This is Niche Spotlight. In this column, we regularly introduce new games to our fans, so please leave feedback and let us know if there’s a game you want us to cover!
Today’s Spotlight is Windscape, a colorful first-person RPG by Magic Sandbox and Headup that just left Early Access.
You play as Ida, a young girl living peacefully on her parent’s farm in a magical world of floating islands. Ida heeds the call to adventure when she discovers that a malignant force is causing islands to fall from the sky.
Explore dungeons, harvest resources and materials to craft new items, and fight vicious bosses as you explore the world and unravel the mystery that threatens to destroy the idyllic world you call home. You can watch the release trailer above.
Windscape is available on Windows PC (via Steam), Switch, and Xbox One for $19.99.
Here’s a rundown of the game:
A Handcrafted Universe
One of my very first decisions was that I wanted the world to feel like a living and breathing environment. While I could have employed procedural world generation, as so many other games do these days, I have decided against this so I can flesh out the most beautiful corners of the world in detail. While this means that sadly there will be a point when “you have seen it all”, I still feel very comfortable with my decision as it allows me to put you right into the world we’re building, with places to remember and stories to tell.
A Beautiful World To Explore And Discover
I already have the game’s universe mapped in my head but I also want the game to go where the community’s input takes it too. For the final game I am planning for at least four very different maps, and I’ll appreciate the support on choosing the most fitting ones. The game starts on a pastoral island with peaceful nature, a flourishing little village, a water mill and many more idyllic spots to discover. Over the next few months I am looking forward to revealing more scenery and gathering valuable feedback from the players to help me make the next big decisions.
An Immersive Yet Classical Story Around A Young Girl
Why always a boy? I hope you will come to love Ida as much as she has grown on me during the game’s development. Sent out by her parents into the small neighborhood town to make a delivery, Ida is yet unaware that soon the fate of the world will be resting solely upon her shoulders…
A Profound Yet Simple To Use Crafting System
I have created a resource and crafting system which is intuitive to use but allows many things to be made. Basically you will find different crafting stations at key places all over the islands, each enabling you to build different things if you have gathered the resources needed. You can cook healthy or just yummy food, craft sweeping shields and weapons, mix mysterious ingredients to create powerful magic potions, melt iron and copper into new forms of metal and much, much more.
Murky Dungeons And Challenging Boss Fights
I want the dungeons to be an enthralling deviation of the more open exploration and story driven game that takes place on the islands surface. The first big dungeon you will encounter is a copper mine infested with rat-like enemies. Here you will also encounter the first bigger boss monster – with a great reward waiting for you if you make it out alive. Some dungeons will be an incremental part of the story while many others and smaller caves are hidden in the world for you to just discover.
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