Ludography
71/100
Players6 ratings
85/100
Critics2 reviews
More scores
Metacritic38 critic reviews
81/100
Metacritic usersuser score
24/100
GameFAQsEasy-Just Right
3.86/5
Player reviews
83% positive569 reviews
Steam Deck
Playable
Runs on
Windows
Price
US$9.99

Where to get it

LostWinds cover

2008 · Frontier Developments · Adventure · Metroidvania

LostWinds

Nintendo console exclusive

Wield the awesome powers of Enril the wind spirit to guide and protect young Toku through this unique platform adventure.

Released
2008
Platforms
WiiWindowsiOS
Genres
AdventureMetroidvaniaPuzzle
Developers
Frontier Developments
Publishers
Frontier Developments
Series
LostWinds
Modes
MultiplayerSingle-player
Perspective
Side view
Themes
Action
Country
United Kingdom
Age ratings
ESRB E
Languages
Chinese (Traditional), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish (Spain)
Time to beat
2hmain story3hcompletionist

About

LostWinds is a 2008 platform video game developed by Frontier Developments and published for the Wii as a launch title for WiiWare. In LostWinds, the player controls a young boy named Toku and the elemental wind spirit Enril (and in two-player mode, a second player also controls Enril) as they travel Mistralis in order to rescue it from the antagonist Balasar, a vengeful spirit.

In Japan, the game was ported and published by Square Enix on December 24, 2008.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The player controls Toku and Enril simultaneously, using the Wii Remote on the Wii or a gesture on iOS to draw directional paths on-screen that control the wind. Wind is used to enhance Toku's jumps, defeat or immobilise enemies and solve puzzles. A second player can join in with their Wii Remote controlling a second on-screen wind cursor, allowing Toku to fly farther but not higher.

Story

A boy named Toku is awakened by the wind. As he heads back toward his home, the bridge he is on collapses and he falls into a cave, where he finds a crystal shard. The shard starts talking and reveals itself to be a spirit of wind, Enril. Enril was trapped in this form when Balasar, one of the spirits assigned to watch over the land, decided to conquer the world.

Using all her might Enril trapped Balasar in a crystal, but in the process she herself was also trapped. Eventually Balasar grew powerful enough to break free, but Enril was still trapped.

Development

The genesis of LostWinds stems from a Frontier "Game of the Week" competition to develop a game that took advantage of the Wii Remote. The idea for the game itself came from Steve Burgess, a designer for Frontier. He was watching the wind blow through some trees and began thinking about a way to have a player become the wind in a game. He began envisioning puzzles and later added a second character to be "moved" and "protected" by the wind, and applied his ideas to the Wii Remote.

Reception

The Wii version received "favorable" reviews, while the iOS version received "average" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. IGN praised the Wii version's sound and graphics, calling the presentation "remarkable", and felt the gameplay was fresh and fun with clever puzzles and tight controls. However, they had concerns with the short length of said console version, which they claimed could be finished in about three hours, but felt this was offset by the relatively inexpensive price compared to a retail game. Eurogamer also praised the presentation, controls and puzzles, claiming it to be a "mini-masterpiece", while GamePro gave the Wii version a perfect score, calling it "beautiful and unique".

1UP.com thought the same console version was "charming, beautiful, and loaded with smart, judicious use of the Wii Remote" while voicing minor concerns with its length, while Nintendo Life thought said console version was "innovative" but "not quite as revolutionary in terms of play control as some had hoped", though they stated that it was "a step in the right direction" for the platform genre and WiiWare games as a whole. N-Europe praised Frontier's "astounding attention to detail" in LostWinds and its visuals which make it seem like a "living, breathing fairytale". In contrast, GameSpot thought LostWinds was "brimming with potential", but ended up being very disappointed with many aspects of the game, including its short length, and claimed a lack of "energy" and "personality" in the game.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Wii12 May 2008North America · Europe 20 May 2008 · Australia 20 May 2008 · Japan 24 December 2008
iOS21 December 2011Worldwide
Windows24 March 2016Worldwide

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Platform libraries

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Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.