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Hands-on with Windborne's early access
The breakout success of Minecraft has inspired a slew of creative sandbox games since its release in 2011, and the trend has shown no signs of dying down given the ever-increasing number of sandbox titles hitting the market. Hidden Path Entertainment's in-development title Windborne is certainly one such game, and at first glance one might be tempted to write it off as a clone of Mojang's golden child, but that would be more than a little disingenuous. The folks at Hidden Path were generous enough to provide me with a key to get some hands-on experience with Windborne, but I'd like to make special mention of the fact that the game is currently part of Steam's Early Release program, which of course means that it's still unfinished and under constant development. With that in mind, I dived into Windborne's world of mystical floating islands, and I've got more than a few thoughts about the game, where it's going, and where it needs to be.
New sandbox pseudo-MMO Windborne hits Steam Early Access
It may not technically be an MMO, but we thought that Hidden Path Entertainment's "social sandbox creation" game, Windborne, might pique your interest. The game, which is now available via Steam's Early Access program, allows players to explore "an infinite number of islands, each full of wonder and surprise," on which they (and their friends) can utilize "a wide variety of building materials, furnishings, and artifacts" in order to build new civilizations and alter the world as they see fit. They can also befriend and trade with the island natives, creatures called the Jin, and the current build also boasts a "basic quest system," which gives players a "guided tour" of the game to help them gain their footing in this new world. Windborne's Steam page also outlines a number of features planned for the game's future development, such as the ability for players to help "guide the Jin to civilization" by protecting and defending them. Future updates will also add "millions of ruins filled with puzzles and treasure," dragons that can be tamed, bred, and ridden as mounts, and combat and quest systems. One last planned feature that should appeal to MMO fans is the implementation of systems to allow players to see the islands of other players surrounding their own and visit neighboring islands where they can trade, build, and generally interact with the islands' owners. If that sounds up your alley, Windborne is currently available on Steam Early Access for $29.99 US, though the game is on sale for $23.99 until February 24th. To read (and watch) more about the game or pick it up for yourself, check out Windborne's Steam page at the link below.
Windborne adventure and Starwhal fencing flip to Steam Early Access
Both Starwhal: Just the Tip and Windborne recently landed on Steam's Early Access service yesterday. Windborne, a sandbox adventure game from Counter Stike: GO and Defense Grid 2 developer Hidden Path Entertainment, is 20 percent off ($23.99) on the service until February 24. Starwhal, the narwhal fencing game set in outer space, earned $24,450 CAD ($22,294 USD) on Kickstarter in late December. The game comes from indie developer Breakfall, who will bring the game to PC, Mac, Linux, Wii U and PS4. Breakfall is hoping to carry Starwhal over to Ouya and Xbox One as well. As for Hidden Path, the developer is also partnering with Harmonix to create the recently-revealed Chroma, a free-to-play rhythmic FPS. [Image: Hidden Path Entertainment]
