Windblown preview — a snappy roguelike with potential

Windblown is the latest roguelike offering from Motion Twin, the creators of the wildly popular Dead Cells. We had the chance to check out Windblown in Early Access on Steam to see if Motion Twin could capture lightning again. 

Rather than a side scroller like its predecessor, Windblown is a gorgeous 3D world made up of an endless web of floating islands divided into biomes. For this preview, only the first two biomes were available but each felt distinct with its personality and challenges. During a run, the player(s) (it’s co-op, more on that later) dash from island to island fighting enemies and looking for new weapons, powerups, and gears to reach the end of the vortex or else spend their looted gears on permanent upgrades and unlockable powerups for the next run.

The biomes are visually distinct and feature their own sets of enemies. Enemy numbers stay relatively small with the most you’ll fight at once being four or five. There are no doors or rooms like you might find in other games in the genre, rather the entire map is open to you. If you get overwhelmed in a fight, it may be best just to dash away and refocus before going in again. The exception is the boss fight at the end of each biome. You are locked in and have nowhere to go until you defeat the boss or die trying.

Every enemy has its own attack pattern that you will have to learn. Dashing to avoid hits and maneuver around is one of the core concepts of the game. Your character movement feels quick and responsive and dashing around enemies to enable your own attacks is a blast. The combat feels pretty good so far in Early Access and there are already quite a few weapons to discover that completely change the way you approach the game. During a run, you get access to two weapons, two pieces of equipment like a bomb or cyclone attack, as well as three powerups. Any of these things can be upgraded with a better version you find during a run or swapped out as you find new options in real time. You are never locked into a build. 

The character design and art style for Windblown is whimsical and features a cast of anthropomorphic animals. The floating islands are reminiscent of Bastion and combined with the movement system really does evoke the feeling of blowing around the level with the wind, wreaking havoc as you go. At the Ark, your base between runs, you can choose which animal you want to be. So far it has no impact on the game other than giving you the option to be an Axolytl or one of the other animals you’ll never pick because you can be an Axolytl. 

One of the most exciting things about Windblown is the option to play it co-op. Unfortunately, we were unable to line up a co-op game for this preview but the ability to play this with friends sounds amazing if it works properly. 

Overall, I had a lot of fun playing Windblown. The movement and combat feel really good and the art and level design create a fun playground for your character to leap around and smash bad guys. There is already quite a bit to unlock in just the first two biomes so I am excited to see where the game goes as it develops in Early Access. I’ll definitely be following the updates.

See below for our list of partners and affiliates: