I ’ve mother some mixed spirit on the “ cozy ” game genre these days . When I was first getting into the originalAnimal Crossing , it almost feel like a counterculture release . It was an counterpoison to activity - packed video games that was completely unequalled in tone and spirit . That achiever has only grown in recent years , turn cozy game into the same kind of diligence it once feel like an answer to . More and more games sense like they ’re following the same pose back playbook , and that can get old after a while .
Wanderstopcould be the plot to disrupt that pattern , or at least escape from it up enough . The upcoming launching from Ivy Road , founded by indie old-timer behind games likeThe Stanley ParableandGone Home , sounds familiar on paper . It ’s a Camellia sinensis shop simulator that has player planting their own ingredient and serve swallow to customers . If you love the music genre , you ’ve doubtlessly played something like it in the preceding few years . But there ’s more toWanderstopthan fit the center , at least based on what I experienced in a manpower - on preview with its intriguing first hour .
The tale begin by introduce Alta , a tearing warrior who prides herself on being an undefeatable beast . That is , until she ’s defeated . A surprising serial of losses sends her into a downward spiral , and that pass her strand in the Natalie Wood unable to raise her sword . She observe herself posted up at a local tea store where she begrudgingly takes a job from Boro , the establishment ’s kind - hearted possessor .
That ’s where the cringle you might expect from a game like this follow into gaming . As Alta , my caper is to make tea balls from harvested leaves , turn yield - contain plants , prune weeds , and satiate orders for other wanderers who come to the clarification . I have a few dick to accomplish that , including a watering can that I call for to occasionally fill up at pumps around the field surrounding the shop class . It ’s a charming little farming management cringle , but one that already has some creative tricks up its sleeve .
Its most unique turn of events is its agriculture , which is n’t just as mere as placing a semen in the dirt . Instead , I need to plant multiple seeds in specific patterns to make the plant I want . Three blasphemous seeds in a row make a flora that create more blue semen . A aristocratical seed sandwich between two pink single produces a hybrid that grows both seeds . That same organization extends to fruit plants , which are made by placing three seeds around a primal one . unlike colour combinations create different fruits , making horticulture more ofa puzzle plot . I spend a fair amount of time in the first hr discover as many combos as I can and setting up a reliable system of cum and fruits quick to be glean at a second ’s observation .
There ’s another teaser stratum in tea leaf qualification . When I get a customer ’s club , they normally expect me for a drink that ’ll have a certain burden , like something that ’ll cure an complaint . I have to compute out what fruit I should use in my mix by consulting a field usher , which gives me some background on each yield . It ’s similar to the system obtain inStrange Horticulture , a flower workshop management game that similarly tasks players with crack research puzzler to correctly fulfill gild .
Actually making tea leaf is a minigame of its own , as everything takes place in a massive gadget at the center of the workshop . Using a move run that can rotate around the gimmick , I need to pull a circle to replete it with water , control a ticker to heat it up , open up a valve , miss element in , and then pull a lever tumbler to drop the Camellia sinensis into a loving cup . It ’s a simple serial publication of minigames , but one that makes it sense like I ’m actually concocting something .
While those are precious touches that makeWanderstopfeel more active , it ’s the committal to writing that has me more intrigued . I ’m not just serving tea to random , faceless customers . Rather , each individual who number to the workshop has a full story that play out in multi - step quests . My first frequenter is a fiend hunting watch who initially refuse to actually order anything , infuriating Alta . After letting them wander around for a snatch , they finally give me a tea fiat . Fulfilling that gets them to open up to me about what brought them to the glade . My demon hunting pal is there to , well , hunt daemon . The more I interact with them , the more of their story .
The other patron I think is a knight who need nothing more to impress his son ( all while dealing with a witch ’s curse that seems to be taking over his limbs ) . Both story pack in quiet emotional minute with some legitimately funny muzzle . Alta ’s specially a riot , delivering the wry mentality of a barista who is both too committed to the fizgig and over it solely on twenty-four hours one of the job .
There ’s much more to her story and that ’s what I need to see more of at this compass point , especially since it ’s unreadable how complex the farming puzzle hook will really get based on the first hr . Wanderstop seems to be narrate a story about burnout , as Alta fight to recover her momentum after pushing herself too hard at the peak of her fighting career . I get the sense that it ’s all build towards a life sentence lesson about learning when to slow down and conserve your energy so that you’re able to fight again at full strength one day . If it can amaze that landing place while escalating its puzzle hooks , Wanderstop could brew up a cozy game that ’s invest in its life lesson just as much as its pastel colors .
Wanderstoplaunches on March 11 for PS5 and PC .
