Windblown
A cooperative roguelike set on floating islands.
Windblown is a forthcoming action roguelike from developer Motion Twin, which co-publishes the title alongside Kepler Ghost. The game entered early access on Windows on October 24, 2024, with a full release planned for 2026.
In Windblown, players take the role of a Leaper, an anthropomorphic creature inhabiting a world of floating islands. The Leapers live in a village called the Ark and venture into the nearby Vortex, where they battle Sentinel robots, rescue survivors, and gather materials and gear. Each Leaper can wield up to two weapons, perform combination attacks, and use other equipment and power-ups found during exploration. Death sends the player back to the Ark, stripping them of their gear but preserving collected materials, which can be spent to unlock new weapons and abilities for future runs.
Motion Twin, known for the 2018 roguelike Dead Cells, began planning their next project after handing off Dead Cells expansions to Evil Empire. Though they initially considered moving away from roguelikes, they chose to build on their experience with the genre. A key goal was adding cooperative multiplayer, a feature absent from Dead Cells. They also prioritized fast movement, designing levels with visible islands and a dash ability that originally had a cooldown but was later made unlimited to improve pacing.
The team aimed to keep each run distinct, experimenting with metagame systems inspired by The Binding of Isaac and Hades before settling on a model similar to Dead Cells: players unlock weapons and gear with materials from previous runs, and these items appear randomly during play. They enhanced the dual-weapon system from Dead Cells by introducing an "Alterattack" mechanic, which grants bonuses when switching between weapons. The Monster Hunter series also influenced the design of weapon abilities.
Windblown was first revealed at The Game Awards in December 2023. Alpha testing with around 300 users began in February 2024, and early access launched that October, following the successful early-access model used for Dead Cells.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Windblown
- Developer
- Motion Twin
- Publisher
- Motion Twin / Kepler Ghost
- Director
- Yannick Elahee
- Composer
- Danger
- Platforms
- Windows
- Released
- WW · 2026
- Genre
- Roguelike
- Modes
- Single-player, multiplayer
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
In Windblown, the player controls a Leaper, an anthropomorphic creature in a world made up of floating islands. The Leapers live in the Ark, a village of their kind, and work together to explore the nearby Vortex, fighting off Sentinel robotic creations that patrol the islands within it, while locating survivors, materials, and gear to bring back to the Ark. The character can use up to two weapons with various combination attacks, along with other gear and powerups gained while exploring the Vortex. If the Leaper dies, they are returned to the Ark, losing their gear but retaining materials, which allow them to unlock new gear and abilities for future exploration.
Motion Twin achieved success with their roguelike Dead Cells, first released in 2018. As they transferred ongoing development of the game's expansions to Evil Empire, the group began to brainstorm on what their next game would be. While they initially wanted to move away from the roguelike genre, they decided to build upon what they learned through Dead Cells to create a new roguelike. One goal with Windblown was to introduce cooperative multiplayer, compared to the single-player Dead Cells. Another was to give the player the ability to quickly move about the game's levels, placing islands that they could reach in sight and providing routes to get there using a dash ability. Initially this was an ability with a cooldown but they found the game's pacing was improved by allowing the player to dash indefinitely without any cooldown.
Reader's Guide
Windblown represents Motion Twin's deliberate evolution of the roguelike formula they refined with Dead Cells. The game's significance lies in its shift to cooperative multiplayer, a first for the developer, and its emphasis on rapid, unrestricted movement through a world of floating islands. The development team drew on lessons from Dead Cells, including the use of early access to refine the game before full release, as well as inspiration from other titles such as The Binding of Isaac, Hades, and Monster Hunter. The 'Alterattack' system, which rewards switching between two weapons, improves upon the dual-weapon mechanic from Dead Cells. The game's metagame progression—unlocking new weapons and gear that randomly appear during runs by spending materials collected from previous runs—echoes the approach used in Dead Cells. Windblown was first announced in December 2023 as part of The Game Awards, and alpha testing with about 300 users began in February 2024. Its early access release in October 2024 followed the successful model of Dead Cells, which also benefited from early access before its full launch.
Did You Know?
- The game's dash ability was originally on a cooldown, but the developers removed it to improve pacing.
- Motion Twin began alpha testing Windblown with about 300 users in February 2024.
- The 'Alterattack' system provides extra boosts when the player switches between weapons.
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