Wanderstop

우연히 어느 유튜버의 플레이 영상을 보게 되었고, 첫 챕터 이후까지 보다가 Boro가 하는 말을 보고선, "이 게임은 직접 해보는 게 좋겠다"는 생각이 들어서 냅다 사서 플레이 했다. 이건 빈 칸(화분, 액자 등)이 많긴 하지만 그걸 채우는 게임은 전혀 아니다. 손님의 서사를 감상하는 게임도 아니다. 왜냐하면 사당을 통해 다음으로 넘어갈 시기가 되면, 손님의 서사는 툭 끊어지고 정원은 비워지기 때문이다. 따라서 필요한 꽃과 나무를 심고, 손님의 요구를 들어 주는 건 다음 장으로 넘어가는 과정의 일부일 뿐, 오로지 주인공 Alta에게만 초점을 맞춰 서사를 잇는 종류의 게임이다. 게임은 내 손에서 벗어난 것(통제할 수 없는 것)을 대하는 법과, 번아웃과 휴식, 낙관적 허무주의, 그리고 변화에 관한 메세지와 조언을 함축적으로 전달하려 하지만, 후반으로 갈수록 점점 난해해지면서 너도 나도 짐작할 수 있는 그 결론을 빙빙 돌려 말하는 감이 있다. (더 자세히 적으려고 시도했지만 루돌로지 채널에서나 다룰만한 장문의 무언가가 연성 되는 바람에 생략하겠다) 그래서 만약 이 게임에 관심이 생겼다면, 적어도 시뮬레이션 장르라는 인식은 버리고 시작하는 게 좋을 것이다.

Wonderful. A delight. I wish it were longer I want to make more tea.

Good day, bad day. Burnt out or locked in. Take a minute to go make some tea and spend some time with Boro. Maybe shake a puffin or two. This game helped me through a really ♥♥♥♥♥♥ time in life. Thanks devs.

words cannot express how much i enjoyed this game. from the stunning artstyle, through the many interesting and original characters, novel gameplay, intriguing story, to the beautiful music - wanderstop is PACKED with all the best things. theres loads of things for you to do: exploring and taking care of the clearing, decorating the teashop and its surroundings, growing and altering plants, experimenting with different tea flavors and getting to try them... but you never feel pressured to do any of that. but do not worry, fans of games with clear goals - there ARE "mandatory" things for you to do - but even those arent timed or judged too harshly and i have to say - while the story may not be the most important part of the game, i absolutely adore how it was done. obviously, i cant say too much, but i personally found the main metaphor driving the story thought-provoking. i think many people can relate to alta, including myself, so it has definitely stuck with me. also, i cried. like, countless times haha they were happy tears, most of the time, though! alta's growth was amazing to see, especially near the end of the game and it made me quite emotional once again, i cant describe how much fun i had in wanderstop! might be the first game ever that i'll replay. cant wait to see what else the studio whips up in the future :]

I did enjoy it very much! It was good fun, as well as a good learning opportunity in evaluating your relationship with yourself. I definitely can see myself replaying in the future! (All my homies stand Nana

9/10

Rather than wearing you down, this game charges you up. It took a minute to adjust to the slower pace and non-time sensitive demands, with a handbook so you didn't have to memorize anything if you didn't want to. But the more I played, the more I understood why games like this are needed. As a working adult, this allows your mind to slow down from the every day chaos, and engages you with a meaningful story. Voice acting and art were superb, intent behind the game and the story also unique in a good way.