 |
| Image by Ivy Road |
Wanderstop is a beautiful game about imperfection, taking it slow, and drinking lots and lots of tea. The heroine of the story, Alta, is the best in her field. That her field is combat is less relevant than the simple fact that she is the very best -- like no one ever was. But then Alta is beat -- more than once. She is no longer the best, and she doesn't know how to be less than perfect. So she travels into the woods to find her old teacher and to try to, once again, become the best. How could there be any greater goal?
Many of us can relate to Alta. Phrases like, "You can be anything," or "Believe in yourself" proliferate in the American education system and elsewhere. The so-called "gifted kid to burnout pipeline" has claimed many adults who were told as children that they would do great things, save the world, or even become world leaders when they grew up. When the adults told them that, they fully believed it and tried to achieve it, and many eventually experienced extreme burnout at a young age. I'm certain many game developers can also relate to Alta's struggles, as the commonality of crunch practices in game development spaces is causing high levels of burnout for game developers.
An exhausted Alta eventually finds herself at Wanderstop, a simple tea shop somewhere in the middle of the forest. The shop's keeper, Boro, suggests that Alta is too exhausted to continue, and offers her a job making and serving tea. Through her time at Wanderstop Alta learns that sometimes we really do just need to slow down or stop entirely -- that pushing ourselves to the brink of death may not be worth it, and maybe goals need to be adjusted sometimes.
Characters:
The way Wanderstop approaches the secondary characters in the story is somewhat revolutionary. Players know a lot about Alta, as she is the main character of the game. The other characters who enter the tea shop, however, are a little more opaque. We get to know them a bit, learn about their problems, begin to pick our favorites and decide that we really like these characters, and then... they leave. Unlike the quests you'll encounter in most RPGs, Alta is not required or encouraged to fix the problems of the people who frequent her tea shop. Instead she simply listens when they speak, occasionally responds with helpful or less-than-helpful dialogue choices, and then everyone goes about their own personal business. If there's a lesson to be learned here, it's that we may be the main characters in our own stories, but we are not the main character in other peoples' lives. It is not my (real life) job to fix others' problems, even if we are friends. Sometimes the best I can do, as a person, is listen to what people want to tell me, and let them figure out their lives while I figure out mine.
 |
| Accessibility options in Wanderstop |
Accessibility:
Wanderstop has some great accessibility options that have been very helpful for me, personally. As usual, I cannot speak on all disabilities and can only speak on my own disabilities and accessibility needs. The options menu can be accessed at any time during the game, and accessibility options include subtitles in different sizes, a dyslexia-friendly font that can be turned on or off, multiple options for colorblind support, and a motion sickness dot. Other very specific functions in the game can be tweaked as well, including "hold bellows button to heat" (so you don't have to button mash), camera sway and sensitivity, dialogue speed, and more. My own primary accessibility needs involve motion sickness and button mashing, so I'm happy to see options to reduce both of those problems for me. I'm pleased with the outcome and I personally have no hindrances to playing this game with my disabilities.
I will note that I have been playing the game on the Steam Deck and on my television. While Steam Deck warns that the text may be too small to read, I have not had a problem with this, and I played with the subtitles on medium size. I am legally blind but not fully unable to see, so while some games are difficult for me in this area, I have had no problem with Wanderstop. I suspect Steam will update its information to reflect this after Wanderstop is officially released.
Story:
The story in Wanderstop may be short, but it is far from shallow. Alta is a fully realized character and the story is more about her journey than anything else. Alta is human and Alta is all of us. Her emotions feel very real and raw. There isn't much more I can say about the story without spoiling it, but I can say with confidence that Wanderstop is a story everyone should experience.
Graphics, Controls, Etc.:
I don't have a lot to say about the graphics. They are beautiful. They are gorgeous. The colors pop splendidly. The only more specific thing I can note is that when I started the game, I wondered if Wanderstop was created by the same developers who made Slime Rancher (it's not) because the graphics seemed so similar. Both games evoked a lot of emotions for me, so that may be part of the reason I noticed a similarity.
The controls in Wanderstop worked fluidly and I had no trouble whatsoever. I played on Steam Deck, both in handheld mode and docked to my television and attached to an X-Box controller. Everything ran surprisingly smoothly and I experienced no notable glitches or bugs! In this day and age, I'm very pleasantly surprised.
Overall my experience with Wanderstop has been pretty much perfect. It's rare for me to have absolutely nothing bad to say about a thing I'm reviewing, yet here we are. Wanderstop will certainly go to the top of my favorites list, and I foresee many replays in my future.
Wanderstop releases on March 11, 2025 on Steam and Playstation 5. Thank you to the developers, Ivy Road, for the free review copy.
Posts
