Wanderstop Review – A Lesson in Patience and Acceptance

On the surface, Wanderstop looks like your typical cozy cafe management game with a cute story running through it, but I soon found out it was far more than that. This is a journey of accepting change, listening to the wisdom of others, and taking a moment for yourself.

Wanderstop is a narrative-driven game by Ivy Road that follows Alta as she helps Boro run a tea shop in the middle of a mysterious forest. There’s much of what you would expect from a cozy game: colorful plants, adorable creatures, and eccentric customers in desperate need of a cup of tea. After a while, however, it becomes clear that you are there to experience more than just serving tea.

Once you know that Wanderstop is from the same creative mind as The Stanley Parable, the bemusing elements, like the odd but sweet Boro or the grey-faced businessmen obsessed with coffee and presentations, make sense. In this strange woodland, nothing is truly as it seems. Alta is introduced as a previously undefeated fighter who has recently had a run of difficult battles. It’s left her feeling weak and exhausted. She is unrelenting in her pursuit of greatness; failure is never an option, so when she falls, she falls hard.

If you’ve ever pushed yourself too far and worked longer and harder than you should have to the detriment of your physical and mental health, you will understand the lessons Wanderstop brings in the form of this cozy tea shop game. As Boro tries to explain to Alta more than once, it’s ok to rest. The world won’t stop turning just because you’ve paused to breathe for a while. You can gather tea leaves, plant fruits, and harvest crops, but you can also take time to sip tea and sit with your thoughts.

The thing with narrative games is as you progress, you can sometimes forget you’re playing a game. You become part of the story. If I were to focus purely on gameplay, Wanderstop wouldn’t seem like much of a game at all. The controls are simple, and every mechanic and feature is crafted specifically to keep things stress-free. If you forget how to do something, you have your helpful guidebook to hand. Every tool you need is available, and every plant you require can be researched in your guidebook easily. It’s also worth exploring the gardens around the tea shop for mushrooms, treasures hidden in leaf piles, and brambles to cut back. The eternally stoic and unflappable Boro is always nearby with a gentle word or reminder of what to do next, which can be nothing at all if you wish.

You have complete freedom to do as you please. There’s zero time pressure, and no NPC asks where their tea is or what’s taking so long. This patience sets a good example for you as a player, as some elements demand you to chill out for a moment. As Alta, you take your basket out and gather tea from randomly sprouting bushes around the gardens, drying them in the tea shop. As you wait for the tea leaves to dry into balls, you can harvest mushrooms or plant seeds to create large bushes full of fruit. If you find you have nothing to do for a minute, you can take that time to make Alta a cup of tea and sit to listen to her thoughts. Different tea combinations prompt different thoughts, so it’s well worth enjoying these moments. Occasionally, one of the birds who lives near the tea shop will bring a lost parcel for you to return or a seed they found, which is a cute distraction from the tea making.

When a new customer appears, you find out what sort of drink they require. If you forget, their order is conveniently written in your guidebook. Crafting the right fruits and making the tea is fun, but the customers are the real delight in Wanderstop. Each one has their unique personality, wants, and ambitions, and they have a lesson for you if you pay attention.

The first customers you meet are a Demon Hunter and Gerald the Knight. The Demon Hunter is trying to discover a place and a purpose in a world without demons, while Gerald the Knight will do anything to make his kid think he is the coolest and best dad in the world. Even if that means ignoring his own suffering. The scripting is amusing and engaging, and you’re given a few response options, but they are mostly snarky in true Alta style. I couldn’t bring myself to be mean to Boro, but you may feel differently.

Alta is an interesting protagonist. She is antisocial, impatient, and combative, the complete opposite of Boro. Alta’s opposition to taking time for herself is both relatable and irritating. She’s too hard on herself and so focused on a version of herself that is unsustainable that it borders on self-involvement. If you’re the type of person, like myself, to keep pushing yourself to the point of burnout because somehow you think you are ‘better’ or ‘built different’, you may not appreciate the mirror being held up to you in Wanderstop. Alongside this important theme of self-care, Wanderstop teaches players that often, change is not only essential, it’s inevitable, and you won’t always have control over it.

This lesson first becomes apparent after Alta meditates at the statue under the willow tree. At first, we discover that time has passed and the season has changed. The colors of the woodlands around the tea shop are different, and our customers have left. The game hits you with some harsh truths during this time, and without giving anything away, you’ll just have to accept that you have little control over how things change around you. Roll with the punches, as they say.

These moments of huge change come as a surprise at first, for you as a player and for Alta, but this is a lesson in itself. Alta is so obsessively focused on becoming a fighter again that she cannot fathom losing control over herself or the world around her. Sometimes, you just have to let go and allow the world to keep spinning while you take a moment of peace. Boro is insistent that not only can you spend time doing nothing but that it’s healthy to be bored sometimes. There doesn’t always have to be a task to be completed or a mission to embark upon. I must admit, I didn’t enjoy this lack of an arduous time-consuming task list at first, but soon realized it was part of the point of Wanderstop. It forces you to slow down and stop chasing the dopamine hit you get from completing another quest.

Once you know that your time at the tea shop is limited and change will come again, you can begin to relax into it. Maybe even start looking forward to what is coming next. The story continues to unfold, and Alta is confronted by more uncomfortable truths, as is the player. You may be sad to see the end of this sweet and poignant game, but hopefully, you will take away some good advice that will stay with you.

Wanderstop

Wanderstop is a narrative-driven game by Ivy Road that follows Alta as she helps Boro run a tea shop in the middle of a mysterious forest. There's much of what you would expect from a cozy game: colorful plants, adorable creatures, and eccentric customers in desperate need of a cup of tea. After a while, however, it becomes clear that you are there to experience more than just serving tea.

Pros

• Surprising and meaningful
• Charming characters
• Thought-provoking

Cons

• Simplistic gameplay
• Too short

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review. Reviewed on PC.