So first off, I must say I actually bought Stranded Sails [The full game] awhile back... but sadly it has sat in my steam inventory unplayed with many many other games. I tend to buy more games than I play through, so this isn't uncommon. (I'm sure a lot of you can relate!) So I got a notice in my steam feed about a Stranded Sails Prologue, and it's free for the playing! I'm a bit of a stickler for free stuff... so even though I already own the game, I thought maybe this prologue was a good way to introduce myself to the game! So I tried it out! One more thing, I've never written a review before, and I'm not really sure what compelled me to do so now... but here I am, so bare with me.

As far as controls and tutorial goes, I think it's great! They tell you everything you need to know as you progress through the game. It's pretty simple, mostly point click type commands. You can walk with the mouse, or you can use WASD, I tend toward the latter because it just feels more natural to me. For fishing, farming, chopping down trees, watering crops, etc... you just have to have the right tool equipped and click. Easy-peasy! Switching tools is as easy as turning your mouse wheel.

Graphics and Music to me are more than adequate. The game is made in Unity, which doesn't mean much to me (sorry, I wish I knew more about game engines and whatnot.) The art style is very bright and colorful, deep blue oceans, rich green grass, bright sandy beaches, dull dark caves... very fitting for this fantasy style island adventure. The music was enjoyable, calm and relaxing as you would expect from a life/ farming sim.

Combat is a bit tedious, but I don't think that's the focus of the game. You obtain a sword part way through the demo, and you run into a few ghost pirates in a cave. Combat is as simple as running around avoiding attacks, and getting close and slashing with your sword until said ghost is dead. There are three types of ghosts in this demo: Blue just slashes with one sword, Red has two swords and will do a spin attack with both blades, green has one sword but will throw it for a ranged attack which will return like a boomerang. I believe that there are "boss" monsters as well, which are just their colored variations but bigger and with a captain's hat, I assume they just have more health. Speaking of health, your player character doesn't have a health bar or HP. The damage goes straight your your "exhaustion" level, and for the most part (which I didn't get hit much, combat isn't really difficult) the damage was pretty negligible. Don't let this deter you though, as I mentioned, I think combat isn't the focus of this game, it's more about exploration and life sim.

I'm not really sure what else to touch on, so I think I'll just go to overall impressions. I found it very enjoyable! I played it for much longer than most people probably will, because I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I posted some screenshots (which I hope are viewable through steam shop and community hub.) I went above and beyond in this demo to show a decorated shack, a full garden, and all the cooking recipes you can obtain. At first I was worried about resources, like cutting down trees. Don't fear! Trees grow back when you sleep through the night (or day, if you're that kind of person!) Also, random crops will also spawn throughout the island when you sleep, so you can obtain more seeds! (Which is what I had to do to make a fully fledged farm!) As for other materials, there are exactly enough materials in the game to complete the demo quest line. So I have a bit of a thing for fishing and cooking in video games, whether they be mini side-distractions, or a main part of the game. Fishing is pretty straight forward (I will cover in spoiler section if you need tips) However the cooking, which I find incredibly rewarding, is a bit confusing. Not only do you need all the correct ingredients, but you need to put them in the correct spots on the cooking table (recipes in spoiler setion!) This leads to a lot of trial and error, but the demo tells you everything you need to know to eliminate all possibilities. All-n-all, if you like Life/ farming Sims, I think you will enjoy this game! Give it a try, this demo is completely free, you have nothing to lose! I will DEFINITELY be starting the full game after posting this review! So, I would say this demo is a success! :D

Here's a section for spoilers and tips that I will post for this demo.
1) You can water your crops even if the soil is saturated, from my experience it has a chance to advance your crop to the next growth level! This may not be worth it in full game, but in the demo you have infinite energy with the apple bucket, so get to it!
2) The fishing tip is a bit... lacking? They just tell you "Timing is important." To fish, there are two rings. The inner ring is static, and an outer ring closes in on the inner ring. Try to click you mouse when the two rings meet. If you're perfect you'll get a 3 star symbol, two stars or one star means you were close. It's not really hard to figure out, but it took me a few minutes to grasp the concept.
3) There are hidden treasures in this demo, if you get all 13 you get a special prize. This isn't difficult, there's a "tell" for the hidden treasures... and if that's not enough there is a literal map of the hidden treasures in the game!
4) To decorate your shack, the majority (if not all) of the decorations require "Shiny Plunder" Don't worry too much about this resource. The trees you cut down have a chance to drop a "chunky acorn" which you can gift to your parrot friend. Once you receive all possible furniture recipes, he will give you a Shiny Plunder for each acorn you turn in past that, which I believe is infinite! So don't be afraid to decorate your shack!
5) Cooking Recipe Guide
Bluefish Soup: Top- Tomato, Bottom Left- Corn, Bottom Right- Bluefish
Mackaral And Potatoes: Top- Mackarel, Bottom Left- Onion, Bottom Right- Potato
Clam Casserole: Top- Potato, Bottom Left- Clam, Bottom Right- Tomato
Tomato Onion Soup: Left- Tomato, Right- Onion
Roasted Corn and Onion: Left- Onion, Right- Corn
Corn Filled Tomato: Left- Tomato, Right- Corn
Corn and Potato Mash: Left- Potato, Right- Corn
Corn on the Cob: Corn

"Stranded Sails – Prologue" is a free introduction to the full game by the same name.

This demo for the full game will take you about an 1h30 to complete. The main question I asked myself when playing this is “Do I want to purchase and play the full game?” The answer is no. If this prologue accurately represents the full game then a lot of the mechanics implemented are very bare bones. We’re lucky enough to have a lot of farming simulators that feature NPC’s and fighting so I’d recommend checking them out.

So whilst the demo on itself is great fun, it did not convince me to play the full game, hence the thumbs down.

Watch the full review: https://youtu.be/nCTuKLG-oiM
(Note: I got an early access key for this game)

This game makes me feel relaxed. The difficulty of the game is not big. You don't have to save the world, and you don't have to work hard to kill Hell Lord too. You just need to grow food, cut down trees and tease a parrot. Have your nice day!
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Manual achievement:
0/0

super nice free to play pc game! I realy like it! you can play it!

this demo of the game was really good and relaxing.although this is a demo and it's like tutorial for the main game but it was fun specially with treasure hunting.
+ has low poly style
+ the game is limited so you barely encounter bugs because you can't fall of the cliffs
- it seems like the main game's price is a bit expensive

it's good play it if you had time

This is a really fun exploration game. The graphics and art style is really beautiful and the story is quite interesting. I would definitely recommend this prologue and I cannot wait to play the released game!

I played this demo even though I already have and beaten the game , just wanted to give it a thumbs up 👍👍👍

After playing for about 30 mins ive decided i enjoy the game. The gameplay and ideas are very simple but the game looks great! i would not pay money for the full game but will happily complete the prologue. If you guys want a more in depth review or want to see some gameplay then check out the video below :)

https://youtu.be/ESeua9S5eO4

A very relaxing game that doesn't pressure you to build as fast as you can, which makes that a bit of a relief for this genre. Graphics run smoothly and the music is chosen with great detail.
Review at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXNddrQupOc&t=36s

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