Four-Minute Video Review: https://youtu.be/DkHe3J9x6eE

The Wandering Village—a post-apocalyptic sandbox city builder set on the flat back of a giant dino-dog—is a lumbering six-legged step in the right direction for the genre, which isn’t something I say very often. In fact, you have to go all the way back to Against the Storm’s 1.0 release in deep December of 2023 to find a city builder I haven’t felt lukewarm at best about.

Fittingly, The Wandering Village’s 1.0 release borrows perhaps not heavily, but at least “mediumly” from Against the Storm’s winning environmental roguelike approach to the genre that forced players to balance that oh so relatable problem of any successful society naturally wanting to expand, but that expansion then resulting in all sorts of time-sensitive issues that threaten the society’s outright collapse.

But, while all that may sound depressingly familiar, what probably won’t is Onbu—a massive, maybe even mythical creature that your people discover whilst unsuccessfully fleeing a global pandemic of poison spores that haven’t quite set society back to zero, but we’re counting down the single digits.

THE “VILLAGE”

After plopping down a few huts and run-of-the-mill resource-gathering nodes, your semi-automated workforce will get right to work harvesting the rock, wood, clay, and other various goodies growing like barnacles across Onbu’s back. Said resources then unlock the ability to research new buildings and technologies that then allow you to harvest even newer resources that then unlock even more buildings.

Running straight through the middle of this familiar gameplay dynamic is a light narrative that revolves around a mysterious antenna you uncover growing atop Onbu. Through it, you’ll speak to a variety of quirky characters and help them in often silly ways, like rescuing a pigeon from a poison storm so its owner will give you a special seed that may go on to say humanity. But, outside of a few poignant plot points, The Wandering Village’s story mainly functions as an objective-driven assembly line that primarily exists to carry you through the game’s robust research tree.

THE “WANDERING”

If things are starting to sound a little bland, that's probably because we've been discussing the “Village” portion of this game. Let’s get to “Wandering.” Onbu him/her/itself is as complex an ecosystem as is your village, with harvestable and compostable dung, parasites you’ll need to purge, and a metabolism that you—through Onbu science—can learn to slow down or speed up.

At the top of your screen, you’ll see a variety of meters that gauge both villager and Onbu health. You’ll need to keep both afloat during your long journey through forest, mountain, desert, and sea, all of which present their own challenges and opportunities while the game slowly but steadily increases in difficulty as your run progresses.

Speaking of “run,” if you build a Hornblower Tower, you’ll be able to give Onbu direct commands to (for example) eat upon encountering healthy foods, run past the bad ones, sleep when he reaches a stretch of land not contaminated by poison spores, and travel in certain directions so as to both progress the plot and allow for your flying scavengers to get in range of explorable points of interest, some of which result in branching choices. Along the way, however, keep in mind that Onbu is his own moody beast with his own moody metabolism, and he may choose to outright ignore you if your trust level is too low. So, be sure to pet the big fellow every now and then and feed him a mushroom or, hell, even launch him a villager via catapult if he gets hungry, though beware the sacrificial cult that that may form doing that too often... (and if I didn’t like the game already, that alone might make it worth the recommendation).

THE VERDICT

Ultimately, The Wandering Village feels fresh to me in ways that recent city builders have not. Not to bully Frostpunk 2 and Synergy more than I already have, but these and titles like them ask players to do effectively the same mechanical thing in different climates, but said climates really only go in one direction—from not so extreme to extremely extreme. What fun it is, then, for your city to wander through a mysterious world full of multiple biomes, adapting to each ecosystem along the way, all while balancing finite starting resource between expansion and exploitation.

As for what's new in 1.0, TWV adds an endgame Challenge mode that allows players to add modifiers to their run (e.g., "Cloud of Despair" - Villager happiness is reduced each time Onbu poops.) There's also a sandbox mode where you can make Onbu invincible if you're more into the village than you are wandering.

