Davey Wreden is the name that will probably garner the most attention forWanderstop. As one of the two creative minds behindThe Stanley Parableand the dude behindThe Beginner’s Guide, it’s a safe bet that whatever he does, at the bare minimum, will be fascinating. It doesn’t seem fair to call this latest his game, though, seeing as it is coming from Ivy Road, the new studio he founded along with Karla Zimonja and audio guru C418. The fresh blood is immediately apparent, leading to a cozy title that combines the humor of The Stanley Parable with the philosophical stylings of The Beginner’s Guide. Don’t let the latter dissuade you.
InWanderstop, players take the role of Alta, a fearless warrior who is used to being the best of the best. Every battle was her victory, every challenge a small bump on her road to worldwide fame. Fools would step up only to get put down, in other words. Then something snapped. She stopped winning. Dusting herself off, she tries a fresh fight, only to lose again. And again. And yet again. Frustrated, she decides to get retrained by the legendary Master Winters in hopes of getting her mojo back. On her journey, she collapses in a forest and finds herself rescued by Boro, the proprietor of the titular tea shop. Finding herself unable to resume her journey due to physical and/or mental exhaustion, she eventually agrees to stay for a bit and help with the shop, hoping that will help her recover her strength so that she can resume her trek towards her true goal.
Players will spend their time wandering a clearing to pick tea leaves, gardening for ingredients and tidying up. There are side quests, such as decorating areas with potted plants or changing the colors of the puffin-like creatures that roam the area. As far as gameplay goes, this is not intended to challenge in the least. There is no way to fail, outside of bringing the wrong drink to a patron.
Not a Steep Challenge
Gardening is a simple affair. Players will find seeds around the area. To get more seeds, one only needs to plant three of the same kind in a row and then water the plant “egg” that pops up. These seeds are then used to create large, fruit-bearing hybrids by planting them in a triangular pattern. The process is not mentally taxing beyond checking the in-game book to see what kind of combination hasn’t been tried yet. The fruits are then used in conjunction with dried tea leaves, which form a ball, to create specific types of tea. So if a patron wants a cup that tastes like breakfast cereal and dirt, the player will check the easily-accessible guidebook to see which fruits fit the bill, grow the plants if the needed fruits aren’t already on hand and take the products to the two-story tea machine to brew the concoction. Again, “simple” really is the operative word.
That simplicity serves a purpose. The gameplay is there to create a relaxing goal that one can meander towards, while taking in the best part ofWanderstop: the writing. This is a truly funny game. Standouts come in the form of the patrons. A roving gang of businesspeople will swarm the shop, demanding a boardroom and coffee. A knight has an actively smoking, cursed leg that doesn’t seem to bother him as much as the embarrassment his son feels about his doting. A shopkeeper lectures about the virtues of running a successful business and then gives away her stock-in-trade. I realize I’m listing off examples without explaining why they are funny, but that’s because I simply could not do justice to the humor. It’s a style that’s better suited to enjoying fresh.
The gameplay is there to create a relaxing goal that one can meander towards, while taking in the absolute best part ofWanderstop: the writing.
The dialogue options that Alta can use to respond do help to sell it. She can be nice and helpful, subtly sarcastic, blatantly sarcastic, honest, rude or misleading. Alta feels like a fully fleshed-out character.Wanderstopis about emotional and physical burnout and how to pick yourself up. It’s also about deciding if letting go and doing something new is the best thing to do, and how to determine that. It’s thoughtful and philosophical without getting too pretentious.Wanderstopshould serve as an example as how to explore heady topics in games. Far too often, “artsy” games devolve into “Gloomy Gertrude is Gloomy” without giving the player a way to empathize with the character. Here the dialogue options and humor sidestep this by giving some player agency to the protagonist’s behavior and being enjoyable to play. This, in turn, makes the game’s attempts to kick the player square in the feels more effective.
