Windward Horizon

When this game first launched, it was an absolute blast. The community was thriving, with hundreds of players across multiple servers, chatting, teaming up, and experimenting with all sorts of builds. There was a real sense of discovery and momentum - you felt like you were part of something special. I was one of those main players, completely invested. I poured over 100 hours into mastering the systems, testing builds, and writing guides - many of which you can still find on Steam today. Back then, every hour felt rewarding, every fight a thrill. But that passion didn’t survive the slow unravelling that came next... Unfortunately, that energy didn’t last. Over time, the developer started giving in to the loud complaints of a small but vocal group of players who couldn’t stand seeing certain builds outperform theirs. Instead of balancing classes thoughtfully or giving weaker builds some love, the dev chose the lazy route - nerf after nerf after nerf. What used to be exciting, fast-paced combat has now turned into a tiresome slog. Fighting bosses feels pointless unless you bring an army with you and have half an hour to spare. Solo or small-group play, once completely viable and fun, is now a frustrating exercise in futility. Exploration doesn’t feel rewarding anymore either; enemies are tanky, respawn constantly, and your attacks hit like wet noodles. Everything that made the game feel challenging but fair has been replaced by sluggish grind and punishment. My guides now sit unfinished, gathering digital dust - relics from a time when the game still had a heartbeat. I’ve logged over a hundred hours in its heyday, but I can’t bring myself back to what’s left: a hollow shell of the world I once loved. It’s heartbreaking to see how the devs poor balancing decisions and misplaced priorities drained the life from what was once a promising and genuinely enjoyable experience. From hundreds of players on multiple servers, you're now lucky to see 20 people playing in every server combined, the great friends I made in this game one by one started to turn their back on it, dissatisfied by the constant deleting of their fun, the moment they discovered a new good build it was nerfed into the ground. Until the dev seriously rethinks their approach to balance and progression (which I think is far too late now), it’s hard to recommend this game to anyone - old players or new

Mitigated : I like the gameplay, the loop is not annoying and enjoyable for a while. I hate the fact that the developer decided that to 'finish' the game you have to go through raids that require 3 players to complete. No option to play solo and my friends and family decided that this game was NOT for them.

It's just the first game, but smaller, with more convoluted means of getting the ships you want, a more complicated (but no more deep) ship upgrade system, and AI slop content. Just get the original if you really want to play something like this game.

I recommend holding off on this game for a while. The gameplay loop basically doesn't evolve at all from what you might experience in the first 30 minutes of play. My main complaints/disappointments: The settlements you make (only possible in the name of the existing factions) do very little for you. Even when you dump a ton of resources in, the best you can hope for is a pitiful tax income, and the ability to loosely influence the goods that are produced. There are no ways to set up supply lines, trade routes, etc., so if you want settlements to grow at any reasonable speed you will need to hold their hand and run most goods yourself. Most boats can only be sold by settlements that meet population thresholds. I unlocked two of the quest related ships, but could never buy either of them because these population requirements weren't met by any settlement on the map. I was limited to the first 4 ships on the list in my 20hrs of play. Combat is very simple, but interesting enough I guess. Its mostly about positioning and waiting on cooldowns. However, the AI are lobotomites. This is particularly painful regarding allied ships as you cannot rely on them to at all, you have to hand hold here as well. Additionally, I found most combat stats to be unbalanced/unpredictable. One encounter I might be one very nearly one-shotting everything, 10 minutes later I die 6 seconds into an engagement.

Game is designed for co-op, however doesn't have the players for that to work super well. The game is balanced with the idea people will form a fleet of ships to complete endgame content. Without the player base it acts as a lock on what you can do and what you can attempt but can't complete. It has limited settings for difficulty for players and solo mission get boring quick, I would steer clear unless you have friends that you can play with. Not a super solo friendly in the endgame. Dev has voiced that they will not balance or rebalance the game even with low player counts, so only get if you accept the current balance. However I do find the game fun and recommend if you are willing to face the challenges above

Here's why I don't think the game is worth it in its current state (unless buying it on sale). I have helped develop cities, regions and towns. I fish to generate money, can gladly get a city to get built up. At some point you chose which ressource a region produces without much information on how trading works or consumption works. Spices pile up in my region so i go to sell them. They get consumed at a rate of -0.3. Great. I don't even know how long a cycle is because that isn't really made clear either. So I sit and wait for spices to get eaten up by production and come back about 10 missions later. Nope still full and wont accept anything. Easy way to kill your profits and your game play. I think trading needs a rework. Reallistically looking at it through my lense is this is just a quest simulator with some fishing and "diving" mini games. May take up your time for a few hours but certainly not for a long time. My recommendation isn't no, its buy it on sale.

I liked the first game better, the progress doesnt feel fun.

我的存档在打完了大部分成就的情况下。因为从STEAM安装的中文化mod。被这款游戏严苛且无法理喻的机制毁掉了存档 一直提示无法使用人物存档进入我自己的单机海域，因为装了mod的存档无法进入没有mod覆盖的单机海洋地图 ？？？ 这叫什么意思，我之前用中文化mod通关了所有势力的主线拿到了所有的帆船，也有金色品质的好几套装备。这些是我的心血。 但就因为这款游戏的存档和mod机制，导致我的欢乐时光被毁了！ 【强烈不推荐中文玩家购买，这个游戏对mod的容忍性=负数而不是=0.除非你想玩英文原版】

BLUF: Highly recommend for you and 3 friends. Not as fun solo.

too many dialogue windows I don't care about. Interface doesn't look as polished as the first game. Bought it expecting to be impressed but was let down. Put in a refund request. I know the game has a demo but I liked the first one a lot. This game isn't like the first one