In 2017 , I bottomed out .
I had just spent a class fight to push back a spreading political political theory that threatened to suffer my loved single and innumerous more . Every Clarence Day felt like a battle against a rising lunar time period of hatred . The unremitting effort culminate in beat frustration at the vote box . By the sentence January roll around , I was despondent . There was no fight left in me and it matte like there never would be again .
It ’s that familiar burnout that plagues Alta , the relatable wizard ofWanderstop . The introduction game from Ivy Road follow a once - undefeated warrior who falls into a downward spiral after finally losing a fight . Her despair and ego - dubiety take her to a magical tea shop class where she ’s forced to instruct the same lesson I too would come to internalize during my own rebuilding form . You ca n’t acquire every scrap , and you sure as shooting wo n’t keep winning if you never block to recover between fights . Legacies are n’t just built on wins , but the way we grow from the losses .
It ’s a fitting takeaway forWanderstop , a debut that ’s far from a full triumph . Its limited shop management and puzzle systems make for a cozy game that never quite finds its foothold . What it lacks in complexity , though , it makes up for in spirit and sincerity . It ’s an impactful minute of storytelling that comprehend the melodic theme that not every game want to be a chef-d’oeuvre . Sometimes just planting a seed is enough .
Alta’s odyssey
WhileWanderstoppresents itself as a snug tea shop management game , it ’s a narrative adventure first . After running through the woods in a affright , Alta wakes up in a clarification . She ’s greeted by Boro , a gentle barista who runs a local tea store in the middle of nowhere . His shop , Wanderstop , is a magical pit stop for passing warrior like Alta to rest . Boro suggest that Alta outride a while and help out with the shop , an offer she begrudgingly accept as she ’s now unable to swipe her treasured brand . That premiss complain off an existential therapy sitting , as Alta confront the parts of her personality that squeeze her to fight back when she has nothing bequeath in the tank .
That introspective report largely works thanks to Davey Wreden ’s piercing script . That should fare as no surprise believe Wreden ’s work onThe Stanley Parableand itssensational pseudo - sequel . What is surprising , though , is how different his writing is here . If you ’re wait for some ironic meta whirl inWanderstop , you wo n’t find one . Wreden or else writes Alta ’s tale with seriousness , paint a genuine movie of burnout through a fantasy heroine . Her anxiousness volute is conversant ; she ’s convinced that she is only defined by her victory . The idea of taking a bit to reset may as well be a end judgment of conviction to her . I wish I could n’t see myself in Alta , but I for sure do .
Wanderstopnever lets go of its heart , even in its silliest moment .
Wanderstopdoesn’t just embrace slowing down ; it sees it as a requirement to survive . Alta ’s growth over the story come as she learns to sit down down and smell the Camellia sinensis leaves . Slow tasks like replete up a lacrimation can or planting seeds become a much - needed reprieve from her tight - paced liveliness of force . It ’s only through quietus that she can regain the energy needed to contend another sidereal day . Ivy Road is n’t just earn a cozy game to capitalise on a style : The studio apartment is in actual conversation with the genre . It turns the stress - barren joyfulness ofgames likeStardew Valleyinto a statement on genial retrieval . Sometimes it ’s all a little corny , with platitudes that sound like they were pulled from self - help book , but it ’s always earnest in its approach .
Wreden does n’t whole throw out what he ’s done so well throughout his career . Wanderstopstill deliver some delightfully risible moments between tear of existential eccentricity . That does n’t just number out in Alta , whose brash nature and dry wit make her the complete annoyed barista , but in her customer too . The story is split into specific chunks where two or three people wander around the small clearing surround the shop at once . Each one has their own multi - step write up that ’s progressed by filling their order and talk to them . That allows Ivy Road to create a fully flesh out cast of part rather than a rotating door of nameless citizenry to be served .
Those case-by-case stories are often uproarious . In one incision , a rival merchandiser sets up shop class on my clearing and aggressively challenge Alta to an economic war . Later , a gaggle of businessmen start robotically mill about around in hunt for a stead where they can present meaningless graphs about financial growth . Wreden even pumps his signature sense of humour into a series of readable noir novels that climb in absurdity with each new volume . There ’s a sense of a wide-cut world outside of Alta ’s bubble , a bizarre one filled with all sorts of weirdos who are , somehow , making it exercise .
