Incredible vibe game, and one that manages to create this feeling through the bits of imprecision and loss of control, rather than being a seamless, effortless experience to get anything done. You'll frequently find yourself drifting off course regardless of how well you do, with progress often backsliding thanks to the ever changing winds, but this works in the game's favour once you allow yourself to just, abandon the concept of actually trying to win in favour of taking in the atmosphere. Kaze no Notam makes slight setbacks inevitable, and it gives a sense of your movements being dictated by the whims of nature, which rapidly dissolves from a point of irritation into reinforcing the that you need to just accept where the game takes you and take in your surroundings instead, you can't do anything to fix the situation currently, so you might as well make the best of it. The objectives the game gives you just exist to facilitate some very loose sense of direction, but aren't really something that feel like anything more than a secondary element to go alongside the main appeal of getting players to chill out in a balloon, peacefully being separated from the world below. Utterly gorgeous game that encapsulates my favourite elements of the PSX aesthetic better than almost anything else.

Reviewed on Feb 21, 2024


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