Windblown shows how good roguelikes can be with friends

Some of the most beloved roguelikes are single-player — the likes of Hades, Balatro, and Dead Cells are all solo titles. But Windblown, the new roguelike from Motion Twin, the studio that created Dead Cells, showed me just how cool it can be to play a roguelike with other people.

In Windblown, your character, one of a few adorable animal adventurers like an axolotl or a bat, is shot out of a cannon into a mysterious giant tornado to fight your way through various zones. Like Dead Cells, you can equip up to two main weapons. I typically have one for close-range bouts and another for long-distance attacks. But with every weapon, you’re also able to pull off a combo that uses a special move from the other weapon called an “Alterattack.”

Here’s an example. I love using a crossbow to attack enemies from a distance, and I pair it with a giant heavy blade. I rarely use the blade on its own; instead, I use its Alterattack that cracks open the earth in a straight line to continue to wallop on enemies at range. That turns a run into a steady rhythm of slinging arrows and using the Alterattack at exactly the right time, and with my five hours so far with the game, I haven’t gotten tired of the pattern.

Windblown just launched in early access, and you can already unlock more than a dozen weapons, meaning there are a lot of combinations that I haven’t messed around with. And with four different biomes to get through on a run, there’s a lot to see, too.

All of that would be enough to make Windblown part of my regular rotation of roguelikes I use to wind down at the end of a long day. But the game’s multiplayer is making Windblown the game I turn to every time I turn on my Steam Deck.

Windblown’s multiplayer lobbies, which you unlock fairly early on, let you play a full run with a team of three people. You can use voice and text chat to communicate, but it’s not required; I haven’t used those at all, instead relying on four in-game emoji. I also like that you can name your lobbies. I created one titled “help me get 1st win” and immediately had two helpful people join up to help me tackle the tornado. (Sadly, we did not get the win.) 

When playing solo, I’ve found that I’m somewhat cautious and strategic as I think about how to use weapons and positioning to take on the game’s aggressive enemies and dodge their attacks. With the help of a team, battles are speedier and become delightful explosions of light, color, sound, and damage. It’s so fun to absolutely annihilate baddies with other people, and it’s comforting to know that they’ve got your back in a pinch.

There are a lot of great roguelikes to play right now; Hades II just got a huge update, Balatro is nearly impossible to put down (especially now that it’s on mobile), and I’ve wanted to get back into Shogun Showdown, which I think everyone is sleeping on. Windblown needed more than just its Motion Twin pedigree to stand out, but so far, the multiplayer is the hook that keeps me coming back.