Wander Stars

Full of glitches (to the point where I could not complete it because of a bug with the final boss), but otherwise great game. Unique and fun with endearing characters, and old anime nostalgia.

Incredible art style, Dragonball Z vibes, and a great roguelite RPG.

This game is great, however I believe that it lacks from something. The gamestyle is beautiful and the fact that is so similar to cartoons from the 90s makes it super special. Unique idea. My issue is the amount of bugs and the lack of animation on certain parts. Why would you remove the main character and NOT create animation to replace that? Weird decision. Additionally, the game is full of bugs to the point that my enemy changed sprites. Lol. Also UI not auto scrolling when finding words is crazely. I do like the game, but it is lacking. I'm surprised that only 6.7% of people on steam have "complete chapter 10", but it makes a sense that people don't feel engaged by it. Anyways. Great on sale, not worthy full price.

Although I recommend Wander Stars, it has one specific, tragic issue that made me struggle with whether I should actually give it a thumbs up. But let's start with the best parts: The beginning of the adventure story is great, especially thanks to the awesome combat. While it is technically a normal turn-based RPG, the presentation makes a huge impact. Instead of just picking an attack with buffs, you combine multiple words to create your moves, which is incredibly cool. The approach is like: "I want a claw attack... no, a sharp claw... no, a super sharp claw... no, a super radical strong sharp wind claw!!!" This is the game's biggest strength—it captures that anime vibe where characters shout their actions out loud. Additionally, the option to "spare" opponents for pep-ups/upgrades provides a nice challenge, even with weaker enemies. My only complaint regarding the gameplay would be the strict word-slot limitations, which felt a bit restrictive when trying to fit in new, useful words. Also, while the animations are great, there aren't quite enough of them to fully sell the "playable anime" immersion. However, for an indie title, this limited quantity is understandable. And I honestly wish the game had ended right there after chapter six because, unfortunately, there were still chapters missing even if it starts to run out of steam: Once you’ve unlocked all upgrades and bought your most important words, there is no real incentive to gain extra points or tackle the harder "high risk, high reward" mission variants. Every encounter starts to feel unnecessary and unrewarding. To reach the ending, I had to force myself through the remaining missions with almost no motivation. Making matters worse, the story goes downhill, shifting from a clear goal into a confusing mix of genres and abstract psycho nonsense. I suspect this is why less than 10% of players have reached the ending. It’s sad to see the second half of Wander Stars undermine itself like this. If you like the word-based combat idea, you should give it a try—just be prepared for the grind and a bit of boredom on the way to the final chapter.

A playable Manga/Anime. The art is inspired by Akira Toriyama. The characters and story is fun, the gameplay is ok and the art is gorgeous!

Likeable characters, solid writing, great music, wonderful art, and a battle system that is as unique as it is approachable. A little early for a review, but I have a feeling I'm only going to like this game more the more I play it, and the episodic structure makes me think that I'm probably not going to burn out on this like I tend to do with even my favorite roguelites. If I had to scrounge for a complaint I would only have one, and would only share it reluctantly: it would be nice if there was voice acting. That's it, that's my one complaint, but I also find it's not diminishing my enjoyment in the slightest, and it's also worth noting that at this price point it doesn't make sense to expect voice acting, especially with such a story heavy game. And speaking of price point, at the pace this playthrough is going it seems like a lot of bang for the buck, especially because I know I'm going to go back and do a challenge run (which is not something I usually bother with). I've never called something a 10/10 game, not even my favorites of all time, but so far this game seems to perfectly deliver on its highly entertaining promise. I'm sure there's some turn-based RPG expert who can explain how the battle system is easily cheesable or something, and in that case fine, sure, I'll say 9.5/10. But until then...

The core concept of a playable 80's action anime where you form your own specail attacks is great and takes the game very far, the obvious visuals and sounds as well as stellar writing carry the game far and I throughly enjoyed my time with the game. I do have some issues, the diffculty can spike pretty hard and the levels can get pretty long combined with the lack of major new mechanics besides diffrent words that do diffrent things can make the game feel really reptitive if you get stuck or play for long periods but I still highly recommened the game there is such a wealth of love and appreciation for its inspirations that I believe if you only put in a few hours into the game it's worth your time and money

Lovely surprise of a game. Wonderful aesthetic and music, with a story that feels solid but has potential for more. It's a little buggy (UI elements overlapping or unresponsive at times), and its combat system isn't as deep as it may appear (you can find yourself spamming words rather than thinking, on Normal, and elements aren't very engaging to use). But what's here feels good despite it! All in all, it took me about 11, 12 hours to go through once on Normal, and there IS a harder difficulty for those that really want to go at it. For ten episodes (one of which is all story), I think the price is fair. What I'm really interested in, though, is seeing more...! This game has the feeling of a first foray into something that just needs refinement and some more depth added in, and it'll be a sure-fire hit. If the premise seems interesting to you, I would definitely recommend it on sale, and there's a demo if you're curious. I really enjoyed my time here, short as it may have felt, and I would love to see a Wander Stars 2 or something if the devs are interested in returning to this world in the future. I will definitely keep an eye out! Also, shout-outs to Wolfe and Ax. Wonderful characters. Thanks for that, writers. c: <3

To put it shortly, and provided you're ok with turn by turn rpg, this game is great! Sure, if you're allergic to the genre, well, it won't change your mind, BUT, absolutely great system of word combination that really leads to interesting strategic choices between status, cooldown, big damages, or multiple targets. Worth noting, it's not necessary to drop ennemies to 0 Hp, there's a range that gives nice bonuses if you avoid murder, but sometimes, mutipliers on repeating attack (one attack hitting twice of more) is hard to math out. However once you get the hang of it, it is really satisfying to plan turn one victories against multiple ennemies with limited ressources. If you like theory craft and figure out things, it will give you smart puzzle challenges, and if you don't, you can still try and brute force fights, but you might miss out stuff by not engaging with that part of the mechanics at least superficially. Overall, peak game design there. Worth saying, don't attempt the Challenge mode on levels right of the bat. I can guarantee you'll end up frustrated for nothing, ennemies have special battle conditions that can make them act before turn one and can very well one shot you that way on the first fight. Only maturity in knowing and recognizing challenges had been designed to be nigh impossible to beat without level up and mastery made me chill the f out and attempt later what was designed for later. Took me until chapter three to be leveled and familiar enough with the system to be able to attempt them reliably. So yeah, no use in being a completionist too early on.