Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands

I picked this game up on sale for $3.74, and now I’m already 17 hours in — and genuinely loving it! The story has been really enjoyable so far, and the overall vibe is wonderfully cozy. Combat doesn’t come into play until later in the story, and even then it’s simple and easy to handle (though I haven’t reached the late-game yet). If you’re looking for a combat-heavy adventure, this probably isn’t the game for you. But if you enjoy cozy exploration, farming, decorating, and building relationships with characters while following a story, then this is right up your alley. You can spend time focusing on your camp, but progressing through the story is important to unlock new features. My biggest gripe early on was how slowly the character runs and how quickly energy runs out when sprinting or performing actions. That said, this improves as you progress, unlock perks, and find new outfits. The recipe mini-game was a bit frustrating at first, but it’s grown on me. Fishing also has a bit of a learning curve — I’m still struggling with some of the tougher catches — but I’m hoping that gets easier down the line. Overall, I’d definitely recommend this game if you’re into cozy gaming experiences!

Uma delicinha de passatempo. Pra quem gosta de um gameplay bonitinho e tranquilo, esse jogo tem uma história bacaninha, tillha sonora relaxante e conquistas fáceis de fazer. Ótimo pra desacelerar!

[h1][b]Stranded Sails: Explorers of the Cursed Islands[/b][/h1] [h3][b]Time Played:[/b][/h3] 24.7 Hours. [h3][b]Last Played:[/b][/h3] 20th of July, 2026 [hr] Summer-themed gaming 2026, take two. ...which is to type “Hopefully-favourable to play, unlike Crash Bandicoot 4”. Of note is that while I've owned Stardew Valley since 2019, this was the first “community farmer” I've ever played. [h3][b]Yay:[/b][/h3] + Very charming to me art... + ...presentation... + ...music... + ...sound effects... + ...build animation... + ...and world. + How colourful it is, too. + Absolutely season-embodying. This looks like summer. + I felt rather accomplished on doing anything new. + “Cook tasty food!” :D + “Chunky Acorn”. I love the vernacular this game uses. – u – + Very charming, cosy, and pleasing to me, this game. + Discovering recipes by smashing together ingredients was deemed “A fun way to add more real-life into the game”. + Though similar-looking, each island has their own unique biome. + Many areas elicited an “Oo! I like this~” + They make it seem like food and cooking is a huge deal...but I got by just fine without it. + You're thankfully-told what the point of no return is, and can back out of it to grab the rest of the achievements. + I enjoyed the lore/back story. + On that topic, you don't need to do, and fill in every last bit of every map to have 100% achievements. I only built the personal cabin, without redeeming, nor building any of the other things related to it, yet still have them all. [h3][b]Meh:[/b][/h3] ~ Somewhat-awkward start by my measure, with major events happening via dialogue boxes, rather than cutscenes, or a slideshow. ~ I wish they changed the colour of the plates, rather than showing you in a window above, to show which ingredients are in the right place, need to be moved, and aren't in-recipe. ~ Outside of the things dropped by containers on islands, you really don't need anything more than corn, leading to a feeling of under-utilisation where crops are concerned. ~ A mini-map would have been appreciated. ~ The order of the tools makes very little sense, and I've no idea why you need to swap between different ones to grab different types of collectibles, something I never saw the point of. ~ Combat, which becomes a focus in the second half was as under-baked as possible to me. Only 3 enemies exist, chaining sword swings was not reliable to me without slowly-mashing, and almost 0 challenge was had from it. ~ This made the [Spoiler]Ancestor Trial[/spoiler] Achievements more-than-a-bit tedious, by my measure. ~ You cannot reach maximum affection with anyone by simply giving them one of every piece of their most-favoured furniture. ~ Some of those also felt a touch useless. I only furnished the homes of 3 of the 7 crew you can, and even then, did not reach level 3 with even one of them. ~ [Spoiler]The Final boss is simply a mini-boss you'd have already bested at least 10 of if going for the easy trial achievement..[/Spoiler] [h3][b]Nay:[/b][/h3] - Sea Traversal was thought to be needlessly-slow... - ...and not much was present to look at while in open waters. - They don't tell you what each of the [Spoiler]Ancestor Trial Hat Boons[/spoiler] do, and I was only able to figure out the very first one you return/can earn, which blocks one hit after X amount of time. - No indication was present this had regenerated was present before damage was taken. [hr] [h3][b]Verdict:[/b][/h3] While I've no idea how this will compare to other things of the sort I have, I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the allegedly-cursed islands, and the issues I did have with it were significant enough to keep it from Fantastically-Favoured, but not enough to undo all the aspects I enjoyed... [h3][b]Placed in:[/b][/h3] 2: Amicably-Approved!

relajante

Stranded Sails feels a little bit like you’re riding with training wheels on the whole game, but I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. Sometimes you just want a list of objectives and a little extra guidance on how to knock them out. Farming, exploring, resource collecting and cooking are the things you’ll be doing the most of, all of which I found pretty fun to do. The cooking recipe discovery mini game left me wanting to strangle a few of the islander crew, but the frustration is short lived. Eventually it all starts to feel like one giant puzzle: if I do this, this will unlock this, and if I do that, I can do this more efficiently and feel less inclined to strangle all the islander crew members. The sense of satisfaction is there for sure. The music is quite pleasant as well. It gets off to a bit of a slow start, but once the engine starts to rev up, I found myself willingly clocking in every day to see where this game went.

The game design is completely broken and disrespectful of the player's time. I honestly tried to endure it and played for 2 hours, but I just couldn't take it anymore. Trash Stamina System: Just pressing the sprint button drains your entire stamina bar before you can even leave the camp. It feels more like a chore than an adventure. Garbage Fast Travel: The fast travel system is heavily flawed, restrictive, and introduces annoying mechanics instead of actually helping the player.

Bom Mesmo Esse Joguinho