Wandersong

Genre: Puzzle-Platformer

Players: 1

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Re-Review:

(Note: I previously reviewed this game. In the time since this review went up, I have re-assessed my thoughts on this game, and felt it only fair to revisit that review. I’m including text from the original review in this article for the sake of comprehensiveness.)

Wandersong is a Puzzle-Platformer that puts you in the role of a bard looking to save the world with his song. This plays out as a musical journey that’s surprisingly charming.

The game’s writing here is clever without being very pointed, making this a good “suitable for youngsters, but enjoyable for adults” title. While at first the game seems to be a tongue-in-cheek riff on the classic “hero saving the world” story, over the course of the game this evolves into something deeper and surprisingly more profound, a tale about our place in the world, and the meaning we find in our lives. While at first I was charmed by the game’s cute sense of humor, as I played through the game, I found myself really absorbed by its story and characters, which manage to be extremely memorable despite their simple appearance.

On that note, the game’s visuals are really rudimentary, with characters looking like simple paper cutouts. It’s not going to impress anyone, but it is at the very least a distinct and endearing style. However, the game’s music fittingly is quite wonderful, and helps bring everything together as just a lovely overall experience. The music remains consistently fantastic throughout the game too, and at multiple points this game’s tunes brought a smile to my mouth or a tear to my eye.

For the gameplay, the game’s puzzles center around a multicolored wheel that represents the different notes the bard can sing, which often means you’ll just be using it to play a version of “Simon Says” with them, although as the game moves on, it finds some impressive and inventive ways to use this basic concept.

When I originally reviewed Wandersong, I gave the game a B grade, saying that no individual part of the game excelled in any significant way, but that the game was charming nonetheless. However, as I continued playing the game, I found my appreciation grow for it on multiple fronts – that initial charm that the game had grew to be something deeper and even a little profound. Everything that was good about the game kept getting better, and this became more than just a cute little game, but one that actually touched me. And while the game’s flaws remain throughout – the graphics are super-simple, there’s not much challenge, and many of the game’s puzzles are still a take on Simon Says… Wandersong’s good qualities far outshine those flaws. In short, this is an absolutely lovely game that asks you to look past its unassuming exterior to find a really delightful journey contained within it.

tl;dr – Wandersong is a Puzzle-Platformer that has players in the role of a bard looking to save the world by singing different musical notes to solve puzzles. Despite its simple, unimpressive graphics and lack of challenging gameplay, this game has an absolutely charming presentation, a wonderful story, excellent music, and is overall a fantastic experience for all ages.

Grade: A-

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