Worlds Upon The Wind

This is a very good deckbuilder with roguelike elements (in which, unilke most roguelikes, you don't have to "lose" - every playthrough is an expedition to another land, which you can finish whenever it feels right to get the hard-earned rewards and move the story forward, and you can keep playing the game even after finishing the main storyline) and I whole-heartedly recommend getting it. The thing that immediately hits you is the atmosphere of traditional Japanese woodblock print scrolls (which the game encourages you to learn more about by viewing them in the in-game museum), combined with a fitting soundtrack and extra effects that go together very well, which in my case put me in a Zen-like state of experiencing full focus on using the cards, relics, companions or anything else available to me to fulfill the needs of folktale-slach-postapocalyptic settlements that house people dispossessed by a cataclysm which turned the world into a bunch of islands floating in the sky. The mechanics of the game let you combine powers of Japanese glyphs (which you can inscribe yourself and learn their meanings), relics found during story-rich events and other powers unlocked by playing through the eras to summon elemental essences needed to create environments, where people, animals and spirits can survive and thrive. Random elements keep you on your toes, forcing you to adapt to increasing needs of your people, hauntings, lost glyphs, demanding events and more - or finishing your expeditions early to gain more power and try again. The most fascinating aspect of this game for me is that you can easily just spend a few minutes on one foray or many hours to complete an expedition (or a few) depending on what your schedule allows and still come out of it satisfied - but being eager to see more of the story and the challenges ahead. From the technical standpoint, the game is well optimized and mostly free of bugs. Most hangups I have encountered were ironed out in beta testing, the game doesn't crash and even complicated chains of glyph and relic powers go through as intended. The developer addresses any issues quickly and is easy to reach through the game's Discord server. At this price point I would struggle to point out another game that can bring me as many hours of being focused and engaged, especially one that can teach me something about art and language, has heaps of interesting storylines, encourages me to find ever more mechanics that support each other and manages to make me leave relaxed. While I was able to wheedle out a beta access for myself, I decided to buy a few copies for friends who are into Japanese culture and deckbuilding games, because I would feel bad not giving any money to this project. If you are still unsure whether this game is for you, try the demo! It's free, infinitely replayable and really generous - you get a huge chunk of the game for free and the save transfers without any issues.

Worlds Upon the Wind is a very special kind of game. It's unique, made with passion, an optional teaching tool (if you want it to be), a "god game" with a little imagination, a storyteller if you read the well written text and descriptions, or just a pretty challenging card game. The use of historical public domain Ukiyo prints has created so many small story moments that I love. Some of the outcomes are truly beautiful and carry a sense of quiet adventure. I love repopulating these shards and playing to find out what happens. After 42 hours of the DEMO (not even the retail release) I'm looking forward to many more evenings exploring the shards and giving my people new homes and stories to shape their lives. Max has clearly put so much work and passion into this game. It deserves all the praise I can heap on it for being so completely weird in the best way. It's game design as artistic expression. The music selection is soothing and lovely. The small bit of sound work is tastefully done. The woodblock prints have my brain filling in all kinds of details almost as if I was reading a book. Some choices are hard to make, I have yet to chop down that Cherry Tree, I cannot bring myself to do it in all my runs, but I will someday... The card game itself is deceptively deep and even breaking the existing systems and creating overpowered combos is possible. I haven't tried to yet, but I've seen some serious card game players really going crazy on the community discord. Don't let the humble asking price fool you, this is a masterclass game right here. You're missing out if you don't want to become a world spanning divine presence helping your people find new homes. Discovering all these stories in the evenings after work has been such a joy for me. And the retail release is even better. Thank you Max and everyone else from the community and beyond who helped make such a game possible.

I played the demo for about 5 hours and it was clear that this game is very well thought-out and easily worth purchasing. I really like deckbuilders and roguelikes, so this game was right up my alley. One of the things that sets this game apart (other than the focus on Japanese history/culture/art/language) is that there's no combat or timers, yet there's still a tension in trying to optimize each turn. It's a very engaging deckbuilder roguelike, with plenty of unique charm. Gameplay seems to allow for people to min-max or play casually. The progression feels meaningful and seems to be methodically introducing additional game elements. There are enough ways of influencing RNG of drawing glyphs (cards) that I'm not put off when I get a bad hand. I can't wait to see what else is in store as I unlock more content!

It's beautiful and relaxing. The reference material gave me some good new insights into Japanese art. The underlying deckbuilding game is complex enough to make me feel smart, when I find new ways to solve the challenges. There is even an story being told, that I'm interested in seeing to the end.

This game is just beautiful! So very pleasing to the eyes (and ears as well - the sound design is excellent.) It is great at sucking you into its world(s). I would describe this game as very calming. It's a bit addictive as well - it's hard to stop myself from embarking on one more Expedition. There is a nice risk and reward dynamic, where you can stop early or press on to one more Foray and risk losing the Insight bonus. The random events add a lot of charm and some of them are very memorable (my favorite being about two rocks in love.) The deckbuilding has a lot of depth. Oh, and it's especially recommended for anyone learning Japanese (but no Japanese is required - the language learning aspects are entirely optional.) Great work here, highly recommended!

I played the demo for 13 hours and immediately got the full game on release. It's became a soothing daily ritual. I love the gentle, meditative, sometimes humorous narrative moments, the way the map updates to reflect the towns and structures you've chosen to build, the combination of luck and strategy involved in developing a site, and the overall story of this fractured world being drawn together, piece by piece. For people interested in Japanese history and language, the original ukiyo-e art that inspired the game's style is loving displayed and explained in a hub-gallery, and optional mini-games help players remember japanese kanji on all the cards. In a lot of ways, this game as a sincere and aspirational call to action: relax, find community, and make the fractured world better.

Make no mistake, this IS NOT one of those myriad chinese spreadsheet games! Winds upon the World is a carefully crafted hommage to Japanese culture and history in a superbly competent roguelite deckbuilder framework. Every system/aspect of this game comes together wonderfully and elevates the final product to something that in my opinion should serve as reference in terms of art, innovation and genre.

Beautiful, relaxing, addictive, and I can practice my kanji skills at the same time too. 10/10 game so far, I'm positively hooked.

Beautiful and calming game that is very informed of the philosophy and culture it's drawing from. You play as "the enlightened one" rebuilding a fractured earth-like world post apocalypse. I would call it a cozy game, but it's also a deck builder and there is light resource management. So much careful love and world building is put into this and it shows. If you like games like Stacklands, FTL: Faster Than Light or Sultans's Game, but don't like constantly dying in them, this is for you. Atmosphere and stress level is more like Stardew Valley. It is cozy but definately not a shut your brain off kinda cozy game. You never feel rushed, you can do things halfway, make breakfast and then continue as you are eating your scrambled eggs. You can redo things over and over again if you're a perfectionist. I played the demo for like 8 hours, was worried for the full release not living up to expectations. I'm glad my worries were unfounded. Gameplay is simple, but there is enough content to play for a couple of days, well worth the 10 bucks imo. I love clicking on the characters that will gradually populate your 'haven' and listen to them wax philosophical or just talk about their lives.

I played the demo for upwards of 12 hours and I can safely say that this game is amazing. The art and music give a unique atmosphere and the gameplay of exploring and setting new regions was satisfying and never got old. I'm excited to see what the rest of the game has to offer