Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands

in library

3.1/5

( 13 Reviews )

3.1

13 Reviews

English & 6 more

Overall most helpful review

Posted on: October 17, 2019

Thoogah

Verified owner

Games: 168 Reviews: 22

Definitely not what I expected, still OK

DISCLAIMER: If you are looking for a Stardew Valley with pirate theme this game is definitely NOT it. As a matter of fact it's not really a farming game, not a survival game, definitely not a simulation/management game. It's a casual, chill exploration game. Farming cooking and such is there to fuel your stamina so you can explore furhter. Personally, I like it, it's not bad. It's a good way to pass time, a good casual game you can visit every now and then. Movement, especially in early game, is really slow and energy consumption feels excessive which of course limits your exploration, sometimes very annoyingly. You need food items with you, which you can carry a limited amount of, starting with 3 then I'm sure you gain more slots. You also get crew stew to fill up your stamina only in the camp though. Still every simple activity drains a huge chunk at least at start. Maybe if you upgrade your gear they cost less stamina. In the early game though you run out of stamina annoyingly fast without a way to restore. Walking drains stamina, running chunks it down. Basically anything you do chunks you down. Game doesn't punish you in any way other than resetting your travelled distance -which is kind of a punishment have to say but not a harsh one like losing your inventory etc. You can even use the faint mechanic as a fast travel. The game looks like it was intended for mobile devices, but I had no issues (other than a bit of awkwardness with planting and watering crops) using keyboard and mouse. Controls don't feel clunky so far but I haven't done any combat yet. It runs smooth overall. Graphics and sound/music is ok. So if you're looking for a casual experience, pick it up on a sale but if it's a game like Stardew Valley you're looking for sadly this is not it.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: October 20, 2019

OmniJose

Verified owner

Games: 377 Reviews: 1

It's all a lie. Chores, clunky, boring

I got super excited for this game since it showed fishing and chopping trees. Cool! I thought. The start of the game is slow and super boring. It involves running (slowly/lazily) back and forth to talk to npcs with uninteresting things to say and no voice overs to make draw you in. Follow this, talk to her, talk to him, do nothing, run slowly, look at the bright and colorful yet plain and boring graphics while you simulate your boredom on a supposed tropical Caribbean island. I mean there are friggin' deciduous trees that don't belong on a tropical island lol. Anyway chopping a tree takes 1/6 of your days energy at first and the fishing is only done at sparse fishing spots. I was disappointed and I think you would be too. Gameplay is slow and sluggish and boring! Controls are weird. I mean what is up with holding the right mouse button to move? Also planting seeds and digging holes for seeds is a chore. To plant, you hold the left mouse button for 3 seconds before your character does anything. what?? I'm on a computer! Everything should be instantaneous! I plant when I say NOT 3 seconds later!! In fairness, I haven't gotten too far in this game, and it may or may not speed up a little bit further along, BUT. at. what. cost? I'm 2.5 hours in and I can't have a good time. How long do I have to wait? One last issue: this game is linear af (in the beginning), everything you do feels like a chore. Do this, now that, in this way, not your own way, "your imagination is mine", game demon. why can't the game start out leaving you to your own devices, possibly with a fishing pole so you don't have to dredge along for 2 hours before barely any pay off?? Summation of boring: -talking npcs -traveling -eating -planting -watering plants -chopping trees -following all the quests which hold your hand like you are 5yrs old and haven't played a video game before. -game aesthetic -graphics (for some reason these were appealing but while playing it gets to you..bad) -stop-

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: October 21, 2019

Branden_Randall

Verified owner

Games: 4 Reviews: 1

Mediocre at best

I bought this game early on as many of the demo reviews had been claiming that this was going to be Stardew Valley with pirates. Unfortunately this game really isn't even close. There is very little depth to the game. It is a very casual walking simulator with an energy bar at best. You are asked run around performing very simple tasks, almost always something along the lines of go walk around your base and talk to a named NPC who will send you back to the other side of your base. The only 'challenge' in the game is managing your energy bar by eating food and even this is trivialized. The gameplay itself is very slow and quite boring. There are really no goals at all in the game outside of the main story and even those are short and boring. Improving your base makes things very slightly less tedious by adding shortcuts so you spend less time walking around the base or making it every so slightly faster to farm your crops but that's really about it. Combat in the game is incredibly simple and quite boring and the controls for it are very clunky and awkward. In the end, I'm fairly sad that I purchased the game at all. I'd not recommend this one at all.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: August 9, 2020

