After years of quietly toiling away, 5 Lives Studios is excited to emerge from the shadows and reveal our latest creation. Once we had completed the rain-slicked neon streets of our debut title Satellite Reign, we turned our attention to the beauty of nature and set sail on our next adventure: Windbound.
Windbound takes place on a long-forgotten archipelago, once home to an ancient civilization. The game begins shortly after Kara — our protagonist — is separated from her fleet during a fierce and mysterious storm.
Awakening on the shore of a strange island, the player’s initial motivations are purely survival-focused, with the goal of simply returning to their tribe. However, with the storm seemingly surrounding the whole area, it’s immediately apparent that there’s something unusual about these islands, with strange structures and monuments left behind by a long-gone people.
As players progress through the world they’ll uncover the history of the ancient people, their relationship with the sea and the mysterious sea creatures that still swim beneath the waves. Survival will be their initial focus, but the world is also rich with materials they can use to craft items to make their journey easier.
Critical to success is building seafaring vessels. Starting with simple grass canoes and escalating to large multi-hull boats with a number of sails, players will learn to harness the power of the seemingly never-ending wind to traverse uncharted waters. But the seas are not always friendly, and the player is certainly not alone in the water.
Throughout their adventure players will travel to unique islands, featuring a cornucopia of flora and fauna in varied environments. Truly no two adventures will be the same with the archipelagos procedurally generated every time a new adventure begins. Each environment has different resources available, from wild berries to hitherto unknown beasts. To truly prosper players will need to craft new weapons and develop new strategies to neutralize natural threats.
Explore the scattered ruins and artifacts, unlock pieces of the islands’ past and uncover Kara’s connection to it. Unravel the mystery that enshrouds the islands and you may find your way home.
We can’t wait for you to set sail into the world of Windbound, coming to PS4 August 28.
