Far: Lone Sails is an exploration adventure video game. You pilot a ramshackle amphibious vehicle propelled by large sails to explore a post-apocalypse world.

From a side-on perspective, you control the vehicle by pressing buttons in the interior. This enables you to keep the vehicle moving by managing the rudimentary systems and keeping the boiler stocked with fuel sources found in the world.

As you progress the different parts of the vehicle take damage, requiring you to stop and extinguish fires or repair damaged systems with scrap you can scavenge. Some of these fixes are in the form of puzzles that must be solved to allow the vehicle to pass and collect upgrades. Apart from the environment, there is no threat or enemy, although you can die due to environmental hazards.

While the game starts with a burial scene, the rest of the game's background story is intentionally vague. The landscapes passed during the game show the ruins of a technically advanced civilisation, and a world where the oceans have dried up, leaving massive ships scuttled on dry beds and bouts of extremely hazardous weather.