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Windblown, the latest action roguelike from Dead Cells studio Motion Twin, has just gotten a big update packed with more of everything that makes the game tick: weapons, areas, biomes, and much more. The game was already in great shape when it hit early access in October, and now it looks like I'm gonna spend a couple dozen hours tinkering around Sanctuary.
Sanctuary is the first new biome to come to Windblown since launch. It's unlocked via a new quest attached to an NPC named Carlos, who's found at the end of the factory biome. Once you reach Sanctuary, you'll find a new boss guarded by a range of new enemies.
As you explore, four fresh weapons will liven up your builds: the Sharp Sisters dual blades, the hefty Elder Sword, the laser beam Sentinel Wings, and a Fishing Rod that can yoink enemies off stages Super Smash Bros-style.
Auxiliary progression is what keeps me coming back to this style of roguelike, as was the case with Dead Cells, so while new content is always exciting, I'm especially intrigued by the new Remains System. With it, "players can retrieve the valuable Cogs, Memonites and Encrypted Memories lost in their previous Expedition, saving resources to unlock permanent upgrades to assist future runs into the Vortex," Motion Twin says. "Failure to retrieve these resources makes them lost... forever."
If you've ever reclaimed lost XP in a Soulslike, the implementation of this system will sound familiar. Start a new run and reach the point where you died, then look for an indicator that will "appear at the edge of your screen when you get close to your remains."
This is obviously a comfy change that should help speed up progression and soften the blow of death, but it's also an interesting design concession for what's still a hard-as-nails action roguelike. What is lost run over run, and how those runs are distinguished in-universe, are ever-evolving questions in the malleable roguelike space.
Windblown has had a rock-solid early access run so far, and this update looks like more of that. Between this and Hades 2, we're spoiled for premium action roguelikes these days. (I find myself coming back to Windblown more because it's less story-driven, whereas with Hades 2 my instinct is to wait for the story to fall into place.) I can't wait for both of them to hit 1.0.
