On this page, you will find all there is to know about the various Software updates for Windbound on Nintendo Switch (originally released on August 28th 2020 in Europe, North America, and Japan)!
Release date: February 19th 2021 (North America, Europe, Japan)
Patch notes:
New Features
The Loathing
Kara’s return to the Forbidden Islands has stirred a long-forgotten undead enemy to life… erm… unlife! And where these new Forsaken foes have risen, a supernatural malevolence has bubbled out of the earth, seeping into the sea, tainting the land and corrupting the local wildlife – the Loathing.
Should Kara spend too long in the presence of the Loathing, shetoo will become blighted, suffering from diminishing health until she is overwhelmed. Thankfully, the edible blooms that dot the isles can stave off the full effects of the Loathing, and they can even be combined to create more potent potions and other useful artefacts.
Forsaken Enemies
On the islands corrupted by the Loathing, Kara will encounter a variety of fearsome enemies from the time of her ancestors. Some may even bar her progress to The Crossing.
Forsaken Warrior: Equipped with a short-range weapon that is best defeated using the new parry melee combat move.
Forsaken Trickster: A fast-moving combatant that keeps a safe distance from Kara, dodging melee attacks. Attacks in short flurries of melee strikes which can be countered. Best response is to use the new lunge attack whilst the enemy is charging its ranged attack.
Forsaken Shieldbearer: A slow-moving foe that uses a shield to block attacks. But beware, they also use the shield to perform lunge attacks that cannot be blocked or countered. Vulnerable to the new dodge attack ability.
Klio the Wardancer: A fearsome adversary with deadly melee skills.
Korr the Undefeated: Watch out for an unexpected slam and reinforcements.
Inara the Godslayer: Let’s just say she doesn’t want to be friends?
New Melee Combat Moves
As Kara progresses on her journey, she’ll have the opportunity to learn some new combat moves.
Kara can learn how to Parry incoming attacks and then launch a stinging counterattack on her enemies.
Whilst dodging an incoming attack Kara can launch a Dodge attack on her attacker. Handy when facing an enemy with a shield.
Kara can learn how to launch a Lunge attack, launching her forward with her melee weapon to deal devastating damage.
New Items
Spectral Residue: This substance is all that remains from a defeated Forsaken enemy. Collect enough and it can be used to imbue Kara’s weapons with enchanted abilities, or even help restore health after a challenging encounter with the Forsaken hordes.
Spectral Spear: The enchantment woven into this spear does additional damage to ghostly foes and can shatter the crystal barriers of the Loathing.
Spectral Arrows: The enchantment woven into these arrows does additional damage to ghostly foes and can shatter the crystal barriers of the Loathing.
Spectral Stimulant: Drinking this potion instantly restores a large amount of Kara’s health.
Cleansing Cordial: Removes some of the corrupting effect of the Loathing.
Draft of Divine Defiance: Fortifies Kara against the effects of the Loathing for a long period of time, reducing its impact.
As her journey continues, Kara may find the ancient recipe for a selection of Runes to enhance her abilities whilst she carries them.
Mark of the Scorpion: While the mark is in Kara’s inventory, charging a ranged weapon will slowly drain Kara’s health, but will deal massive damage to the target on a successful hit.
Mark of Punishment: While the mark is in Kara’s inventory, each consecutive melee or ranged attack on a target causes increased damage, but Kara will take increased damage from consecutive attacks, too.
Mark of Patience: While the mark is in Kara’s inventory, dodging or countering attacks will charge Kara’s weapon, dealing increased damage.
Mark of the Martyr: While stored in Kara’s inventory, this mark will take degradation damage instead of her weapons or tools. Once fully degraded, the mark is destroyed.
As Kara learns new melee combat moves, she may also learn how to craft Ancestral Masks to amplify her combat abilities.
Forsaken Mask of Countering: Increases the timing window on parrying and increases damage on counterattacks.
Klio’s Mask of Graceful Dodging: Reduces the stamina cost for dodging while increasing the damage output of the dodge attack.
Korr’s Mask of Mighty Lunging: Reduces the stamina cost for lunge and increases Kara’s melee damage.
But it will take a herculean effort to obtain the ultimate Ancestral Mask – Inara will not give it up without a fight.
Inara’s Mask of Divine Protection: In combat, Kara will manifest a divine shield that can completely negate the damage from a single attack.
New Challenge Towers
From Chapter 2 onwards, Kara may encounter new, more challenging puzzle towers with multiple steps before unlocking.
From Chapter 4 onwards, Kara may encounter towers that are consumed by Loathing and peppered with crystal blockers. Kara must cleanse the tower to unlock it, if only there was some kind of Spectral weapons she could use against the Loathing?
Additional Bug Fixes and Improvements
General
Fixed an issue where the Inventory/crafting menu would not appear correctly in a play session after the playing Free Sailing mode.
Resolved an issue in Photo Mode where the “Less is Maw” that was not appearing.
Fixed an issue in Photo Mode where controls for moving the camera up/down were not always displaying correctly.
