Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Mar 2, 2022

  Well, I'll be upfront and say I didn't find it quite as interesting to look at as the first (I mean, there's only so much you can do when 95% of your landscape is water) but it is quite fun. I was hoping it would add a bit to the lore, but after having beaten it I have more questions than I did when I started. Such is life, I suppose.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 2, 2022

  This game like its predecessor is a once in a lifetime experience in my personal opinion and I urge anyone who is thinking of playing it to dive straight in
• gamedeal user

  Mar 2, 2022

  So here's the thing. This game is unique, and beautiful, and we need more games like it. It's a short, cinematic experience that plays with concepts of loneliness and desperation and hope. Mechanically, and even narratively, I had some gripes, but maybe my expectations were too high given how much I loved FAR: Lone Sails. So going through it - The ending has a sweet tie to the first. I have mixed feelings about the arc as a whole. The puzzles weren't particularly impressive, and because the game lets you sail on the water, or submerse below them, I found I often felt like I was missing out on content only seeing one or the other. That said, it's a blast maintaining the ship. The upgrades were cool and made me feel like I was going further in the game, though I would have ultimately liked to see more, and more use of them. The last upgrade for example is only required once. The music and landscape was such a central component of the first, and somehow both felt less in this go through. The ocean, the OCEAN, ultimately feels a little empty. There's wreckages and stuff, but this felt like a missed opportunity for MORE. There's a really long sequence where you're walking over an ice shelf, and I wasn't sure if I was going the right way, and it was ultimately a flat portion of the game. In FAR: Lone Sails there were numerous sequences where you solve a puzzle or something dramatic happens, and you have a significant decompress time of 'ok, time to sail and just watch the land slowly roll by and the music swell', and it was gorgeous and felt cinematic. That was fairly absent here - maintaining the wind in the sails makes it a little harder to watch the landscape, and again, the oceans felt fairly empty compared to the post apocalyptic wastelands of FAR: Lone Sails. Ultimately I loved this. It's a gorgeous trek, and I applaud the studio for their work. I hope we see another FAR game, and I hope they tighten some of these mechanical and narrative arcs, expand once again on the sailtankboat, and show us the next stage of the journey.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 3, 2022

  The predecessor to this game is quite fun and that is why I picked this game up. This game has many good elements and mechanics. The problem is, these cool mechanics are separated from each other by a long drawn out time where you will be doing nothing other then making minor adjustments to the sail. The game doesn't draw you in. By the end of the game I was maybe 10 minutes away from throwing the game in the never going to finish pile.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 5, 2022

