Wanderstop Review
“Certainly My Cup of Tea” Written by: Hunter (@ReaperHunter23) Review Copy Provided By Publisher
I’ve had my eye on Wanderstop ever since it was revealed in the summer of 2024. The trailer presented the game as a combination of cozy management sim and a drink serving game, though the part that caught my interest was that the team behind the game was made up of personnel that had previously worked on games such as The Stanley Parable and Gone Home. Well the game has finally released, so let’s see if it was able to live up to my initial expectations.
Image Credit: Ivy Road, Annapurna Interactive
Wanderstop follows the story of Alta, an arena fighter who is working at a tea shop while she recovers from a crushing string of losses. I really enjoy the story and writing of this game. For starters, the way the characters play off of each other is wonderful. Alta is this very self serious, no-nonsense kind of lady. The game also provides enough moments of self reflection and peaks into her mind that I felt like a had a really good understanding of who Alta was and what she was going through during the story. . Alta is perfectly offset by Boro, who is a very good natured free spirit. One of my favorite things about Boro is that his wisdom and good nature seems like the product of a lifetime of making mistakes and learning from them. As opposed to him just being the all knowing angel on Alta’s shoulder. The two have a great dynamic and I thoroughly enjoyed it throughout the game.
The customers that show up to the tea shop are all brimming with personality as well. Each of them have their own piece of the story to contribute. Gerald is an alleged knight who is trying to win the approval of his pre-teen son. Ren is a fellow fighter who admires Alta’s on a professional level. Nana is a belligerent merchant who hangs around seemingly only to irritate Alta. The way Alta can interact with each of the customers ranges from shutting their antics down completely, or playing into their nonsense to see what happens. I usually made my decisions on a case by case basis. Seeing Alta take some sort of shine to the customers as they would show up was really nice. Whether it was or begrudging tolerance of Gerald, or her genuine camaraderie with Ren, it was nice to witness.
Wanderstop manages to pretty deftly hit on a wide range of themes in rather organic fashion. Alta is a fighter. That’s what she is. That’s who she is. She defines herself that way pretty singularly throughout the beginning portion of the game. So the game presents questions such as: “Does what you do define who you are?” “Who are you once you can no longer do what defines you?” These questions perfectly compliment the themes on the dangers of toxic ambition and joys of simply existing.
Image Credit: Ivy Road, Annapurna Interactive
I think the best word to describe Wanderstop’s gameplay would be meditative. The game can be sectioned off into a few different categories of gameplay. You’ll spend your time either gardening, decorating, or making and serving the drinks.
Gardening works by planting seeds down to make hybrids. Hybrids come in two varieties: small and large. Small hybrids yield more seeds and large hybrids grow various different fruits. Small hybrids are made by planting three seeds down in a straight line. Large hybrids are made by planting a seed down, followed by three more seeds around it in a triangle shape. You can mix and match seed colors to get different results. Making a large hybrid with a blue seed that is surrounded by red seeds will make a different plant than one made with a red seed surrounded by blue seeds. It is a very simple system but the mixing and matching of different seeds in various permutations really promotes experimentation. I was always excited to see what kind of new plants I could make every time the game gave me a new seed color. Later on the game introduces mushrooms that you can plant around your hybrids for even more switched up effects.
Decorating is fairly straightforward. You can take any of the plants that you make and place them in the various pots around the tea shop. You can also find knick knacks around the clearing by sweeping up leaves and trimming weeds. These trinkets can be placed onto shelves as decorations. There’s also a camera you can use to take and hang photos around the shop. The game encourages you to do this by having Boro give you a few cosmetic related tasks throughout the game.
The process for making drinks in Wanderstop is probably the most involved I’ve encountered for a game like this. In other drink serving games it is usually just a matter of picking the right ingredients off of the shelf. In this game, making a drink is a multi-step process. The first step is gathering the tea leaves and leaving them out to dry. One full basket of tea leaves is enough to yield two tea balls. Once you have the tea balls, you can boil the water and add the necessary ingredients. The drinks that the customers ask for vary in complexity. Sometimes customers will ask for exactly what they want. Sometimes they’ll be more vague about it and ask for tea that feels nostalgic, which causes you to have to look up which fruit triggers old memories in your field guide. If a customer asks for something more complex, Boro is usually nice enough to tell you how to make it. Customers aren’t the only people you can make drinks for. Boro will gladly take any cup of tea you bring him. Having Alta drink her own cup of tea will cause her to sit down and ponder about something on her mind. It provides a neat bit of insight into Alta as a character and is a nice way to incentivise you to try each ingredient at least once.
All of the gameplay elements are simple and straightforward so it becomes really easy to fall into a rhythm of going from task to task as you please. I’d usually start my cycle by picking some tea leaves, then I’d go gather my fruit while the leaves were drying, and then usually do some kind of plant arranging while I wait for a customer to show up. The nice thing about serving the customers is that it's very much a no pressure environment. If you were in the middle of watering your plants when they show up you can finish it up without having to worry about them getting impatient and leaving, and If you screw up their order you can just make the drink again.
Image Credit: Ivy Road, Annapurna Interactive
Wanderstop is a good looking game. I think it shines the brightest when it comes to the environmental designs. The tea shop itself looks like something from a Dr. Suess book, with its whimsical atmosphere and wacky apparatus in the center. The clearing around the tea shop is always a pleasing array of colors. Whether it's the lush greens that the game starts out in, or the more vibrant orange and reds that appear during the seasonal switch I always loved the way the area looked. The character designs are pretty stellar as well. They do a really good job at conveying the personality of each person before you even interact with them. Boro for example is a big lad but his apron and little flower on his collar are details that contribute towards his friendly aura. Gerald’s design reminds me of Sir Daniel from Medieval They just have a very similar sort of bumbling knight energy. Ren’s design was one of my favorites. He is almost like a visual opposite to Boro. He is also quite large, but he is built like a wall and his mask and plumage add to the solemn fighter vibe he is supposed to give off.
The music in the game is great as well. It manages to fluctuate on a perfect spectrum of whimsical fun and ethereal ambience. One of my favorite tracks was one that came towards the end of the game. It was a very captivating minimalist piano tune. There is some voice acting in the game as well. Kimberly Woods does an excellent job at bringing life to Alta’s inner monologue and whatever exterior turmoil she comments on. Having Alta’s bench ponderings be voiced goes a long way in making them feel really personal and organic.
Image Credit: Ivy Road, Annapurna Interactive
Summary
Wanderstop is a wonderful game. If you like games with a focus on narrative and atmosphere I would wager that Wanderstop is a must play. The game managed to stir up an emotional reaction from me by the time I reached the end. I had come to really enjoy my time with Alta and Boro. The game expertly tackles a number of themes, but my prevailing take away from it on this first playthrough is to not forget the virtue of simply existing. The simple but satisfying gameplay is the perfect foundation for Wanderstop to deliver its atmosphere and story with. The likeable characters and top notch writing are really effective at setting the table for what the game has to say. And I think that the game delivers its message effectively. When all of these ingredients are brewed together it makes for a superb final product.