Fixed a bug where combat music could repeatedly start/stop as you were running away from an enemy whilst being chased.
Corrected a bug where exiting a menu whilst gliding would cancel the glider and cause Kara to fall from the sky.
Resolved an issue where some shrines appeared to have been visited/collected even when it was the first time the player encountered them.
Fixed an occasional bug where the Plainstalker could be seen doing handstands on tall rocks.
Crafting and Resourcing
Fixed an issue on the crafting menu where unavailable item icons were difficult to read.
Fixed a bug where fires on boats could sometimes not be interacted with.
Resolved an occasional issue where after starting sailing, crafting was not possible on the boat.
Items that can be crafted at fires are now accessible from the normal crafting window. These items will show the fire (or oven or cooking pot) as a required item (like how the hammer is for oil). If the player is standing near the relevant fire, they will be able to craft these items.
When interacting with a fire, the crafting menu now shows the appropriate recipes.
When players interact with a fire, the current items being cooked are shown at the top.
Standing near a fire, the player will now see the available slots to cook.
Ocean Combat, Sailing and Boat
Anchored boat acts as a respawn point. If the player anchors their boat and dies, then they will respawn on their boat when they re-enter the world.
Fixed a bug where de-crafting or repairing the boat could alter the wrong component depending on when the player released the button/moved the camera.
List of changes:
This update adds the following:
further expand the Nautilus tower experience
introduces new enemy types, combat moves and gameplay mechanics via a ‘corruption’ system.
Release date: December 21st 2020 (North America, Europe, Japan)
Patch notes:
New Features
New Nautilus Key Towers
As you continue your journey in Windbound, you’ll start to encounter new Towers that will test your crafting ability, provide you with puzzles to solve, treasure items to find, and even pit you up against magical creatures before you can claim each Nautilus Key.
Free Sailing Mode
We know some of you just like to heed to the temptation of the open water and sail. In this new mode you can build your ultimate craft and sail to your hearts’ content. If you’ve found the recipe for a boat part, you can use it in this mode straight away. It’s a great way to quickly experiment with boat builds without the pressure of combat and survival.
Night Stalker items
Players may be lucky enough to find a Treasure Map that leads them to hidden Night Stalker items. Rumour has it some maps were left around ancient ruins, but it’s going to take a thorough search to find them…
Night Stalker Hood allows Kara to dodge much quicker without using as much stamina
Night Stalker Outfit gives Kara the power of invisibility when stealthing, but this drains stamina
Night Stalker Bow fires 2 magical arrows in quick succession after the initial arrow is fired
For existing save games, Night Stalker Treasure Maps will appear in the next chapter the player reaches, for new save games Night Stalker Treasure Maps will appear from Chapter 1.
Additional Bug Fixes and Improvements
General
Added a controls diagram to Options/Gameplay (except Stadia).
Added game hints to loading screens.
Fixed a bug where the game mode was not always saved correctly.
Added a Festive hat to Photo Mode – enjoy!
Tutorial videos will show for less time when they replay after you have seen them the first time.
Increased the performance and quality of grass.
Revised the ‘PACIFIST’ achievement to make it easier; finish the game without killing any Razorbacks.
Crafting and Resourcing
Fixed an issue that prevented you from selecting tools with lower health if there were multiple in your inventory.
Fixed a bug where crafting was possible in the Meta Hub.
Raw food reduces slightly less hunger.
Fixed an issue where harvesting animations did not play immediately after moving.
Added jerky recipes.
Resolved an issue where on occasion, players would only be offered 1 option plus a slot upgrade after The Crossing.
Ocean Combat, Sailing and Boat
Changed the action to dismantle boat parts to now require holding the button down so this can’t be done accidentally.
Fixed a bug where dismantling a boat didn’t refund resources for attached containers/racks etc.
The radius of effect of storms have been increased, as has the wind strength. Good luck sailors!
Map reveal radius has been increased.
Fixed an issue where player projectiles could damage the mast.
Canoes and hulls are crafted using the same recipe now.
Players can no longer save at the start of The Crossing to prevent them accidentally getting stuck and having no previous save to reload.
A new warning has been added when boat components get near critical damage.
Fixed a bug where Hookmouths may not be visible to the camera before starting its ram attack.
Canoes with sails are now more stable and less likely to topple in high winds, particularly during The Crossing.
Combat and Weapons
Updated the attack range of Pondwhompers.
Players can now switch ammo via quick select whilst aiming.
Fixed an issue where Silkmaws could get stuck when spawning from nest.
Increased the loot drop from Tremorlurks.
Adjusted Gloomharrow dodge timings.
Snake behaviours have been amended.
List of changes:
This update adds the following:
additional skins for Kara
Free sailing mode
an upgraded Nautilus tower experience – introducing a number of new towers for players to explore, complete new challenges and progress.
Release date: October 30th 2020 (North America, Europe, Japan)
Patch notes:
New Features
The Eternal Voyage
The Eternal Voyage offers players an Endless Play mode.
