The Wandering Village

Ehhh, Its a 6/10. Ok, I enjoyed my time with it, but I'm not going to play this one again I think. The basic game play is fine, art and music are fine, but its just fine, not good, not great. For starters the difficulty just isn't there, deserts arn't hard because of cactus, jungle isn't hard because poison is a joke, none of the parasites are hard to deal with at all. Spore clouds easy. Happiness is such a none issue I didn't even know villagers could revolt untill a quest made me do the whole cult thing... and the threshold is so low you never even have to build the best homes. And then there are so many little details that are just half assed. Like only half the buildings have animations, no one ever sleeps or goes to their homes, no one hangs out in the town square, lamps don't actually make light. Towns people don't make sounds to make things seam more alive. The turtle thing always just walks in one direction. Only 4 biomes that get old. Villagers only need one time homes built or food to be happy, they should demand some kind of consumer goods so that I need to build industry, and they don't drink water ever... basiclly all the systems are too simple too basic.

Very nice game that is completely not worth the price. My reasoning is as follows: Minus the 3D model of the creature, this game could effectively be a flash game, the actual game design itself is fairly simple, and often games like this carry themselves off of having a larger scope, with greater freedoms, choices, etcetera, and this game does not follow through with - perhaps for the reason that the high-quality art impeded development of new areas or buildings or mechanics. The main two outstanding features of the game are the premise and the art (with one exception). The premise, living off the back of a creature, is wonderful, and enticing, but I can't help feel that it's not served well. There are mechanics of tending to the creature, or overexploiting it, but I felt these were shallow. The creature trusting you is something that alters the gameplay little, just giving the creature more likelihood to listen to a few commands (e.g. when deciding what path to go down at a crossroads) It ultimately did just feel like a flavoured environment for a somewhat simple village-building game, with the creature not having all that much importance besides it leading the player into new environments (which themselves were quite a fun addition, but still felt underwhelming). I was expecting a more thematic, flavoured game, raising ticks in place of cows, maybe exploring inside of Onbu, or communicating with it, or having it angrily attack my villagers. But I'm not being honest, all those things do occur in the game, it's just that the doctor tending to Onbu just travels to its mouth, disappears, then comes out; the "ticks" are mostly pests that can't really be kept or tended in any meaningful way, communicating with Onbu has all the complexity of a button-prompt, and Onbu attacking the village isn't as much an event, as it is a type of weather, less threatening than hail. Nothing feels substantial. The art, too, is wonderful, but not enough to sway me, with some issues. It's beautiful, and the buildings and workers are great to watch. Although I wouldn't call it 'polished', many workers don't have an animation for walking upwards or downwards, which feels a little silly in a game like this. Also there are only about 5 or so different worker models, which also felt a little disappointing. I was excited to see what the onbu-doctor would look like, expecting a kooky old hermit (as they did live in the woods away from everyone else, after all) but they wore the same uniform as all the other doctor/ scientist workers. The icons for the dialogue are somewhat hideous. I haven't seen anyone else mention them, but they really provoked me while playing, to the point where I had to ask if they were AI-generated, which, I don't think they are, but the cheap imitation of a vague ghibli-style did not serve these character portraits well. The writing is nothing to write home about either, though it gets the job done. I've been overly negative, but the game is fun, I liked it, I just regret that I spent all that money on it. The game is obviously a product of great labour, with the art, modelling, and so on, but it's a shallow experience that left me wanting more. There is a lot of potential in both the basic template, and the actual game itself.

It's fun and cute at first. It unfortunately does a gaming pet peeve of mine though that made me almost stop playing. It presents a research tree with options of how to go about the game, but then it has quests that must be completed to progress the story that REQUIRE you to choose some of the bad options (abusing the onbu, sacrificing villagers). I would have rather never even researched those. Why create a system that allows me to choose how to play then force me to do everything anyway? Makes the choice pointless. If that sort of thing bothers you, I would not recommend this game. If it doesn't, you'll enjoy it!

