Stranded Sails

About

"Stranded Sails" is a single-player role-playing game with a good plot and sensational visuals, set in a relaxing Caribbean world. Players must manage their energy, farm, and explore the Cursed Islands to uncover secrets and advance the story. With a variety of activities and the ability to improve relationships with crew members, "Stranded Sails" offers a lot of grinding and gameplay depth.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

+22

79%

Audience ScoreBased on 319 reviews

story16 positive mentions

grinding137 negative mentions

Charming graphics and art style that enhances the relaxing gameplay experience.
Fun exploration mechanics with a variety of activities like crafting, fishing, and cooking.
The game encourages a laid-back approach, allowing players to progress at their own pace without time constraints.

The energy system can be frustrating, as walking and running consume energy, limiting exploration.
The game feels linear and repetitive, with many fetch quests that can become tedious over time.
Combat mechanics are simplistic and lack depth, making battles feel unchallenging and monotonous.

story
160 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
88%
3%
The game's story is generally perceived as linear and somewhat simplistic, with many players finding it lacking in depth and engagement. While some appreciate the unique premise of starting a new life after a shipwreck, others criticize the repetitive fetch quests and short main storyline, which can feel more like a chore than an immersive experience. Overall, the narrative does provide a framework for gameplay, but many players express a desire for more substantial content and side quests to enhance the overall experience.
- “The backstory is unique - starting a new life with your crew but getting shipwrecked and making an island your temporary home.”
- “It is quite easy and relaxed, but the story and lore is also really engaging.”
- “The story is quaint and so far enough to keep me wanting to explore more and find out more.”
- “At one point, I no longer felt a drive to play the game to complete the story, or for anything really.”
- “The actual story itself is too short.”
- “The story is predictable and poorly written, farming is dull as hell and doesn't have that Stardew flair to it, and the crafting bit is laughable, with about 8-10 items in total to build, most of which are components.”
grinding
139 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
1%
99%
The reviews indicate that the game features a significant amount of grinding, particularly in resource collection and farming, which some players find tedious and time-consuming. While a few enjoy the grind as part of the gameplay experience, many express frustration with the repetitive nature of tasks and the lack of depth in farming mechanics, leading to a sense of pointlessness in the grind. Overall, the game is seen as a mix of exploration and farming, but the grinding aspect can detract from the enjoyment for some players.
- “There are more boxes of supplies everywhere, so it's not grindy. I don't mind grinding out materials, but this made it so much faster. I love it.”
- “All of this requires grinding ingredients, including chopping trees, fishing, chopping ever-replenishing island crates and barrels, or using your trusty shovel to claim sparkly buried treasure.”
- “It's a very long tedious grindy process and could definitely do with being sped up somewhat.”
- “The farming is there for the sole purpose of surviving: to feed you!”
gameplay
74 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
64%
12%
The gameplay is characterized by a mix of crafting, fishing, cooking, and exploration, allowing players to progress at their own pace. While some mechanics, like the cooking and fishing systems, are praised for their depth, others, such as combat and movement, are criticized for being repetitive and lacking challenge. Overall, the experience is described as simple and accessible, making it suitable for younger audiences, but it may feel tedious and unbalanced for more seasoned players.
- “Gameplay is totally at your own pace and consists of crafting, fishing, cooking, exploring, searching for collectibles, and fighting ghosts.”
- “Took me 50 hours to 100% the game, but many of those hours were spent just taking my time exploring and enjoying the game's mechanics.”
- “I sometimes enjoy more casual games, and particularly get satisfaction from games where you build or improve your surroundings; the pirate theme is great, the art is fantastic, and the farming mechanic is actually functionally useful to the cooking mechanic, which is functionally useful to the exploration mechanic, which is functionally useful to the crafting mechanic.”
- “The combat is limited to tiny instances and some unavoidable mechanics (seagulls, really?) can frustrate you.”
- “The gameplay is repetitive and adds only minor changes through the course of the game, and you visit the same 3 islands over and over.”
- “You spend about the first 2-3 hours learning the game and rescuing your crew, a task that should take 30 minutes tops, but because of bad mechanics and the most painful tutorial in the history of gaming, it takes 2-3 hours.”
graphics
47 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
51%
43%
6%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their charming and cute art style, with many users highlighting the appealing visuals and whimsical aesthetic. Players appreciate the beautiful and relaxing graphics, particularly the ocean visuals, although some note that the graphics can be simple or flat at times. Overall, the art style contributes positively to the game's atmosphere, making it enjoyable despite some gameplay criticisms.
- “The graphics are really beautiful to look at and it's great to witness how your camp grows and prospers over the course of the game.”
- “The graphics and art style are very whimsical and the music is lovely.”
- “The game's aesthetics are charming, but playing this feels overall very tedious rather than fun.”
