

Early on Kara can only hold a very limited amount of items, which makes it frustrating to need to drop items with regularity because other items need to be held for crafting purposes. The game can take around 30 hours to beat, and halfway through the game the inventory system still doesn't feel natural. The menu screen - navigating through the material and crafting items - does not feel intuitive at all. Discovering new items is a part of the enjoyment in the game, but early on it feels like a chore thanks to the inventory system. That same boar could have instead produced bones for creating other items, or meat to be eaten for survival. The wild boar can be killed for its skin, which can be turned into the leather that can be used to make more items. For example, a stick can be found and then used to create a spear, which becomes a helpful weapon to take down animals like a wild boar. The collecting of resources and discovery of new crafting recipes has a domino-like effect in Windbound. What players find throughout the island world is a part of the fun, but it also can be frustrating. Each death simply resets the progress of the current chapter, and resources and crafted items remain with the player. Survivalist mode is very difficult, with permadeath features built-in, while the Storyteller setting is a bit easier and safer. Players can choose to play the game on two different difficulty settings, one of which will soften the blow of dying in-game. The gameplay is a natural part of the story in that Kara washes on the shores of a desert island and is tasked with using the resources around her to survive.
