Windforge

First impressions - as in the impressions we'd collected of the game before we had pressed a key or clicked a mouse - were promising. The game's central premise, the lore surrounding the concept, the aesthetic, the buzz words used in promoting the game and pushing it through Kickstarter and Steam Greenlight; it all pointed to something special on the horizon.

Sadly, that's not quite how WindForge has turned out. In short, not enough of the game's potential has been realised at this stage, and it's still a tantalising prospect rather than the finished article that's worthy of your time and money.

It all starts off promisingly enough. With shouts out to Contra and Terraria still ringing in our ears we started off our adventure full of optimism. Early exchanges are a bit vague, but we don't mind that - figuring out games like this is part of the challenge, and the fun. We're in an old temple, but why? Exposition reveals that we're basically a secret agent, seeking a new/old sustainable energy source in a world powered by dwindling supplies of whale oil (whales, that I should add, float in the sky).

We move through the temple as we do the game beyond; slinging our grappling hook and firing our pistol. We kill bandits and beasties, and hop, jump and swinging our way through the environment. So far, so good. Once we retrieve the first relic that we're there to find, the ceiling starts to literally come down on our head, and so we run.

The first time we try to make good our escape we die, so we must restart and do the whole thing again. The second time of asking we make it out alive, except in the midst of our escape our ride takes some damage, and we're stranded while we make repairs.

Our ride is actually one of the more interesting parts of the game, and its biggest selling point. In {Windforge} you fly huge, fully customisable balloon ships between floating islands in the sky. You can improve ship systems, weapons and more. It's your very own airborne mobile home, and throughout the mission you mine the fully destructible world around you and craft new objects to improve your craft.

To start off it's in need of repair, and we need to fix up the ship before we can return to our employers with our newfound relic. Rather helpfully we've got a repair tool/magic wand that we can select and wiggle over the damaged hull of our ship, instantly repairing the holes in the woodwork. This tool proves invaluable later on, even if it does rob the overall experience of consequence; a quick fix is never far away and there's no cost or penalty for repairing damage.

Our magic wand isn't enough to repair the engines and the other equipment needed to get us afloat once again, so our shipmate sends us on a mission down a nearby mine to extract the minerals needed. At no time are we given specific instructions, but rather are left to sift through menus, work out what's needed and go get it. Again, this isn't necessarily an issue, especially when a game has been made where the joy of discovery is part of the design. While we wouldn't go as far as using the word 'joy' when describing {Windforge}, finding the materials we needed wasn't a massive labour.

Using our handy pneumatic drill we hammered away at different minerals down in the mine, extracting stone, wood and copper. It took a while to work out what the iron ore looked like, but after awhile we'd found that too, and had extracted what was required to make the crafting table (and later the control panel) needed to fly the ship and thus make our escape.

After fitting the new equipment, including propellers and engines provided by our travelling companion, our character was killed by a spinning propeller blade (in what turned out to be the first of many, many unforeseen deaths caused by the game's hazardous environment). We hadn't saved for a while, so it was back to just before we escaped the ruins - luckily we knew what iron ore looked like this time and it didn't take so long to get everything together.

After repairs, our ship was afloat and we were heading back to civilisation, our precious relic in-hand. At our destination we discovered a town floating in the skies. We had to take an artifact to a certain character, but were given no clear indication of who they were, and so we were left wandering around the town talking to strangers.

Sadly none of the NPCs we talked to on the way had anything particularly interesting to say, and many of them were clones of each other. Some of these characters and their one-liners added flavour to the setting, but most were utterly forgettable. Traversing landscapes, even in towns, isn't easy. Hatches provide access between floors, and sometimes it can be needlessly finicky to move between levels. When exploring the towns there's plenty of places to look, with loot to collect at every turn. There were various shopkeepers on hand to sell us stuff, and some NPCs can train your character and boost your stats.

It may just have been our eyesight that was suffering, but running through the level was a bit of a strain on the eye, and much of the time we had to focus solely on our character and ignore the rest so as to stop a headache growing thanks to the blurred backgrounds.

Eventually - through squinted eyes - we found our target, handed over the relic, and after talking to a few of her associates and getting a few side quests, we went back to our ship and added some much needed upgrades. From here we went out for the next stage of our adventure, journeying out into the sky with our weaponised air balloon.

It wasn't long after this that the save file corrupted. Needless to say that this didn't go down too well, but these things happen from time to time. Back to the beginning.

Now that we knew what to do we motored through the first part of the game, and were off on our adventures once again. We upgraded our ship properly, taking time to add the best weapon systems possible, adding additional propellers to improve speed. From there we started to explore the wider world. It was then that we started bumping into pirates and were able to experience the ship-based combat, which is one of the more exciting parts of the game. The only issue we found with it was the severity of the challenge in some cases, and the fact that we regularly came across better armed enemies who'd just swat us out of the sky.

Typical battles involve your opponent announcing themselves with a flurry of off-screen bullets. Then the two airships square off, assessing which has the better systems. Additional crew members can supplement on-board weaponry with their own sidearms. While some of our opponents were flying lesser crafts and were easy to ram/shoot out of the sky, most were significantly tougher than us, and we died many times at the hands of various enemies. Of course, the other option is to simply run away - something that we had to do numerous times.

On the few occasions we were able to bypass the pirates and bandits and explore the environments, we actually had fun. The grappling hook is nice addition, and traversing the levels is mostly enjoyable. Sometimes the level design isn't fantastic, and pulling your character through a hatch with the grappling hook can be infuriatingly tricky, especially when you're being shot at by the plasma spewing turrets left behind by the ancient race that you're researching. It all felt a little rough around the edges, and at times, needlessly difficult and frustrating.

Combat against creatures and human enemies isn't brilliant, with snail-like projectiles coming from both sides, but there's a charm to it that we appreciated. However, when we started story missions, we were greeted with difficulty spikes that demoralised us, time and time again forcing us to restart overly challenging missions. If you haven't guessed, we died a lot.

Depending where you die, there's two options; reload a save or go back to town and head off from there. If you bite the bullet when on foot, you need to restart from the last save and continue from there. If, on the other hand, you're ambushed by pirates or some giant airborne beast smashes you out of the sky, all you need to do is restart back at the nearest town. Thanks to these decisions (and the magic repairing tool) there was no real punishment for mistakes, other than the inconvenience of having to walk back over tired tracks.

Ultimately it was the difficulty spikes and balance issues that really frustrated us in {Windforge}. We wanted to like it so much, and although there was plenty to admire in its design, we still walked away feeling that something was missing. That's not to say it's not going to be worth your time, especially if you don't mind a severe challenge and are prepared to overlook a few inconsistencies. There's a lot of game here, and in that respect it'll prove good value for a dedicated explorer.

The world itself - the game's setting - is one of the most interesting that we've come across. It smacks of steampunk and Jules Verne-esque adventure. The map that you explore is a patchwork of sections, each a tile waiting to be explored. We investigated a few different areas of the map, but there's so much waiting to be explored that we felt like we hadn't scratched the surface; for a willing adventurer that'll be a tempting proposition. But, to get to the good stuff - the crafting, the aerial battles, the flying whales, the exploration - you've got a brave a few other, less welcoming elements. Your ability to tolerate these factors will largely sum up your experience with the game.

In a few months, with patching and improvements, {Windforge} might still emerge as the experience that it could and should be. At this moment in time it feels rushed out the door, a little too underdeveloped, and unless you've got an abundance of patience, that needs to be considered if you're thinking of making a purchase.