This is a cute and cozy game that masquerades as a city builder. Pros: Cute art Easy to run Interesting concept Relaxing gameplay Cons: Lack of depth and agency Overpriced The story here is a little on the chin- humans exploited Onbu to near extinction and it's your job to bring them back and save the world. Things get a little muddy though when you're offered the chance to... exploit your Onbu for profit. Weird choice by the devs there. You'll wander through the post apocolyptic world managing poison levels and collecting seeds. Both tasks are a bit too simple for my tastes. Herbs, which are laughably easy to get, will cure poison, and every-single-npc-you-meet has a seed, which makes the interactions in this game lose their intrigue and importantly only barely makes sense. The only resource management you'll really need to do is ensuring you have enough water, which as you can imagine is boring. Otherwise you move your way through a massive tech tree which makes you feel like you have agency but really it's just a linear progression of turning resources into other resources which turn into other resources. Ironically, most of your resources are spent UNLOCKING the ability to research other resources. Yeah. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun when I put it that way, but if you think about The Wandering Village as an interactive visual novel, it's a pretty and relaxing way to spend 20-30 hours. I would NOT recommend it to people looking for a serious city builder or colony management game. I would NOT recommend it at full price. I DO recommend this game on sale to people looking for a cozy interactive story about healing a broken planet.

毒カビの蔓延るポストアポカリプス世界で、巨大生物（オンブ）の背中に住み着いて時に共生、時に搾取しながら生き延びて世界の謎を探るコロニーシム。 この舞台設定がユニークで、コロニーシムというジャンルにおいて良い味変になっています。スペースが限られた中での集落の管理という点ではフロストパンクが近いかも。 アーリーアクセスから楽しみにしており、正式リリースを待って購入しました。 ただ…思った以上に「ナウシカ」です。 グライダーのような遠征部隊や、マスクやゴーグルのデザイン、キャラクター立ち絵の画風があまりにもジブリに寄せすぎていると感じます。 特にメインであるオンブやコロニー画面は絵画風なのに、人間キャラクターはアニメ絵調という差があることでより顕著です。 この世界観そのものの採用や、後発作品が影響を受けること自体はいいと思うのですが、こうまであからさまだとやや「うーん…」でした。 ナウシカ風の世界観だとしても、アートスタイルをひねるだけで新たな独自の世界として構築できたはずなのに、似すぎていることによって常にパチモンのような違和感があり、却って価値を損ねてしまっていると思いました。 そこさえ気にならないのであれば、前述のとおり一味変わったコロニーシムとしてしっかり楽しめました。 クエストやストーリー進行はコロニー開拓の進行の報酬となっており、スムーズに達成感を味わえる設計。 バイオームもオンブの行き先で変わるので、危険な地域は早足で駆け抜けてもらったり、逆に困ったところで眠り込まれてしまったりと、ゲームに変化をもたらしてくれます。 オンブとの交流は楽しく、リアクションが可愛くて、便利なことはわかっていてもなるべく搾取せずに頑張りたい…というモチベにもなりました。 機械翻訳っぽさはありますが、完全に日本語対応されておりバグもなく遊ぶのに不都合はありませんでした。 最後の展開も熱く感動的ですっきりするものでした。満点ではなくとも順当におすすめ。

I thought this was a very cool concept and idea. Which it is. but it's design is weirdly boring me.... feels like I'm doing the same stuff over and over, like a repetual grind. I tried to continue, but after these 9 hours... I gave up. I was fully bored with the game and its tedious little micromanagement jobs. Might be good for you, but not for me...

This is a city builder/resource management sim with a final boss. An endgame. It's fun. If you liked the Ghibli film Nausicaa (1984), you'll enjoy the art, lore, and music this game boasts. If you like city-building games, you'll have a good time. If you're looking for replayability, you'll find it in the various "hard mode" versions you can customize. The sandbox mode is what I was really after, in this game. I like watching a number go up, but I like that with a little bit of a challenge. I have to anticipate and plan, but I can also just unwind and relax. Taking care of my Onbu makes me emotional. I played a run once where I tried not to care about its feelings and I felt so bad about it I abandoned the run. :'( All in all, excellent game. I had my eyes on in for ages during early access, but I prefer to wait. And... this wait paid off. 10/10 love this thing would die for an Onbu plush.

Was having a fantastic time watching my Onbu practically prance with joy as my villagers celebrated them and enjoyed getting pets and mushroomballs only to be told to build something that would hit my beloved Onbu in order to advance the story. I no longer have any interest in the rest of the story, or trying for all of the achievements after seeing one that involves causing the Onbu even more harm. A statement can be made about the exploitive, monstrous nature of humanity by forcing a player to confront and enact needless cruelty. Whatever message this one is trying to make appears to be lost in translation, if it existed in the first place.