.

You then have the ability to wall jump on any wall that you see. Putting all of these mechanics together, the platforming becomes pretty interesting!

Story

The story is not the primary focus in this game, but it setups the environment and the purpose of what you're doing nicely.

Basically, this world was ruled by gigantic guardians who protected this land. But something happened, which led the world to be in ruined. Your main objective is to find these power crystals, which should restore these guardians and bring peace back to the world.

What's nice is that every time you find a crystal, you get some dialogue that explains a little bit more of the lore. So it's still a nice story to learn about, even if it's light.

Gameplay/Replayability

So the game follows a platforming formula that I quite enjoy. Just like Super Mario 64, where you jump into these worlds to get stars, in Windlands, you get transported into these lands to gather crystals. When you gather all crystals, you then get another land unlocked to gather more crystals. You never really get lost in finding them, because all crystals project a really strong light, so you can see their locations from a far distance. You just work your way through the level to get to them by any means.

There are 3 worlds in total, and they contain 3 crystals each. The first 2 worlds went pretty smoothly, but wow did the difficulty ramps up on the 3rd world. Some parts, it almost feels like you need a college degree in parkour to get it done. I did enjoy the challenge though! And it was very satisfying after completing it.

To explain the feel of the game, it's kind of like a light punishing platformer. Similar to games like Jump King and Getting Over It, where you have to climb to the top, and lose some significant progress when you fall, but I'm saying it's more light due to having checkpoints and stuff. But there are definitely some parts where I was like "OK, do NOT miss this jump or else I have a lot to do again." aaaand then of course I miss the jump and have to do it again Hahaha.

Windlands took me around 3 hours to finish while I feel like I took somewhat my time. It's on the short side, but what's nice about it is that there are some replayability features. For example, there are a total of 120 collectibles that you can find throughout the lands. Which can keep you busy for quite some time. And then there are time trials where you have to collect a total of 10 orbs and then make it to the finish line. There are public leaderboards, so you can have some fun in the competition.

Music

At first, I wasn't paying too much attention to the music, but you know what, it had a nice charm that it added to the game. It kind of gives me a Elder Scrolls Morrowind type of vibe, or that type of PC video game music that you'd find in 90s adventure games. It's hard to explain. But what really sold me is that beautiful credits song. Such a beautiful melody and a nice way to conclude the game. It almost felt like I was rewarded by this song, you know? That song specifically kind of gave me the same vibe as the credit song from the first Metal Gear Solid. It was so impactful. So hats of to that beautiful composition.

There you have it guys, my full thoughts on Windlands! Given its age, I personally feel like it's still such a fun adventure. The mechanics work super well. There's no clunkyness, and I did not encounter any bugs or anything that interrupted me from my immersion. Flying around in this well crafted platformer, while seeing those amazing giant lands from the past was very cool. I do recommend the game if you never have a chance to play it. I can't wait to dip my toe into the sequel, and then into Titan Isles, which will be available sometime soon.