Sail Forth Review

Batten down the hatches, because it’s time to navigate vast oceans and soak in the beauty of Sail Forth. Developed by Festive Vector, this charming title takes a relaxed approach to exploring the waves and may well have you hooked from its opening moments!

Playing as the adorably named Captain Toot, players will explore uncharted territories and recruit various sailors whilst expanding their fleet of ships. Whilst the opening suggests a story of saving the world from evil, it doesn’t really go anywhere; instead opting for a very relaxing experience that does little more than point you in the right direction to progress.

It’s a shame Sail Forth doesn’t have more world building or lore, but this does allow you to just go forth into the vast ocean and not have to think too much about a complex narrative. What story that is here, however, is rather vague and, whilst often amusing, definitely isn’t Sail Forth’s strongest aspect.

Sail Forth has a simplistic, pastel-coloured graphical style that is hard not to fall in love with. Its adorable character designs and bright world are delightfully endearing, and do a great job of creating a charming world to explore. Another plus point is the draw distance; in a game that has small islands dotted around the ocean, it was nice to see them slowly come into view on my travels, rather than just popping up when I was about to sail right past them. Equally, the music and sound effects are cheerful and quirky, and complement the graphical style to give players an all round vibrant videogame.

The performance, at least on PlayStation 5, holds up very well. At no point during this review did I come across any stuttering, texture pop-in, or other things of that nature. You could say it was all… smooth sailing!

Gameplay in Sail Forth may look and feel rather simplistic, but it has a solid set of mechanics that all work and control well. It’s difficult not to compare it with the sailing sections from The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, although if you enjoyed those, then you’re sure to get some enjoyment out of this title. What sets Sail Forth apart from Link’s seafaring adventure though, is that it is procedurally generated. You’ll traverse various biomes, engage in naval combat, expand your fleet, and so much more. Even the optional content is fun, and I found myself particularly enjoying the racing and photography missions.

With the game not being fully open-world (instead being segmented into regions) and occasionally feeling quite empty outside of areas of interest pointed out on the map, it eventually made me just want to fast travel everywhere, only sailing to places I had yet to explore. Fortunately, I did enjoy the sailing, and you’ll have to keep an eye on the wind indicator if you want to reach your destination in a timely manner, and I came across many secrets whilst having to contend with the wind direction keeping me from making a beeline to my next objective. Rewarding exploration is something I love in games, and Sail Forth is no exception in that regard.

Combat is certainly not the main focus of Sail Forth, but on occasion you’ll come up against enemy vessels or various sea monsters to put your fleet's weaponry to the test. Much like the rest of the game, it isn’t overly complex; instead, it’s a simple case of pointing at an enemy and firing. There is a modicum of strategy at play though, as ships and weaponry are customisable, with more items unlocked as you explore or purchase them from vendors.

Sail Forth was a genuinely lovely videogame that didn’t task me with doing too much, and I found it incredibly easy to just relax and enjoy the ambience. Whilst not having much of a narrative, players will need to rely on their own thirst for exploration in order to see this through to the end, but what a great journey it was!