FAR: Lone Sails

This is a tough one to review and Steam's binary "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" doesn't help. To get it out of the way, overall I liked it. It's like a 7/10. The art direction, the atmosphere and vibe, the sounds and music.. it's all really good. The gameplay itself? Well, you're not really doing much and doing a lot at the same time. It's weird. In the game you play a little girl who is tasked with taking care of a landship called the Okomotive as it travels across the land. Why? You don't really know why and at the end of the day, it isn't really important. The gameplay is mostly putting fuel into the engine, picking up fuel whenever you pass some and then some light puzzling. There's not a whole lot there but the focus is more on the nice journey you get to take. Another reviewer said they wished it was slower paced and having read that, I totally agree. You are almost constantly maintaining the ship. There is almost no downtime to enjoy the scenery. The point of the game does seem to be 'the journey' but the constant refueling, de-steaming, braking to pick up fuel, putting out fires and repairing feels like it hinders that enjoyment a bit. I'm not saying to remove those mechanics but to just space it out a bit. I also don't want to give the impression that it's difficult. It's really not. It's a small blemish on an otherwise nice experience. Game is fine. If you have about 3 hours to kill and want to escape life for a bit then it's good. There are a few moments that are quite breathtaking which I won't spoil and I'd say that overall I really liked it.

Atmosphärisch sehr dicht. Ästhetisch absolut gelungen. Schön verarbeitet. Toller Style. Aber keine Story. Keine Herausforderung. In drei Stunden bist Du durch und fertig. Wie eine kleine feine Praline zum Abendessen.

[h2]TLDR:[/h2] A relatively chill side-scroller and puzzle game about perseverance. [h2]GAMEPLAY OVERVIEW:[/h2] Far: Lone Sails opens with the player portrayed as a small figure in a red raincoat. The game is a left-to-right side-scroller, so running to the right quickly allows the player to find a steam-driven landcruiser and drive away from their home to ... points east. Or points on the right. Inside the cruiser, there are several controls, including a throttle for the engine, a fuel scoop to feed the engine, a brake, and a grapple ring on both the front and the back. The cruiser starts with limited fuel but various objects lay in the player's path that be collected and used as fuel. Pretty much anything can be fed into the engine, though some items are more efficient than others. A few may even be damaging, so be aware. Even if the cruiser completely exhausts its fuel, the player can tow it via the grapples, albeit very slowly. The cruiser will (early in the game) obtain a sail unit, which must be manually raised or lowered. In places, the sail will propel the cruiser, though using it and the engine together will of course bring much faster travel. The player need only watch the flag to make sure the wind is blowing the right direction for the sail to push the cruiser ... but make sure to lower it before passing under something. In the course of the journey, the cruiser will encounter various obstacles and stations. The cruiser can bash through some barriers, though others require light puzzle elements. None of them are overly complicated or difficult, and as near as I can tell, none can be fouled to the point of being unsolvable, so don't be afraid to push buttons and move things to figure them out. Colliding with some at speed will damage the cruiser, setting off fires, requiring use of the hose to put them out. Left unchecked, fires will eventually spread and explode the cruiser, leading to a game over, so don't leave them alone for long. There's not much more to say on the gameplay loop. It's all relatively simple. Far: Lone sails isn't a long game and shouldn't take even casual, experimental players more than a few hours to finish. Unless one is working achievements (see below), the replay value is relatively low. [h2]STORY / WORLDBUILDING:[/h2] There's no direct story presented, though the backgrounds and terrain show a world in disrepair, with marooned ships abandoned like the bodies of great sea creatures washed ashore. Mechanical maintenance facilities stand isolated along the land, waiting for a visit from a landcruiser like the player's. Such stations quickly perform their duty, and reset to wait for the next visitor ... although it is heavily implied there won't be anyone else coming behind. The whole tone of the setting is of loneliness and melancholy decay, mixed with the player's drive to just keep going. Even after finishing, I'm not sure how to feel about it. Later background scenes show a would-be inventor's quest to solve the mobility problem produced by the receding shores, but by that point, the player will immediately see coming the technical problems for that solution. I won't spoil the game's end other than to say it's left up to player interpretation, and I can see it being either hopeful or depressing. [h2]TECHNICAL ASPECTS:[/h2] The game feels stable and ran without issue. The graphics aren't fancy and neither is the sound scheme but both serve the minimalist gameplay well. Music plays intermittently, adding a hauntingly lonely dirge to the experience. There's no dialogue, which is suiting, since the player will see no one other than themselves. Steam achievements require several runs, including a speedrun, though getting one-hundred percent should be easy for someone who doesn't mind playing a few times. [h2]FINAL WORD:[/h2] I think Far: Lone Sails is worth a look for players wanting something brief and relaxed. [h2]SCORE: 7/10[/h2]

Absolutely enjoyed this game. Zero words are spoken but you feel a melancholy effect very well. You're all alone, and everything is in a state of disrepair. You're on a quest to find a new home, but the journey is long and frankly a little treacherous. Ran through the whole game four times, the first one was more of a data run and learning the mechanics and what to expect and looking at all the little quirks. Went into all the puzzles blind and they're not overly difficult to figure out. Some took me longer than they should've but I wasn't going for the speed run achievement at that time. To get all the achievements you'll need to play through the whole game at least three times. Some people said I should've gotten the mileage achievement at the end of my third run-through but I ended up having to play a fourth time. I didn't mind. You get into a rhythm: throwing fuel in, releasing steam, pushing the button to keep the okomotive running, manning the sail. It all feels quite theraputic when weather and obsticles aren't trying to kill you.

Давно моя душа так не отдыхала

Мой отзыв на игру FAR: Lone Sails Игра, которая доставила мне нереальное удовольствие — и от геймплея, и от визуала. Это одна из самых красивых игр, в которые я играл. За почти 3 часа прохождения игра дарит море эмоций. Разные локации, ситуации и головоломки. Я обязательно пройду продолжение, когда будет возможность. И кстати, тут главный герой — маленькая девочка, которая в соло может тянуть огромную махину за трос… А нам лень вставать с утра, ребята. 🙃 Так что это не просто игра о том, как доехать из точки А в точку Б. Это настоящий маленький аттракцион по уходу за ржавым, но верным другом, который везет тебя через опустевший мир к неизвестной цели. Очень советую всем, кто хочет отдохнуть от перестрелок и просто погрузиться в меланхоличную атмосферу.

好评。