ReginaRC

Verified owner

Games: 85 Reviews: 19

Ups and Downs

I played this on my laptop (Dell Latitude CORE i7) which is beefy for business, but wasn't built for gaming. I would not do it again. It has its pros and cons and sometimes a feature is both. This is definitely a different type of game. The graphics are simple, cute and kind of charming yet make it feel unfinished. There is farming, cooking, exploring, fighting pirate ghosts, and some linear questing. You'll feed yourself and your crew. Crew stew results in raising their happiness and you'll be rewarded accordingly but those same rewards cause the game to lag more. (I am a big fan of the crew stew aspect.) The end goal is to lift the curse that won't allow you to leave the island. Discovering recipes requires a tedious mini-game which also caused lag and the more recipes discovered the slower the cooking process got. Every item you interact with flashes. This isn't so bad when it's dark and otherwise you'd miss a chest. It's horrible when you're trying to get your farming done and off to the side the cooking pan and recipe book are constantly flashing. It's not well balanced. I started farming the way the game appeared to intend which resulted in a huge food surplus. Ultimately there are four huge fields but all that is needed is maybe one plant for each crop type. The crops have good visual cues as to their status but that also causes massive lag. After a while you most likely will never need to sleep. To me this is a perk (I rather enjoyed it after all). There are a lot of things to collect but a good portion of them do nothing but sit in your inventory yet trying to find enough needed items can be difficult at best. The pirate ghosts are almost too easy. I found myself fighting my computer that didn't want to handle it more than the actual battle. Lastly, I see very little in the way of replay value here.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: April 1, 2022

mintee

Verified owner

Games: 797 Reviews: 122

good game for kids

Ive played around 8 hrs and dont think i will finish it. Its a nice enough game. the Pros: cute upbeat artwork and animations, easy crafting (you just gather the ingredients and go to the designated site and build), there is alot to explore, caves, fishing, cooking, sailing to other islands, opening up higher levels on the islands via crafting items. Farming is big as you need food for stamina. There is loot or treasure to be found. You can chop wood etc. Friendship levels to be gained with the island npcs. Its all very pleasant and relaxing. the cons: a bit repetitive, loot is respawned via chests/boxes and you need the items to craft friendship items and housing goods so the main portion of the game is running around gathering. mini games at first are interesting then you realize that they are also randomly spawned and repeated. the cooking menu is bizarre, it uses a puzzle option of finding ingredients but is finicky, ex by removing the known item that isnt in the ingredients it will randomly say more items are now wrong when there had only be one. kinda frustrating at higher levels. stamina expenses rise as you level and you start the grind to maintain enough stamina to do your daily tasks. farming for one is super expensive stamina wise. the friendships are pretty shallow, just higher levels unlock some buffs and furniture items. there is no real conversation or interaction with them, and they do squat for work on the island. all of the above is not game breaking, its still a fun game, a bit grindy as most builder games are. its all just a bit shallow for the amount of grind needed to gain lack luster rewards. I also would like a home of my own to decorate, which comes later but when... its been 8 hrs already. so im just going to set it aside and recommend this for younger players new to the genre and buy it on deep sale.

Is this helpful to you?

...

User reviews

Something went wrong. Try refresh page.

This game is waiting for a review. Take the first shot!

{{ item.percentage }}%

Awaiting more reviews

An error occurred. Please try again later.

Other ratings

Add a review

Edit a review

Your rating:

Stars and all fields are required

Not sure what to say? Start with this:

What kept you playing?
What kind of gamer would enjoy this?
Was the game fair, tough, or just right?
What’s one feature that really stood out?
Did the game run well on your setup?

Inappropriate content. Your reviews contain bad language. Inappropriate content. Links are not allowed. Inappropriate content. Content contains gibberish. Review title is too short. Review title is too long. Review description is too short. Review description is too long.

Not sure what to write?

You cannot save your review due to the following reasons:

You need to select star rating
You need to enter review title
You need to enter the content of your review

Filters:

No reviews matching your criteria

English Deutsch polski français русский 中文(简体) Others

Verified owners Others

Last 30 days Last 90 days Last 6 months Whenever

After release During Early Access

Discover CD PROJEKT RED games

Highlights

Featured

Close, but not an exact hit

Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands

Story

Open World

Camp

Crew

Collectibles

Other ratings

Add a review

Edit a review

Delete this review?

Report this review

Additional Details (required):

Report this review