Windblown Hands-On Preview – Brush Yourself Off and Try Again, Try Again…

Windblown is the new rogue-lite from developer Motion Twin, famous for their previous game, Dead Cells. Since Dead Cell’s release in 2018, Hades came out and completely upended the rogue-lite market, and Motion Twin took notice. For those curious how the studio’s new project is shaping up, MP1st is here to weigh in on our hands-on preview.

Windblown Is Like Hades and Dead Cells Meet, With the Dial Cranked Up

Not unlike Hades, Windblown offers a hub that you return to between runs. This hub, called The Ark, is where you can purchase upgrades using various currencies gathered during runs. The Ark is a safe haven for anthropomorphic animals displaced by the Vortex, which has created chaos in their world. Each run has you diving into the Vortex to get as far as you can, returning with loot and new citizens of The Ark. Citizens of The Ark unlock new features — sometimes vendors, sometimes for other things, like access to cooperative multiplayer.

I had the chance to explore the first two biomes. Though there are only five or six enemy types in each biome, each enemy does offer unique challenges. Some have simple attack patterns like lobbing grenades, while others are more complex, combining two or three moves that make them harder to deal with. There are also elite variants of some of these enemies, with added health and damage multipliers, though I sometimes found these difficult to differentiate from the standard versions.

Combat is largely inspired by Hades, though Windblown adds some twists to the dodge-and-attack formula. For instance, when wielding two weapons, if you complete a combo you’ll notice a marker above your head. Hitting the button for the other weapon will unleash a devastating finishing move to your enemies. There are also certain weapons that provide you with bonuses should you press the attack button at the right time. When fighting more powerful enemies, you can also pull the left trigger when indicated to perform a finisher which provides bonus loot.

Of course, you’re going to die a lot, and when you die you return to the Ark to spend some of the currency you picked up. Cogs can be spent on certain upgrades that are offered at various intervals throughout the game. Memonite Dust unlocks weapons and trinkets (secondary abilities, think grenades) that can then be discovered during your runs. You also gather Gold Shells, which you’ll spend during runs on things like refilling your health flask, new weapons, and new trinkets.

There are points during runs at which you’re given options on how to proceed to keep you from running from point A to point B. These options are sometimes mandatory – choose one of these two directions based on the reward in each – but sometimes they’re optional. I found these optional paths to be quite intriguing. If I could beat the waves of enemies, I’d have a bonus. These bonuses can be things like +5% damage or +25 max health, and those are tempting, but they often come at the expense of lost health, which, naturally, is something you’ll want plenty of when facing the bosses at the end of the biomes.

Throughout my various runs, I rarely found a reason to go as fast as possible. Windblown does not reward you for going through a biome quickly, at least not in this demo. This was something I’ve always enjoyed about Dead Cells. If you reached certain areas within a time limit, you’d get bonus loot. It provided an added layer of difficulty and choice and is something Windblown should consider taking from Dead Cells.

Those who have played Hades or Dead Cells are going to see both games all over this one. Both of those are amazing experiences, so being a bit of both is far from a bad thing. Motion Twin has done just enough new stuff to warrant giving Windblown a spin. If you’re looking for an entirely new experience, look elsewhere. But if you’re looking for one of the most fun games, then Windblown has you covered. A demo is now available to try out on Steam for those looking to scratch that rogue-lite itch.

Preview key provided by publisher Windblown is available on Steam via Early Access on October 24, 2024.

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