- “I did love the art style and audio, but there are too many major gameplay issues for me to be able to recommend this game.”
- “I love the art style and the features it is supposed to have all sound like something I'd enjoy, but unfortunately I am disappointed.”
music
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
70%
15%
15%
The music in the game has received largely positive feedback, with many players praising its fitting and beautiful soundtrack that enhances the overall experience. While some noted that certain tracks can be repetitive or less memorable, the majority found the music to be cheerful, relaxing, and well-suited to the game's whimsical art style. Overall, the sound design contributes significantly to the game's charm, making it a highlight for many players.
- “The music is rewarding and beautiful.”
- “This game has a beautiful style with a carefully selected music soundtrack.”
- “The graphics and art style are very whimsical and the music is lovely.”
- “The music is repetitive, the art is bad, there is no voiceover, and my eyes end up strained pretty fast.”
- “Music - outside of the opening screen theme, nothing was all too memorable.”
- “I went and bought a second copy of this game for one reason only - in the hopes that the developer will take those profits and buy a beer on me for whoever was responsible for the musical score in this game.”
stability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
Overall, the stability of the game is mixed; while some players report a relatively smooth experience with only minor glitches, others have encountered significant bugs that detract from gameplay enjoyment. Many users acknowledge that the game is in open beta, which may account for the issues, but they appreciate the developers' responsiveness to feedback.
- “The game runs great, with no stuttering or hiccups on my system.”
- “The game is relatively bug-free, with the exception of occasionally needing to stand in a specific spot to interact with something.”
- “Also, it's a bit buggy; for example, one of the crew's dialogues didn't update when a quest was completed.”
- “I bought the game when it first released. It was a good concept and I was excited to play, although I stopped about 2 hours in due to glitches and gameplay issues that just didn't make it enjoyable. I didn't give up on it though and left it for months to clean up and add extra ideas, and I was glad I did.”
- “I wanted to love it, but it just isn't well balanced for gameplay or designed to reward you for exploring, and it's pretty buggy.”
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
Overall, the game's replayability is viewed as low due to repetitive gameplay, though some players express uncertainty about its long-term value. However, the promise of upcoming content and updates may enhance replayability and provide additional enjoyment.
- “But they're going to release new content by the end of the year, so that and further updates might increase its replayability.”
- “It's much more playable and I think you can get some decent enjoyment from it.”
- “It doesn't have any replay value in my eyes because it repeats itself.”
- “Low replay value.”
- “I like this game but am not sure about its replayability.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is perceived as lacking depth, with players feeling disconnected from the characters, likening them to "cardboard cutouts." While the game offers a wholesome experience with thoughtful mechanics like crafting and cooking, it struggles to evoke genuine emotional connections or excitement.
- “It is a wholesome title with no real deaths or major repercussions, and can teach patience to someone who is clearly not me!”
- “The unlocks, bonuses, cooking, and crafting are thought out and made me feel like I was playing a finished game.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
33%
Character development in the game is praised for its engaging gameplay loops that encourage continued play beyond initial objectives, such as paying off debts. The character design is also highlighted for its depth and detail, enhancing the overall experience despite the simplicity of the game's premise.
- “The ones with addictive gameplay loops and fun character development that keeps you playing well past when you've paid off the debt for grandpa's farm.”
- “I love the look and character design of this game.”
- “There's a lot of background detail and character design that went into this game, elevating it beyond simple representations.”
- “So, there's a lot of background detail and character design that went into a position that could be accomplished just as well by a stick with an attached signboard.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is well-optimized, as users report smooth performance even on high settings with mid-range hardware, such as an i7 6700k and GTX 1070 at 1440p resolution.
- “Performance is not an issue in this game; I'm running maxed out with an i7 6700k and a 1070 at 1440p.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
The game is praised for its lack of DLC and microtransactions, making it a more appealing and straightforward purchase compared to other titles that often include such monetization strategies.
- “As of the writing (and editing as of December 2020, thank goodness) of this review, there's still no DLC or microtransactions in sight, which makes it a far better and safer buy than other games.”
- “As of the writing (and editing as of December 2020, thank goodness) of this review, there's still no DLC or microtransactions in sight, which in and of itself makes it a far better and safer buy than other games.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Players find the game to be quite humorous and highly recommend it for its comedic elements.
- “The game was pretty funny; I really recommend it.”
- “The humor in this game had me laughing out loud!”
- “I love how the game incorporates clever jokes and puns throughout the gameplay.”