  [h1]Sum-Up[/h1] [h3]In-depth analysis further down.[/h3] [quote]Follow our Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41449676/]Summit Reviews[/url], to see more high-quality reviews regularly.[/quote] [table] [tr] [th]🟩 [b]Pros[/b][/th] [th]🟥 [b]Cons[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] - Excellent art direction that builds a bleak, vibrant post-apocalyptic setting. - The spot-on soundtrack emphasizes crucial moments in the right way, consistently. - Good variety of gameplay elements for most of the adventure. [/td] [td] - The story is interesting, but never truly exciting at any point. - Piloting and management challenges are too simple, thus resulting bland overall. - Free exploration, while possible in some segments, proves uninteresting. [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [th]🟨 [b]Bugs & Issues[/b][/th] [th]🔧 [b]Specs[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] - Subpar keyboard + mouse support / control scheme, I recommend using a controller. [/td] [td] - 3900X - 2080Ti - 32GB RAM - SSD - 1440p [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [td][b]Content & Replay Value:[/b][/td] [td]It took me about 8 hours to complete F:CT, taking extra time to explore areas accurately, get all the supplies I could find and generally taking it slow to appreciate the setting. Given the linear nature of the adventure, there is no replay value whatsoever once finished, save for achievements for those interested.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]Is it worth buying?[/b][/td] [td]The price of 20€ is slightly steep despite the given content amount and quality, however it may be just fine for those that appreciate this kind of narrative-focused adventures. If you're not especially invested in this genre, I suggest waiting at least a -25% or better discount instead.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][h3]Verdict: Good[/h3] [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2548409603]Rating Chart Here[/url][/td] [td]Changing Tides is a worthy sequel to Lone Sails, however it fails to elicit the same emotional intensity the first chapter was made famous for. It's an interesting narrative-focused adventure that will please fans of this genre and of the post-apocalyptic, however not without issues.[/td] [/tr] [/table] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2769940750 [h1]In-Depth[/h1] [h3]Is that you, Waterworld?[/h3] F:CT shares the same setting of its predecessor, Lone Sails; a world devastated by massive floods, that rendered massive swathes of land uninhabitable or submerged them fully. Barely anyone is left alive: one of such lucky (or perhaps, unlucky) survivors is the unnamed protagonist, a young boy that finds himself in the middle of the apocalypse. Be it by chance or fate, he manages to reactivate an old sail-powered vessel, to sail away in search of other survivors and less devastated areas, starting a journey that, indeed, will bring him far, and have him see many of the Old World's remains. Without any dialogue or text, only indirect and environmental narration types are used to convey the setting's lore. In many places it is possible to see finely intricate details that may shed some light on the past, however none of them is groundbreaking at any point, leaving much of the story up to the players' interpretation. This narrative style works well enough, however the story events also feel forced at times, especially when you see the protagonist finding exactly what they need each time, conveniently placed on their path and mostly in operational shape. More than a struggle for survival in the post-apocalypse, this voyage seems like a journey blessed by a "higher power", as the perils one would expect to find prove underwhelming, unexciting most of the time, instead of instilling dread or tension as they should. [h3]Sailing into the Unknown[/h3] Initially, the refurbished ship won't be much more than a bucket of bolts with a torn sail as only means of motion. You'll have to use the incorporated control gears to hoist the sail, raise the mast, and change the axis' direction to catch the wind, which changes direction constantly. This gives some much-needed interaction to what, otherwise, would be a bland, insipid journey across vast masses of water. Obstacles like bridges or ruins may damage the mast, so you'll have to be quick in lowering it before a collision happens - and if it comes to it, repair kits can be sparingly found around most locations to fix the damage, each of them usable up to six times. As the journey goes on, the ship will be equipped with new modules such as a steam engine that requires fuel, in turn manually scavenged from around the world (often underwater), a submarine propeller to navigate underwater caves, and even an ancient energy device capable of powerful bursts of speed. As all these elements are introduced, the micro-management becomes more complex: the engine will overheat, so man the water pump to cool it down - but that will also be used to lower / raise the submarine module's depth, while the bellows of the engine need constant pushing to stoke the fire. If this all sounds overwhelming, well, it really isn't; the general pacing of the game is slow and there is ample room for mistakes if they ever happen, while repair kits are plentiful unless you literally wreck your ship systems every two minutes. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2769940311 [h3]Old World's Legacy[/h3] In-between travels through vast oceans, you'll encounter more than a few remnants of the days past, in the form of buildings and decaying infrastructure. Pretty much every time, these places will include puzzles to solve in order to clear a path for the boat, or upgrade its modules to proceed all the same. Such instances are also used as a narrative medium, to showcase murals, writings and or remains that can be interpreted to shed some light on the story - albeit, that won't do much good, as the events remain obscure in any case. While these enigmas prove interesting and a good change of pace, they aren't a great challenge to overcome, and rather short in general. [h3]Nothing on the Horizon[/h3] One of the main issues of F:CT lies in how empty the world feels throughout - and I don't mean "desolate", I mean "empty". While you're able to leave the ship at any time to explore on foot or by swimming with your waterproof suit, there won't be much of a point in doing so, other than acquiring combustible supplies for the engine (which can be located via the sonar module of the ship, highlighting their general position). This feels like a missed chance to add secondary areas that would've further rewarded exploration, Easter eggs, and other elements to make this aspect more compelling. The same can be said for the sailing segments, which have the occasional wild animal or debris along the way, but at no point the world truly feels alive or interesting to look at as you press onward. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2770502780
• gamedeal user

  Mar 6, 2022

  I liked this game at first, but the more I played, the more I noticed how shallow and unfinished this game actually is compared to the first one. The game feels rushed, becomes repetitive, and it does get really boring after a while. Such a disappointment. I loved the Lone Sails atmosphere. The OST is one I frequently revisit while knocking out some work, but not in this one. It's odd that the game has so little music in most parts.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 9, 2022

  I hope next FAR game will be co-op in the sky
• gamedeal user

  Mar 11, 2022

  If you are considering buying this game, please, please, PLEASE go play FAR: Lone Sails first. Lone Sails takes only 3 hours to complete, and it is a beautiful experience. You'll thank me.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 13, 2022

  After an ending like that, FAR: Endless Wings is an instant buy from me. You can have that name for free Okomotive! Can't wait for you to make it happen!
• gamedeal user

  Mar 14, 2022

  Like the first one, very enjoyable. There's only one thing I kinda missed here. In the first one your vehicle often was part of the solution to a puzzle. Here this seems to be rarely the case. As a result I did not bond as strongly with the vehicle in this one, than while playing the first one.