Wanderstop: The Best Cozy Gaming Choice When You’re Burnt Out
Cozy gamers were treated to the release of Wanderstop back in March of this year. While it fits the mold of most management games out there, this game focuses on the narrative of burnout and the need to slow down! I’m sharing some of my thoughts on playing this game and possibly convincing you to pick it up for yourself. Because this game has elevated to the best cozy game I’ve ever played (sorry, Animal Crossing!).
A sweet cup of synopsis tea
Wanderstop follows Alta, a fighter who excelled in her craft, working up the ranks to become the top fighter in the region, only to fall from grace after losing. Alta world shatters! She wants to get back to the top at all costs, deciding to find Master Withers so she can train more. However, the magical forest has other plans, sending her into the arms of Boro and his little tea shop in the middle of a clearing.
The photo is an in-game screenshot taken via Steam Deck: Annapurna Interactive and Ivy Road
With no way of navigating out of the forests and unable to pick up her sword, she begrudingly agrees to stay and help the cheerful Bolo around the shop. You, as Alta, manage the tea shop, completing requests, cleaning up thorns and leaves, and sitting about drinking the tea you create.
Mechanics that preach slowing down
You have free rein over what you can do around Boro’s tea shop. He tells you from the beginning that there is no set schedule or requirements. You can take on requests from patrons who stumble in at any time, they’ll wait patiently for you. You can spend more time experimenting with planting different seed combinations to create new ingredients for the tea. Or, you can just walk around and clean up the clearing; it’s all up to you, you are a player at your own pace.
The photo is an in-game screenshot taken via Steam Deck: Annapurna Interactive and Ivy Road
You are given a guidebook that teaches you the different plants you can make with the various seeds you collect around the area. This helps keep track of what’s what, and helps you decide what ingredient best suits the request of patrons, who give off some hints as to what kind of tea they would like.
Each choice you make has rewards. Making tea based on the customer's needs makes them happy, and drinking the remaining tea still in the pot can trigger Alta recalling memories of her childhood, giving you a better understanding of who she is. If you decide to go about and clean up roots or leaf piles, sometimes you’ll uncover trinkets or more mugs to use for tea requests. This also happens when you find a small package that you can send back to the original owner for a reward.
I am at peace when I run this whimsical tea shop
Burnout is crippling, you feel so stuck that it makes it impossible to do anything you love. I get it sometimes as an artist, and it’s the worst feeling when I feel like I can’t make any progress at all, not even a sketch. This game in itself has become the recovery game for burnout for me. When I feel stuck or not in the mood to play Marvel Rivals for the hundredth hour of my life, I gravitate towards this game as a comfort and to turn off my brain.
The storytelling makes you actually slow down and just enjoy the scene around you, the little tasks, or just sitting around at the bench, and makes the game look like an animated lo-fi wallpaper with soft music in the background. If I didn’t share an office with my fiancé and had the right equipment, I would be projecting my Steam Deck to my monitor to do just that.
The truth of the matter also, I haven’t finished the game, I haven’t gotten to the end. And that’s OK, because that is the whole premise of the game to begin with! Bolo wants you to just take your time and rest. The game sets up the space perfectly, where you don’t feel the obligation to complete the game in one, two, or a couple of sittings. If you didn’t, it would just defeat the message the game is conveying to the player. I know at some point I will get to the end, but there’s no rush to do so.
What also enhances the game’s premise is the fact that there’s no leveling system; grinding away to complete a task, or anything you see in an open world RPG. The game just hands you all the tools from the start and lets you off to do whatever! It’s a nice change of pace to just live in this little zen sandbox that takes on the shape of a whimsical tea shop in the middle of the woods, without the need to “improve” your stats to complete tasks.
The music is so tender, almost like a weighted blanket is encasing you in a cozy little bubble to help you relax and just escape into the game. I was so happy to find that the soundtrack was available on Spotify. I downloaded it so fast to play whenever I need it!
Final Thoughts!
I would highly recommend this wholesome, cozy game to anyone who just wants to feel comforted and needs a break from the demanding tasks of the day that lead to burnout. It’s been helpful in my journeys whenever it happens to me, and it may do the same for you. What’s better? It works well on the Steam Deck, so portability straight to the couch to play is a must!
The game is available on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox!
