{"id":1431,"date":"2025-03-10T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/?p=1431"},"modified":"2025-03-13T18:22:21","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T18:22:21","slug":"wanderstop-review-the-ultimate-cosy-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/10\/wanderstop-review-the-ultimate-cosy-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Wanderstop review \u2013 the ultimate cosy game"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Wanderstop\t<\/div>
Wanderstop – bringing burnout to the boil (Annapurna Interactive)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The director behind The Stanley Parable<\/a> and The Beginner\u2019s Guide returns with a narrative adventure set in a tea shop, which challenges the very nature of video games. <\/p>\n

While farming simulators<\/a>, cooking games, and virtual pets have existed for years, these experiences are now commonly filed under the moniker of \u2018cosy\u2019 game<\/a>. In recent years, the label has become popular shorthand for anything cutesy, but when boiled down, the term is so broad and vibes-based it can encompass almost anything, depending on the person.<\/p>\n

Cute cats and flowery fields are the default \u2018cosy\u2019 aesthetic for normies, but who\u2019s to say popping heads in Call Of Duty<\/a> doesn\u2019t offer the same kind of soothing mental cleansing as tending the weeds?<\/p>\n

The purpose and nature of these games is explored in Wanderstop, a narrative-driven title which has all the conventional cosy tenets – plants<\/a> to water, animals to pet, and a cuddly art style to sink into – but uses the concept to say something deeper about the importance of taking time out when you feel lost in life. <\/p>\n

The unlikely protagonist for the game is Alta, a highly-driven fighter who has dedicated her entire life to the craft, but who suddenly loses her mojo after someone breaks her undefeated streak. Baffled by the loss, she decides to seek out a legendary warrior to help her train but, while on the trip through a forest, she collapses and can no longer carry her sword. <\/p>\n

She is saved and nursed back to health by Boro, the chirpy owner of the Wanderstop tea shop. When she wakes up, Alta is initially stubborn to rest, brushing her fall off as a minor hiccup, but after subsequent runs through the forest end in the same way, she takes up Boro\u2019s offer of helping him manage the tea shop while she figures out what\u2019s going on. <\/p>\n

This starts the relaxed gameplay loop of Wanderstop. Boro teaches you how to grow plants using different coloured seeds, with the colour you use combined with how they\u2019re placed on a hexagonal grid across the ground altering the end result.<\/p>\n

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