Players can select this mode when they begin a new game.
The game does not finish with Chapter 5.
Death resets the player to the beginning of Chapter 1, retaining only their Blessings.
Photo Mode
A Creative mode for keen video game photographers offering full control over camera position & orientation, field of view, exposure, time of day, and position of the sun.
20 different poses & expressions for Kara.
20 hats and accessories for Kara.
A variety of filters, from black & white, to CRT, to Pastel.
Accessible from the Pause Menu.
Ideal for social media sharing.
Witch Skin items
These items will be available to players when they find a Pumpkin in the world. Finding a Pumpkin will reward players with one of the following Blessings as a reward for exploring.
Witch Hat makes the effects of potions last longer.
Witch Outfit allows players to respawn nearby after death (single use).
Witch Staff – This staff is unbreakable, and fires target seeking magic orbs.
For existing save games, Pumpkins will appear in the next chapter the player reaches, for new save games Pumpkins will appear from Chapter 1.
Blessing Slots
Players can now buy additional Blessing Slots if they have enough Sea Shard currency, allowing you to get more out of the Blessings system quicker, rather than having to rely on randomly being offered a new Blessing slot to equip more than one item.
Additional Bug Fixes and Improvements
General
New Game+ now resets to Chapter 1 but keep all player progress.
Tutorials will now appear in the Tutorials Menu to review as they unlock, regardless of whether the player has them set to off so as not to show whilst playing.
Reduced fall damage at low fall distances.
Crafting and Resourcing
Resolved a bug where food degraded during The Crossing.
Fixed a bug where you could craft items in the Meta Hub.
Corrected an issue where pots and other destructibles would not smash when attacking them.
Fixed an issue where “Gortl’s Descent” blessing was not giving any Shards as a reward.
Increased rewards from Blessing Shrines.
Fixed an issue where fish and other items were immediately sinking to the bottom of the ocean making them impossible to collect.
Fixed a timing issue with wood-cutting sounds, broadened the spread of mining sounds and corrected the harvesting sound on Green mineral outcrops.
Fixed a bug where dismantling fires and cooking stations wasn’t giving players the items that were cooking/curing.
Ocean Combat, Sailing and Boat
Boat impact damage calculations have been adjusted.
Fixed an issue where boats sounded like they were taking damage when gently beaching, when they were not.
Added a small grace period after Hookmouth attacks before applying further damage from subsequent attacks.
Resolved an error where Kara could lose her weapon when a Hookmouth impacts her boat and throws her into the water.
Fixed issue where Hookmouths could attack in shallow water.
There was an issue where the Quick Select was visible when rowing/sailing (it’s not usable whilst rowing/sailing).
Combat and Weapons
Resolved an issue with jittering combat camera.
The combat camera will no longer travel through the floor.
Fixed a bug where players could dodge while gliding.
Fixed an issue with combat lock while gliding and falling.
Allowed early dodge out of attacks, reduced time to regain movement control after attacking. Slight increase in backup stamina regen, slight reduction in stamina cost for Kara’s abilities.
Resolved an issue where the Bastion Bow Field didn’t stop poison damage
Poison now drains Kara’s stamina
Fixed a bug where when a sling or bow broke it used up the ammo the player had without actually firing it. The sling/bow will now fire the projectile and then break.
Locking on to a creature now correctly shows their name and health.
Added further fixes to address creatures launching into space.
Fixed issues where Plainstalkers would give up attacking after doing a dash attack.
Resolved concerns with combat where Plainstalkers could get stuck in jump up or jump down states.
Fixed an issue where Pondwhompers would abandon an attack part way through combat.
Fixed instances where players were not being able to lock onto Tremorlurks properly.
Resolved issues where Tremorlurks were not knowing that Kara is near.
Slightly increased the anticipation time before a Tremorlurk bursts from ground
Changed the minimum time from leaving the danger state to the danger music turning off from 3 seconds to 0.6 seconds, to help tighten-up the end of combat.
List of changes:
This update adds the following:
Photo Mode, which allows the player to pause the game, adjust the camera and take a photo. Players can also change Kara’s pose and expression, the time of day and add filters.
Creative mode for keen video game photographers offering full control over camera position and orientation, field of view, exposure, time of day, and position of the sun
20 different poses and expressions for Kara
20 hats and accessories for Kara
A variety of filters, from black and white, to CRT, to pastel
Eternal Voyage offering players an endless play mode, which adds tracking to the map screen and save profile to indicate how many stages the player has managed to survive.
How to download updates for Windbound for the Nintendo Switch?
To download the updates for Windbound, you have three options:
let the console do its thing if you have automatic downloads activated, and didn’t completely turn it off
If not…
try to launch the game from the Home Menu while being connected to the internet. You should get a prompt when doing so: simply follow the instructions on screen;
OR
select the game > press either + or – to go to the Options page > select Software update > select Via the Internet.
To check that you have the latest version installed, simply select the game on the Home Menu, and press – or + to go to the Options: the version number is displayed just below the game title.