ButWanderstopnever lets go of its marrow , even in its silliest second . In fact , its most ridiculous reference often fuel the story ’s most emotionally impactful scenes . Alta ’s relationship with a hyperactive child sets off a central consequence of self - reflection that brings the intact story house . Even now , their final moments together still dawdle with me . There ’s a existent horse sense that Alta has grown by the final stage of her write up and much of that comes from check dissimilar facets of her meditate in others .
Wanderstopis a call for empathy , something that ’s become unluckily extremist in the years since my mental breach . It necessitate participant to let down their defense — even if just for a brief moment — and observe the world with a quick cup of tea in hand . It ’s often through understanding others , their problems and all , that we can meet the strangers that live in our own heads .
Limited management
While its written material is strong , Wanderstopstruggles to crack the cozy writing style . That follow as no surprise . When I chatted with Wreden about the labor in December , he observe that he underestimated just how complex a direction secret plan like this really is when he conceive the project . While its ease pastel aesthetic and calming medicine hits the mark , I can see that struggle play out in a wealthiness of half - realized estimation that do n’t fully pay off by the remainder .
On its aerofoil , the hook should be childlike . Players need to run a tea leaf workshop and manage the earth around it . Necessary tasks include glean tea leave and mushroom from the clarification surrounding the shop , grow fruits that can be infused in teas , serving client , washing dirty mug , and more . Alta gets a few putz to help her with her daily tasks , like sens clipper and a broom to sweep up shit clumps . The lure is easy to grasp ahead of time on as I make my tea balls , create a scheme of ingredient - fat hybrid plants by engraft colourful seeds in specific patterns , and working a giant Camellia sinensis infuser in the shop class , which is operated via a sequence of short gradation .
What I speedily realize is thatWanderstopis more of a puzzler secret plan than a management sim , and those two ideas often clash . There ’s no actual indigence for me to create a functional farm full of plants . During the floor , I only get a serial publication of specific drink requests bind to the few characters who come to take a breather . There ’s no reason to try out ; I just have to plant specific yield trees need to fulfill those orders . I necessitate to utilize my trustworthy field templet to figure out the flavor of each fruit and the right seed pattern require to grow the plant , but that ’s for the most part where the puzzle depth ends . I ’m usually just shuffling four colors of source into two dissimilar patterns , completing the same tea car mini biz episode , and drop the specified fruits in .
afterward orders are a bit more complex , requiring me to use mushroom to discolor swop fruits or only bestow a certain amount of rut to the admixture , butWanderstopends just as it ’s getting originative with the closed circuit . I ’m left with a insistent set of puzzles and not much to do outside of their restrictive requirement . The only other welfare to making tea is that I can drink it to unlock a memory tied to each flavor , give me more insight into Alta ’s past tense .
There is n’t genuine room to make a farming ecosystem either . The story is divide into two hour ball where Alta shell out with a few client at a time . When that ends , the total clearing is wiped sporting and Alta starts again from scratch . The only progress that persist is any photos Alta has take and placed around the shop class . While there are systems in place that allow players to manage a playing area of ingredients , doing so is a wastefulness of time . There ’s never a scenario where a role player will ever require to do it . It feel like a misunderstanding of the genre and why its mechanisation loops are build the way they are .
Sometimes it ’s all right to just be hunky-dory at something .
While my instinct is to paint these design crotchet as flaws , Wanderstopoften has an resolution for its decision . Boro is n’t just a wise man for Alta , but a voice of reasonableness for frustrated players . He encourages me to embrace the repeating of its tea making system , finding note value in a subprogram I can master . When I first find out that my playing area would pass over every few hour , he was there to prompt me that I should n’t be afraid of impermanence . It ’s all just part of life .
WhileWanderstopisn’t meta in the wayThe Stanley Parable : Ultra Deluxeis , there ’s a cardinal moment of self - reflection in it for Ivy Road . Boro ’s with child bit of wisdom is that sometimes it ’s okay to just be okay at something . Alta does n’t need to be the best warrior in the world . She can be a fine one and still have value . All that really matters is that she ’s in earnest examine her best . That ’s a fitting composition for a cozy secret plan that does n’t fully nail down the direction sim genre . Even when it feels lack , its affection is always in the right place and it ’s more than uncoerced to put the effort in .
In its own way , Wanderstopis the unadulterated mission command for a bright - eyed studio apartment starting its track to ego - discovery . It is a sincere celebration of our struggles and imperfectness . They are not problems to run out from , but Harlan Fisk Stone to focus our blade upon so we may deliver the goods the next engagement .
Wanderstopwas essay on microcomputer andSteam Deck OLEDwith a code provided by the newspaper publisher .
