Game: Passing By: A Tailwind Journey
Genre: Indie, Survival, Adventure
System: Nintendo Switch (also available on Steam (Windows)
Developers| Publishers: Studio Windsocke | Dear Villagers
Age Rating: US E| EU 7+
Price: US $9.99 | UK £8.99 | EU | €8,99
Release Date: March 12th, 2024
A review code was used, with many thanks to Press Engine.
Passing By: A Tailwind Journey is working hard to be another charming entry into the world of lower-stress survival games. A genre originally punctuated by rewarding but sometimes punishing difficulty, as in games like Ark or Don’t Starve. It’s now a much larger tent containing games that use survival to tell branching stories or give you creative control over your world or even make you laugh. Passing By sets up its own niche with a unique aesthetic, puzzle and platform elements, and a world of quirky characters. But does it come in for a soft landing?
The World Passing By
The art direction of Passing By is based on a low-poly geometric system, which mostly uses triangles and rhombuses to create a colorful, almost papercraft-style world. This cohesive style makes the game a treat to look at. Important structures, like buildings or ships, defy the style just enough to make them pop, which is useful.
Characters, including your character, Curly, are built the same, moving like unfolded paper dolls back and forth across environments. It creates a storybook feel for them, a style I keep thinking of as German Indie, probably because it reminds me a little of Dorfromantik’s clean and geometric aesthetic.
This clear art direction helps make individual characters pop, which helps because the brevity of your encounters makes many of them feel the same: quirky ships passing in the breeze. From the postman who breezily abandons his post (a jarring intro, especially if you’re a fan of Cozy Grove and have empathy with the ghostie postie who wouldn’t leave his satchel even from beyond the grave) to the curio seller, they’re quick and flighty people who drop their exposition on you and let you loose. Which is probably for the best, considering the game’s gameplay loop.
Controlling Passing By’s Airship and More
Let me emphasize that I’ve played Passing By on my Nintendo Switch and that my first big issue with the game is almost certainly no problem on PC/Steam Deck. As of this writing, there is no way for me to remap the game’s control scheme, resulting in a fumbling, frustrating experience. Inventory is on X, which is fine, but most interactions are on Y, while jumping is on A. You’re not going to remember this when you’re fumbling through the shoulder button-guided inventory screen and accidentally closing the window while you’re simply trying to eat a banana.
The ZR and ZL buttons control your zoom, which is both helpful and executed with a slight sluggishness. Zooming all the way out offers a lovely panorama to admire while you’re trying to master your airship’s controls. These are fairly streamlined; you’ll be following the west wind in one direction, so your job is to maintain wind speed, maybe goose it with the gas burner, use the telescope to scout your next landing, and then hustle down to drop anchor.
Nearby, that is your bunk, which offers a hard save in addition to the autosaving that happens at various intervals, and, from the bottom of my heart, I tell you to make sure you use it.
Exploring the Sky with Passing By A Tailwind Journey
Landing on individual islands will provide you with various encounters. Some islands are quite small, offering only a little food and/or water to help get you to fancier locales. These are typically a little to a lot bigger and offer an arena for the game’s puzzles. In and of themselves, a few puzzles are difficult — look for the sparkle of a tree to cut it down and make a bridge, look for a tunnel in the side of a cliff, and look for places Curly can jump up. There’s swimming, too, so bear in mind you may need to poke around at the depths of an inland lagoon for collectables or more tunnels.
Unfortunately, on the handheld screen of the Switch, some of the indicators you need to guide you are tiny. Features you can interact with, like rocks or fruit, are indicated with a small silvery-white diamond, and it’s easy to miss in the daylight glare. Tunnels may have a golden sparkle set against yellowy-brown dirt and are faded if they’re underwater. And, most frustrating of all, jumping can be pernickety, and you might think you’re wasting your time against a background rock. In fact, it is your next puzzle landmark, and you’re just a couple of pixels off the sweet spot.
Because of this, finding new items to move ahead, like shovels and keys, doesn’t elicit excitement from me as they might in other games. They’re more items that I have to fumble around with in an inventory I’m already cranky at. These are quibbles that could be nothing more than adjustment pains if not for the fact that you also have to juggle the game’s multiple survival bars. There are four of them, plus an oxygen bar while swimming: an overall health bar, a hunger bar, a water bar, and a temperature bar.
Food and Hydration Drain Quickly
Curly’s food and hydration drain at a frankly stressful rate, especially when you’re starting off with a single reusable water bottle and a handful of fruits per island. Managing your body’s temperature isn’t too bad; it mostly seems to be an excuse to enjoy trading for various clothing items. It nonetheless had me muttering how Monster Hunter has me less stressed because all I had to do in the desert was slam a cold drink and get about my business. And that oxygen meter will bedevil you in the first hours, especially if you get hung up on a rock that’s not just a piece of background while trying to get through a puzzle tunnel.
Most of these meters will ease as you find goodies along your travels, but this, plus the controls, creates an incredibly frustrating early-game experience. This might be a good time to warn you that while you’re zoomed out and flying, watch where Curly is standing on her ship. She can walk right off the bridge and instantly die. Gently, I say, even crusty old Quint from Jaws had railings on his boat.
Conclusion
Passing By: A Tailwind Journey retains its cohesive style and substance, and it runs beautifully on the Switch. Its quirks and issues will undoubtedly be no problem for some fans looking for a well-priced, lighter survival game that’s heavy on gathering cute collectables. However, I personally have trouble finding it as cozy as its sale copy suggests, with meters that are harsher than more action-forward survival/collection games like Core Keeper and puzzles that, while not difficult, are a pain to overcome with both the current control scheme and those meters at your heels.
As the first game from a new indie developer, I do give the game its proper dues for its polish and its eagerness. I think Studio Windsocke have a bright future ahead, and, as I say, there may be those who click with the game, especially if you can overcome or alter the control scheme. Unfortunately, this game is not for me. It may be for you, so please remember that all reviews are subjective and that this is still a game with a lot of heart inside of it. That’s why I’m giving it a neutral score, and the developers my very best wishes. Available now on Nintendo Switch and PC/Steam.
Final Verdict: I’m Not Sure