Lit-tea-rary Brilliance
Whatever you do, though, read the books. The aforementioned in-game guide is a trove of information that players will need to peruse to complete the patron’s requests, but there are other books that provide no in-game benefit; they’re just entertaining. The real star is Dirk Warhard, a name that can only be properly spelled DIRK WARHARD!!!, but my editor will probably only let me get away with that once. That and I can’t insert the explosions and skulls in the text to truly get it right. Just imagine a Rob Halford-style power metal scream when you read his name and you’ll be close to the correct pronunciation. He’s the lead in a series of spy thrillers that read like a narrative created from Chuck Norris memes, except original and not overplayed. Dirk Warhard has no use for names except his own and that’s written on a card for emergency purposes only. I finished reading the first one of those and immediately forced my wife to read it as it’s too good not to inflict on others.
Cozy Game With a Dark Twist Wanderstop Gains Release Date
The creator of The Stanley Parable has a cozy game called Wanderstop born from his personal burnout
Graphically, this is gorgeous without being taxing on any hardware. Using a cartoonish style, faces are expressive and the animations all fit perfectly. Some may be put off by the intense color saturation that the style heavily relies upon, but that choice helps with establishing mood, especially as the game goes on. It’s also sonically impressive, with soothing music and clear, well-positioned audio. As one who tends not to notice this aspect in games as much, unless it is remarkably non-potable, the fact that the high quality was notable is saying something. Fair warning: the sounds during the tea-making process led me to require more restroom breaks than normal.
Now for Some Light Bagging
There are a few criticisms to share, though. The voice acting is superlative. That, in and of itself, should be a positive, but its use is minimal. Most of the dialogue is done via text. It’s understood that this is likely the result of budgetary constraints, but one cannot help but feel like something is missing when it’s so very well done when it is used, relegated to major story beats and Alta reflecting to herself when sitting down to enjoy her own cup of tea. Additionally, while this is supposed to be a leisurely title, it does get old wandering around to find the needed plants to gather tea leaves. This was an intentional design decision, as it forces the player to explore and find weeds to trim or dead leaves to sweep up. Truthfully, this doesn’t take long, but it feels like a nuisance.
Finally, and this might be a minor spoiler, but the area around the shop resets periodically as the story progresses. While an intentional thematic choice, it’s annoying to need to gather up the tools again, replant a fresh garden and learn where various landmarks around the area have been moved. In the beginning, I was fastidious about how I set things up to make everything work in the way that felt the most comfortable. By the end, I was just throwing whatever I needed into the ground wherever I was, just to move on with things. This decision is an interesting use of gameplay to make a point, but it steps over the line to slightly hamper the gameplay.
Closing Comments:
It’s important not to let the mild criticisms get in the way, asWanderstopis a beautiful title with something to say about overwork, determination and letting go. It explores these potentially depressing topics with a ton of humor and relaxing gameplay, resulting in a thoughtful, unique title that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Stepping away from the game, I have fond memories of the characters Alta meets, particularly Boro, Gerald and Monster. It’s a chill time that wants the player to spend as much or as little with it as they would like, while also being deep but unpretentious.
Wanderstop
Version Reviewed: PlaySation 5
Wanderstop is a narrative-centric cozy game about change and tea. Playing as a fallen fighter named Alta, you’ll manage a tea shop within a magical forest and tend to the customers who pass through. But Alta does not want to be here. And if she gets her way, the tea shop will be nothing but a brief and painful memory.Wanderstop is a tea shop management ritual. Grow and harvest the ingredients needed for tea, and then mix them together in an unusual tea-making contraption. Along the way, speak with the many travelers who pass through the shop, learn their stories and make tea that’s just right for them.In your downtime, you might tidy up around the clearing, decorate the shop in your style, or just sit on a bench with a cup of tea and listen to your own thoughts. Maybe doing nothing at all is okay. The shop demands patience, it rejects those who have come only in the pursuit of growth unchecked.And that’s why Alta can’t be here. It’s why she’ll never make it. This isn’t who she is. No, she’s a fighter! Why would anyone insist on turning the world’s greatest championship warrior into a docile shopkeeper?! With everything she’s capable of?? No no no, she won’t, she won’t do it… she can’t…
