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After the critical success of The Beginner’s Guide and The Stanley Parable, Davey Wreden is back—this time in collaboration with Annapurna Interactive—with a short, funny, and philosophical game about making tea called Wanderstop.
Wanderstop Summary
Wanderstop tells the story of Alta, a young warrior who has recently lost the ability to fight. Determined to rise back up to her former glory, Alta goes searching for a master who can train her. What she finds instead is a fantastical tea shop whose proprietor and guests teach her something important about herself.
Wanderstop is a narrative-heavy meditative experience about slowing down, trusting yourself, and making a bomb cup of tea. The main mechanics are talking, gardening, and some light decoration. However, an equally important part of the game is doing nothing at all. Your first tea shop visitor refuses a cup of tea, leaving you to spend your early game minutes how you wish. Do some gardening, trim some weeds, sweep up debris, or make some tea for yourself and endlessly-patient and good-humored shop owner Boro.
Wanderstop includes:
- Tons of colorful, humor-rich narration
- An emotional story about pushing yourself too hard and the importance of rest
- A healing narrative about self-love and forgiveness
- Light gardening, planting, and watering work
- Collectable knickknacks and photos
- A cast of unforgettable characters, from a proud dad knight to an interdimensional being obsessed with business men
- Decorating shelves, walls, empty pots, and even bird plumage to your heart’s content
- And, of course: making tea.
My Wanderstop Experience
Hours played: 20 hours
Rolled credits: Yes
Coziness rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Wanderstop is the kind of game that not only has a great story arc, but is also incredibly well-written. Day to day, sentence to sentence, word to word—every individual line of text is beautiful and thoughtful and captivating. Whether it’s ex-fighter Alta’s wry retorts or tea shop owner Boro’s peculiar way of speaking, every written word is a delight to consume.
Alta is a relatable, worn-down professional fighter who is not used to taking an L. She’s burned out, but refuses to admit it. She pushes herself hard because a scratching voice at the back of her head tells her that nothing is more important than strength and success.
Boro is a bombastic, silly tea shop manager who never takes anything too personally. Even if you pick the negative or dismissive dialogue options, he bounces back at you without a scratch. He is endlessly optimistic and carries the deep-rooted wisdom of an accidental philosopher. Or maybe he is in on the schtick all along. It’s hard to tell with him.
Together, they run a tea shop—Alta, anxious to leave as soon as she is feeling better, and Boro, patiently accepting whatever comes of his new guest’s enchanted experiences.
And there really isn’t anything better than Davey Wreden character writing. Each in-game season welcomes a new batch of tea shop guests, with very few visiting more than once. NPC dialogue is whimsical, hilarious, and often poignant. Each denizen is designed with love and humor and a message about the way we interact with the world around us.
Some of my favorite entities include a series of businessmen who get stuck in the grove searching for the “board room,” an interdenominational being obsessed with said businessmen, a traveling shopkeeper grandma who is a diehard capitalism fan, a spunky latchkey kid with a penchant for graffiti, and so many more—but I’d hate to spoil all the fun of discovery here.
The gameplay loop is the kind of simple, sticky sweet meandering busywork that I love. Collect seeds from around the grove; cultivate and water fruit plants; mindlessly sweep and weed while listening to addictive plunky piano music in the background. There’s no rush. No one is tugging at your apron demanding attention or service. The would-be customers simply exist in the clearing around the shop, and you can serve them when you’re good and ready.
Harvesting and gathering is fun. So fun, in fact, that I forgot to progress the game on more than one occasion. I was so caught up in stockpiling tea leaves or sweeping up piles of dust and leaves looking for trinkets. I love optimizing my cozy management resources, and spend a shameful amount of time saving up materials for a rainy day.
So imagine my surprise when the game pulls the rug right out from under me. During each season change—which comes naturally through the progress of the story and is not calendar-based—all of my hard work resets. My inventory is empty, the new cups I found and washed are gone, my trinket shelf is bare, and my garden is barren. Every season is a fresh start.
Why is this important? Because a lot of games that claim to be about appreciating the slow life aren’t really that slow at all. Even when games are cozy, the task lists tend to be demanding and the fixation with getting things just right becomes tinged with an obsessive edge. Currency, friendship, decorative elements—they are all mine to navigate and control and build on.
But in Wanderstop, the world moves on without you. People leave and don’t come back, sometimes without even finishing their stories for you. Anything you hoard vanishes without a trace. Everything well-established becomes a clean slate. To play the game without frustration, you very literally have to “live in the moment” (game in the moment?) and not worry about preparing too much for the future. It’s about letting go, being flexible, and taking things as they come.
Wanderstop is very much a game I needed in my life right now.
Wanderstop Final Thoughts
Wanderstop is a strong contender for cozy game of the year. Not only is it a good game, but it reminds us that games can tell stories in impactful, interactive ways that other mediums cannot. Plus, I think every gamer will see themselves reflected in the narrative about pushing yourself too hard and needing a break; about following that nagging inner critic when maybe you shouldn’t. Alta’s story is familiar and poignant. I’m Alta. Davey Wreden is Alta. And you’re probably a little bit of Alta, too.
Will you enjoy Wanderstop?
- Wanderstop is a great game for those who like silly, fun storytelling with a dash of heart
- Cozy gamers who like light task schedules, freedom to meander, and zero time limits will enjoy it
- Players who appreciate scenic, neon pink and purple scenery will cherish the vibes
- Players who expect a long game or endless replayability may not be satisfied with their purchase
- Folks who get impatient reading text and dialogue will probably not enjoy Wanderstop
Stay cozy, gamers!
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