Throw in some charming hand drawn art and a fun flute-heavy soundtrack that reminded me of the village music from Nier Automata, and I’m happy to give The Wandering Village’s 1.0 release a solid aggregate MEGA score of 3.42/5 (full scoring breakdown, from Plot to Sound, available in the video review).

Thanks for reading!

Steam Curator: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42044015/

TLDR: If you like city builders / city sims, fine management, building, quick decisions, significant replayability, breathtaking visuals and massive cute critters this game is absolutely for you and is worth the full price tag despite it often being on discount. Get it, it has a slight learning curve but its not difficult. One of those easy to learn - tricky to master types especially if you opt for higher difficulties. A good investment, one might say.

This is a fantastic and breathtaking game where the visuals, gameplay, and soundtrack are all deeply enjoyable. The gameplay has different difficulties and aspects to cater to all types, be them masochists (like me lol) or for more casual folks just here to enjoy the game at its purist.

As a Kickstarter backer who's gotten to both beta test and then see it come to fruition to what it is today, I find it so exciting that not only did the studio deliver on every bonus goal but even gone above and beyond. This game is a labor of love almost five years in development and the devs have really both listened to the community and made their affection for this game show. Its beautiful, and I wouldn't be surprised if there's some more large updates planned yet after this latest one. Honestly I need to put in more hours haha.

The Wandering Village features both city sim, management, and quick decision moments that, without spoiling too much, makes for really fun and nuanced games. The pathways are fully randomized and no two runs are the same, making this very replayable far past the initial story. Onbu's back upon which you build your city is randomized and always nuances how different you will build your city each time. Additionally, there are modifiers that can make your runs more difficult if you opt into them, and should you enjoy that there are even more modifiers to throw at yourself and will put your little village into deeper peril. 9/10

The art is breathtaking, taking heavy inspiration from Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki's films - with particular attention to Nausica or Castle in the Sky. As an artist who loves to look at other works, it's deeply enjoyable admiring all the different building designs, people, and Onbu. Our friend and protector. All the buildings have different variants so its never the same copy paste copy past you see in most sim games, which is deeply refreshing. All sprites and townsfolk have many variations as well, and even come with their own names in addition to their own little needs. 10/10

The music is to die for in my opinion. Deeply fulfilling. 11/10

The gameplay overall is quite enjoyable. It rarely feels stagnant and tends to keep you on your toes (in a good way). It can be tricky at times and sometimes you may fail, however thankfully in The Wandering Village, each death is a paving stone to understanding and avoiding peril better rather than a requirement. And the abilities you as a village chief have are fairly vast the more you do. Shoutout to our tiny R&D folks in our village, they will be your favorite friends. You can even make human sacrifices to feed your Onbu. Again, very fulfilling, though I would love it if my un-poisoned villagers would stop mingling in the blighted crops. You have eyes people, use em. 8/10

My biggest critique is that the management isn't as smooth as It could be. Especially when your people are in danger, it can be tricky to figure out what's happening and where at times. And then boom, spore breakout. It's not bad how it is currently, but I would really prefer for critically important or dangerous situations to pop up boldly than just the normal notification sound.

I also hope dearly they allow for more nuanced animal life or townlife. I would love for there to be small critters you can pick up along the way aside from friendly / unfriendly parasites. Or for there to be a bar-like location / other recreational spots aside from just decorations. Ones that villagers in their off time could interact with or use. I personally, and this isn't part of my diagnoses of the game just how I feel personally, think it would go well in this game - I always love an element of whimsy especially in games such as this where they would fit in seamlessly and make something to crack a smile over.

Overall, If you like the things I've stated so far - and actually read all of this - I would pick up the game, and its price is quite friendly all things considered, and even better on discount. Especially compared to Sim games with a $60 - $80 price tag that have perhaps half of the effort or overall effect (Looking at you Sims) or games with no replayablility.
9/10 I definitely recommend this.

So, get out there Chief, and make your Onbu the happiest one in the world and your village the most prosperous. I believe in you!

This one of my favorite city building games and I enjoy restarting over whenever there are updates. It is also a nice second monitor type game where I can play others while I have it off to the side too.