I tell ya, nothing encourages you to check out a game in your backlog more than hearing about the release of its sequel. That said, Far: Changing Tides did come out more than a year ago, but then I never claimed to be particularly up-to-date with this feature's schedule. Far: Lone Sails is the predecessor of Changing Tides and the game we're checking out this week, developed by Swiss studio (maybe my first Swiss Indie Game of the Week? That's another peg in the world map) Okomotive which I believe also happens to be the name of the in-game caravan-boat your little avatar is tasked with driving halfway across the world for initially undisclosed reasons.

The premise is simple—drive the vehicle to the right, always the right—and the gameplay structure more or less the same, as you keep the engines fueled up and the ignition trigger mechanism pressed down to keep things trucking along. Eventually you acquire a few useful additions like the titular sails which, though damaged, can often serve to take over for your engine for a while or else add to its output. Running around the inside of your ship pressing various buttons brings to mind something like Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, albeit without the multiplayer aspect, as you spin a bunch of plates to keep your jalopy moving and in one piece. That said, the game's pace is (almost) universally on the sedate side and is happy enough to wait around for you if you want to take your time with whatever the next step might be. Forgetting to release the steam building in the engine won't cause the thing to explode, for example, but without venting it yourself you do miss out on the little speed boost it gives you. Fuel is repurposed trash you happen to find in the road, be it crates or barrels or old furniture, and you can choose to hang onto whatever takes your fancy with a selection of hooks around the vehicle to keep them from getting underfoot.

Frequently, you'll hit a snag and might need to exit the vehicle for a while to fix whatever obstacle's in your path. Sometimes that might involve activating whatever rusty mechanism is holding a door shut or might raise the platform your vehicle's on, while other cases might involve pushing or pulling an object with your vehicle's tethers to get it out of the way. These almost always boil down to some simple environmental physics puzzles, not too dissimilar to those in other wordless atmospheric 2D action-adventure games like Playdead's Limbo or Tarsier's Little Nightmares. Most of the time, though, you'll be gliding along watching the desolate but scenic background slowly pass by while occasionally refueling; there exist moments of peril and suspense, but for the most part the journey is a relaxing one, presumably by design to make those tense moments stand out all the more (a highly-damaging hailstorm is one such sequence). It finds a quiet serenity in what is evidently a world on its way out, passing empty homes and empty factories while driving across sand plains and valleys which once clearly hosted bodies of water. Beyond starting next to a portrait of a presumably dead relative the game is very bereft of story beats or lore, with the sole objective of moving as far right as possible being your only figurative Polaris as far as progress is concerned.

Therein lies a snag when trying to talk about the game's appeal, because it's elusive due to being a mostly vibes-based sort of gaming experience. There's nothing too compelling about throwing old chairs and boxes into an incinerator and holding a button down to keep a vehicle moving, nor do the parts where you get out and push other buttons to free its path forward offer any real brainteasers to ratiocinate through. It really comes down to those moments where something may or may not be happening, and you're just satisfied that forward momentum has resumed or is continuing unabated. It's a little like that loop of having chores to do and then relaxing after those chores are complete, happy to do absolutely nothing for a little while. Sounds like the most boring thing imaginable, right? I could certainly see someone walking away from this game feeling exactly that, but even if there's enough surprising events where the usual loop is interrupted for a spell and you're required to engage your grey cells again it's the quiet time between those events that ends up being equally precious. Dang, I sound so old. I'll play something loud with guns again after this, I swear.

Far: Lone Sails does feel occasionally like a bunch of other well-known Indies stitched together, but its mastery of quiet moments and its sense of place and tone are entirely its own. The particular way it makes the central ramshackle yet surprisingly adaptive vehicle a character in and of itself, where every action is served to help it keep moving as progressing on foot would be nearly impossible (or at least it would take a very long time). Small bonding moments like finding a new knick-knack to stash in your quarters or taking advantage of a new upgrade to make the journey a little easier and more convenient really help you connect with this lumbering lifeline. Without this, the game would probably feel too lonely, given there are no other characters and your own protagonist never speaks. It's pretty simple and pretty short but does plenty with what it has, especially in establishing a mood and keeping you guessing as you press onwards along an uncertain trajectory. Some day I'll have to see how the sequel goes about balancing all its new features without compromising that same low-key atmospheric expertise. Oh, and in case there's any doubt: Yeah, you do end up going pretty far. With the lone sails.

Rating: 4 out of 5.