FAR: Lone Sails Xbox One X Review

FAR: Lone Sails has no dialogue and focuses on the adventure itself. As you survive the inclement weather, overcome obstacles and maintain your ship, little information is provided. The game's background story is left for interpretation but the adventure itself is an easy but lovely experience.

FAR: Lone Sails has you in control of a survivor. After a funeral, your protagonist decides to leave their home. Using a makeshift vehicle your adventure begins as you head in one direction.

The story is purposely left vague with information provided through the landscape. Not even your character's identity is properly conveyed. Massive ships indicate that the area used to be an ocean, hazardous weather and empty homes symbolize people died in large amounts, and pictures in some locations highlight an advanced civilization. It helps create a vivid picture of the world without saying a word, similar to games like Journey.

The game is played from a side-scrolling perspective. The player is solely responsible for moving forward using their ship. You can't just hit a button to move it. Instead, you must constantly gather junk to burn as fuel, engage the engine, repair any broken machinery, and perform other tasks to keep the motor running. This continual need for maintenance ensures the player is regularly engaged with what is happening. You are given various upgrades as you progress that is both necessary and makes maintenance easier. These include a repair torch and an item gatherer.

FAR: Lone Sails has no enemies but you can die. A checkpoint is instantly triggered if your ship breaks through lack of repairs or killed for doing something foolish like standing in fire. Checkpoints are prudently placed and death serves as a simple setback with little consequence.

Much of FAR: Lone Sails appeal comes from the atmosphere and adventure. The combination of moving forward while complementary music plays and you see the remnants of a destroyed world is eerily calming. Especially considering you don't know what your goal is, just moving forward.

The controls are simple, with your primary interaction being jumping and grabbing items. There's no fall damage and much of the game highlights important objects with a bright red hue. It's clear the developers wanted to keep everything easy to understand and rarely did a situation arise that required a bit more trial and error.

FAR: Lone Sails isn't for everyone. It's an innocent and accessible experience that silently conveys a surprisingly deep story. The visual design and music complement the barren world for an enormously warm-hearted adventure. FAR: Lone Sails does a lot with so little for a simplistic but captivating experience.
 

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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