Sailing games, eh? Sail Forth is by one-man indie team Festive Vector (better known as David Evans) and it launched in December 2022.

It’s available on Steam and all consoles. And it’s a fun time of it, offering Zelda: Wind Waker style sailing with a big emphasis on relaxation. Join us for this!

Sail Forth and Conquer Your Chillaxing Potential

Sail Forth is part of the horror that is the “cosy” genre. It does fit into that, mainly as the title is accessible and doesn’t expect levels of performance that puts you into the superior True Gamer category.

This one is styled heavily around relaxation.

You must relax (or else). But there are some elements of Lovecraftian horror Dredge (2023), which is a superior game. But Sail Forth does have a breezy charm about it.

In the game, you assume control of a captain (Captain Toot). You name your boat (we called ours Bastard) and then start sailing the seas, building out a customisable fleet of ships. It’s classic open-world fair with the aim being exploration and discovery.

The water world you enter is procedurally generated, so each game offers something a little different. But as you sail around you have missions to complete, baddies to blow up, and swag to loot.

Upgrading your ships is a big part of it, too, and you can get to the point where you’ve got a big old ship underneath you.

You’ll meet pirates and the like on your travels, who all speak in a fun and cutesy way. Nothing is taken very seriously in this world.

And we do think its main appeal is sailing around on the oceans exploring, with no real need to think about much else. That may be a good or bad thing, depending what you want from a game, but Sail Forth makes its gameplay pitch pretty clear from the off.

It’s a charming cel-shaded visual style, which is complemented by an offbeat sense of humour. And there’s an ambient score to go with it—look at this combo! Nice sights and fun melodic adaptations of Bach.

It’s a simple game. But a fun one! Just not one that offers anything remarkable.

But then not every game needs to. It’s relaxing, lets you sail around on the seas, and the soothing soundtrack is matched by the storms and sunsets you see.

A pleasant distraction, then, and another addition to the terrifying cosy game genre that continues to mortify our mortal enemies.