Red Dead Redemption 2 and American Truck Simulator Fans Shouldn’t Sleep on Windstorm

There are countless games out there that attempt to capture the feeling of being set loose on a vast, unknowable landscape. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and the surprisingly popular American Truck Simulator prove that, beyond memorable and engrossing visuals, thoughtful mechanics that may seem tedious on the surface can go a long way toward immersion in these sorts of virtual spaces, cementing the feeling of being in a real world with key limitations to consider. Windstorm: The Legend of Khiimori seems to be taking notes from this style of game design.

Windstorm: The Legend of Khiimori is being developed by Aesir Interactive, and is the third game in the Windstorm series. This new Windstorm entry is decidedly more ambitious than its predecessors, though, with far more detailed graphics and art design, coupled with a deeper narrative and additional gameplay systems that set it apart from the quaint nature of the prior games. It’s shaping up to be something of a leap for Aesir Interactive as a whole, as the studio has been known for charming, but somewhat janky, titles like Police Simulator: Patrol Officers, possibly marking a new chapter for the company.

Windstorm: The Legend of Khiimori Channels Aspects of Red Dead Redemption and Simulation Games

Windstorm Takes RDR2’s Horse Systems to the Next Level

Plenty has been said about Red Dead Redemption 2‘s many horses, which provide nuanced animal companionship in the dark, decaying world of Rockstar’s Wild West. Grooming, feeding, and bonding with horses can play a significant role in RDR2, especially for those who want to milk these mechanics for all they have, maximizing their riding performance and adding another layer to the game’s at-times overwhelming degree of realism. Having said that, there are no doubt many players who would have liked to see these horse-related systems go even further, and this is where Windstorm comes in.

Windstorm places horseback riding front-and-center, making it a more crucial, central aspect of the game than RDR2 does. Horses are treated much like cars in RDR2, with players able to purchase and collect horses with different stats over the course of the game, improving their abilities through consistent riding. But in Windstorm, caring for horses and strategically breeding them directly impacts the moment-to-moment gameplay, which seemingly borrows open-world mechanics from the survival genre, and even shares some aspects with the methodical locomotion of Death Stranding.

Another common trait between Windstorm and Red Dead Redemption 2 is a focus on camps. Windstorm players are tasked with upgrading and moving nomadic campsites between different locations, aiding their central exploration and traversal tasks. Once again, this is a mechanic that ostensibly plays a much more important role in Windstorm than in Red Dead Redemption 2, firmly nestled into its central gameplay loop and offering players far more control.

What Windstorm Is Actually About

Horse-and camp-centric mechanics are obvious parallels to Red Dead Redemption 2, but Windstorm‘s immersive open-world gameplay is a far cry from Rockstar’s narrative-driven adventure. In Windstorm, players take control of a nomadic courier in ancient Mongolia, tasked with crossing vast, diverse landscapes and delivering various goods. It’s this important gameplay conceit that may remind players of American Truck Simulator and other delivery-focused games.

Windstorm‘s sprawling open-world, ties to real-world Mongolian history and culture, and its emphasis on things like horseback riding and camp building, which many games include as afterthoughts or tertiary features, promise to make it a unique and captivating experience. Of course, players familiar with Aesir Interactive’s previous projects may want to hold off on the game until they see more raw gameplay, but assuming the developer can nail its exploration, riding, and survival mechanics, Windstorm could hold a special place in the hearts of many players, especially those enthralled by the more minute, slice-of-life aspects of games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and American Truck Simulator.