Headup Games and Magic Sandbox’s Windscape is set to launch on Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch early in the spring of this year on March 27th after spending a couple of years in Early Access on Steam.
The game originally entered into the development phase on Valve’s digital distribution platform back in September of 2016, but after scrounging together some feedback from the community and managing to add a sizable chunk of content to flesh out the game’s adventure and role-playing aspects, it appears as if Magic Sandbox and Headup are ready to elevate and evolve Windscape from the confines of PC gaming and breach the echelons of home console gaming this spring.
The game is a first-person adventure title wholly based around the concepts of Nintendo’s original Legend of Zelda franchise, while borrowing combat and exploration elements from games like Golden Axe and the 16-bit classic Secret of Mana. Players will take on the role of a blue-eyed, red-haired girl who lives on a floating isle as a farmhand. However, she eventually sets out on an adventure to save her home world as the floating islands come under threat of breaking apart and falling from the sky. This will require her to gather her wits and a healthy amount of resources before journeying off to the other isles to defeat an ancient evil using a variety of weapons and magic attacks. You can scope out what the gameplay is like with the release date trailer below.
The game is a low-poly, high-resolution, gameplay-heavy adventure title that hearkens back to the days of classical exploration and adventure where gamers were imposed with challenges to overcome and gameplay mechanics to master instead of being inundated with the sociopolitical baggage of a San Francisco hispter with an Antifa tattoo and enough daddy-issues to fill out an entire thesis for a doctorate’s degree.
While the game may have a low-poly aesthetic, I have to say that the overall artistic design is rather inspired. The floating islands certainly don’t measure up to Irrational Games’ floating city of Columbia from BioShock: Infinite, but it sports a wide array of different creatively designed biomes sporting a wide range of enemies, bosses, puzzles, and platforming challenges to overcome in order to save your home.
The game reminds me of a mixture of Montezuma’s Revenge meets The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. Combat is also skill-based, so you’ll have to learn the patterns of the enemies and jump, dodge, and block your way through each encounter. You won’t be able to just tank your way through the attacks in hopes of reaching the credit’s screen.
Ahead of the game’s launch on March 27th, you’ll be able to get a 20% off pre-purchase discount for the Nintendo Switch version starting March 8th. If you decide to get the game on the Xbox One, you’ll be able to take advantage of a 20% off discount starting March 13th from the Microsoft store. And obviously with the game currently being available in Early Access, there will be a 20% off discount leading up to its release and eventual graduation.
For more info you can check out the game’s Steam store page.
