Reviews

FAR: Lone Sails review for Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One

Platform: Nintendo Switch
Also on: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Publisher: Mixtvision
Developer: Okomotive
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: E

There?s more than a hint of Journey present in FAR: Lone Sails. Sure, FAR is a 2D side-scroller, but between the protagonist in a flowing red cape, the scattered remnants of civilization, and the wordless action, it?s not hard to see some similarities between the two.

The key difference, unfortunately, is that FAR isn?t anywhere near as interesting as Journey. The mute, red-caped protagonist doesn?t have the opportunity to convey the same level of personality, the desolate landscape isn?t anywhere near as visually appealing, and, overall, the game just isn?t as good.

Mind you, there?s a massive gap between ?not as good as Journey? and ?not worth playing,? and FAR is much closer to the former than the latter. Its main problem is that it all feels very circumscribed and linear. Don?t get me wrong, I have nothing against nice, linear games — especially when they can be beaten in around 2-3 hours — but it still made it hard to feel a connection with the unnamed main character. Most of the time, it felt like you were just carrying out directed tasks, rather than really getting a chance to explore the desolate, post-apocalyptic landscape through which you?re traversing.

To be fair, that?s kind of the point. FAR is all about survival, which means you?re constantly running around your ship, carrying out the tasks vital to keep it running. Feed fuel into the engine, keep the pistons pumping, raise and lower the sails, slam on the brakes when necessary — and, when everything starts falling to pieces around you, keep a cool head so you can put out literal fires and make repairs. If you?re into repetitive manual labour, this game should be right up your alley.

If you want more than that, though, you won?t really find that here. FAR: Lone Sails is fine for what it is, and I liked my time with it — but throughout it all, I couldn?t help but feel like it could?ve been even better than it was.

Mixtvision provided us with a FAR: Lone Sails Switch code for review purposes.

Grade: B+-
Matthew Pollesel

Recent Posts

Explore the town of St. Amelia in a comic book tie-in for Silent Hill: Townfall

Written by the game’s lead writer and director Jon McKellan and drawn by artist David…

11 hours ago

Zohar, UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes’ 4th post release fighter, joins the roster on September 15th

Switch owners will have to wait a little longer for the Doppelganger to enter the…

15 hours ago

Marvelous gives us a character and gameplay primer as they reveal the release date for Muramasa: Revenant Blades

I can’t wait to see all that delectable Vanillaware food on an HD display.

16 hours ago

Bodycam: Locked and Loaded impressions for PC

No mom, I’m not watching a violent video of people in gunfights, I’m making one.

20 hours ago

SNK makes its presence felt during Nintendo’s latest Direct

Fans of Fatal Fury and Metal Slug should be pretty satisfied with the latest announcements.

1 day ago

This website uses cookies.