Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands

[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!