Wandersong is a cute little game I had recommended to me ages ago, but I can't really remember the why or how of that happening. All I know is that at some point I bought it for my Switch, tried it out for a few hours, and then bounced off of it. It's been languishing up until now, and I finally finished it yesterday. It took me about 8 hours to complete the English version of the game all in one sitting.
Wandersong is a story about a bard. You have a dream one night about being tested as the hero who will save the world... and fail. You fail horribly, and the guardian spirit of the world informs you in no uncertain terms of this. The world has a destined hero, and it is soooo not you. However, the bard does learn of something called the Earthsong, something that could theoretically save the world, but it's never been successfully done. Undeterred, the bard sets out on a quest with his new companion Miriam the witch to try and save the world in a universe that is DEFINITELY about to end.
You travel to all sorts of different locales: an archipelago full of singing and coffee-loving pirates, a city under the thumb of an oppressive toy factory, and a freezing mountain on the edge of the world. All while reality slowly begins to crumble around you and the actual destined hero harries you at every turn, given that you're on two conflicting quests. Wandersong is a story about hope and the relationships between people. The story takes a while to get going, but once it does it really had me hooked (I'd say it starts getting good a couple hours in at Act 3). The dialogue is silly, but balances seriousness with that well. It eases you into the characters of Miriam and the bard with the silliness, and gets to how they function as people beyond that. I was delightfully surprised by the writing in this game, and it at times feels like a VN despite being more a puzzle platformer with a large focus on its story.
The actual gameplay loop of Wandersong is a puzzle platformer, but ultimately not a terribly challenging one, although it certainly has more tricky parts that I would've predicted it had. You can walk around and jump, but what the game really flexes its puzzles with is your ability to sing (you ARE a bard, after all). By pushing the right stick in the 8 cardinal directions, each one sings a different note, and the game uses this mechanic for all manner of puzzles. Puzzles rarely repeat outside of the singing parts, and the game does a great job at pacing puzzles so they go on long enough to feel satisfying but not so long that they feel overly repetitive. They're a great framework for the story to take place in, and they add a lot of character to the bard, as you can basically sing whenever you want, and you also choose dialogue options in conversations by selecting a direction on the little color wheel that appears to help you select notes. You can even hold L to start dancing whenever you want. It has no bearing on the gameplay, but there's a secret new dance to discover in each area of the game, and it's good silly fun to just start dabbing during a cutscene X3
The presentation of the game is super fun. It almost has a paper-craft style to it with how everything is constructed out of shapes. The world is bright, colorful, and full of personality, from the backgrounds to even side characters. The music is also really good, often reacting dynamically to how you're playing the game or what your bard is singing. Nothing particularly MP3-worthy, but it does a great job at making the overall theme of music come alive as well as setting the mood for scenes very well, especially the bard's singing parts.
Verdict: Highly Recommended. There are a lot of indie puzzle platformers out there, I won't deny that, but this is easily one of the most memorable I've ever played. With a strong presentation and a solid story, it's definitely one of my favorite games I've played this year.
Wandersong is a story about a bard. You have a dream one night about being tested as the hero who will save the world... and fail. You fail horribly, and the guardian spirit of the world informs you in no uncertain terms of this. The world has a destined hero, and it is soooo not you. However, the bard does learn of something called the Earthsong, something that could theoretically save the world, but it's never been successfully done. Undeterred, the bard sets out on a quest with his new companion Miriam the witch to try and save the world in a universe that is DEFINITELY about to end.
You travel to all sorts of different locales: an archipelago full of singing and coffee-loving pirates, a city under the thumb of an oppressive toy factory, and a freezing mountain on the edge of the world. All while reality slowly begins to crumble around you and the actual destined hero harries you at every turn, given that you're on two conflicting quests. Wandersong is a story about hope and the relationships between people. The story takes a while to get going, but once it does it really had me hooked (I'd say it starts getting good a couple hours in at Act 3). The dialogue is silly, but balances seriousness with that well. It eases you into the characters of Miriam and the bard with the silliness, and gets to how they function as people beyond that. I was delightfully surprised by the writing in this game, and it at times feels like a VN despite being more a puzzle platformer with a large focus on its story.
The actual gameplay loop of Wandersong is a puzzle platformer, but ultimately not a terribly challenging one, although it certainly has more tricky parts that I would've predicted it had. You can walk around and jump, but what the game really flexes its puzzles with is your ability to sing (you ARE a bard, after all). By pushing the right stick in the 8 cardinal directions, each one sings a different note, and the game uses this mechanic for all manner of puzzles. Puzzles rarely repeat outside of the singing parts, and the game does a great job at pacing puzzles so they go on long enough to feel satisfying but not so long that they feel overly repetitive. They're a great framework for the story to take place in, and they add a lot of character to the bard, as you can basically sing whenever you want, and you also choose dialogue options in conversations by selecting a direction on the little color wheel that appears to help you select notes. You can even hold L to start dancing whenever you want. It has no bearing on the gameplay, but there's a secret new dance to discover in each area of the game, and it's good silly fun to just start dabbing during a cutscene X3
The presentation of the game is super fun. It almost has a paper-craft style to it with how everything is constructed out of shapes. The world is bright, colorful, and full of personality, from the backgrounds to even side characters. The music is also really good, often reacting dynamically to how you're playing the game or what your bard is singing. Nothing particularly MP3-worthy, but it does a great job at making the overall theme of music come alive as well as setting the mood for scenes very well, especially the bard's singing parts.
Verdict: Highly Recommended. There are a lot of indie puzzle platformers out there, I won't deny that, but this is easily one of the most memorable I've ever played. With a strong presentation and a solid story, it's definitely one of my favorite games I've played this year.