Wander Stars strikes me as the sort of game that is something of a passion project. You can see Paper Castle Games’ inspirations. The developer’s heart is on their sleeves. It’s a love letter to so many shonen series in so many ways. While it is charming, it unfortunately falters in some ways that keep it from flowing as well as the anime series the team obviously admires.
Ringo wants to be a Kiai Master. Think of it like getting to be the strongest martial artist in the universe. She’s determined to train and become the best, as well as find out what happened to her missing brother Nashi. When running an errand for her grandma Anzu, she gets that chance. A mysterious individual named Wolfe came in search of pieces of the Wanderstar map, and it turns out part of it is in the charm Anzu gave Ringo. After learning multiple people are in search of all the parts, Ringo joins Wolfe on a quest to find the missing pieces, her brother, and her place in tournaments to show her strength as a master.
Simply put, Wander Stars is very Dragon Ball-coded. Characters named after kinds of food. Searching for relics. Martial arts. Energy. A major focus on calling out attacks. A little bit of space travel. Even the Akira Toriyama influence in the main character designs and 90s anime direction come through. The aesthetic is used quite well, though I did find some of the more general enemies looked boring compared to major allies and enemies.
While Wander Stars is an anime-style, turn-based RPG with RPG mechanics at its core, it plays more like a visual novel in some ways. The story is set up in an episodic format, with each of the ten featuring Ringo going around to circles on maps in each location to advance the story. Icons let you know if there will be things like interactions with NPCs, opportunities to get items, and battles along the way, and there tends to be at least two “final” option spots in most locations to determine which one of two possible “rewards” you get for completing the map. Getting to different spots might mean items, new words for battles, or Pep Up perks.
Said battles work differently than you might expect as you aren’t selecting set attack or skill options. As a Kiai Master, Ringo attacks with words, and the phrases you cobble together determine attacks. So to add an element, you would need to include the mention of it like “Electric,” “Fire,” or “Light.” Action words can involve attacking (“Kick,” “Punch,” or “Smash”) or more supportive assertions (“Block” or “Item”). Adjectives (“Excellent,” “Fast,” or “Special”) can enhance and modify actions to change their effects. Naturally, you also are limited in how many words you can equip at one time. If you don’t completely knock someone out and instead make them submit, you can also get bonus rewards like the Pep Ups as a passive boost. It’s inventive and calls to mind all those shonen anime series with characters constantly naming and screaming out their attacks.
I do think the fights can get a little tedious. After getting certain words around the halfway point, it can feel like there are some gamebreaking combinations. But before you get to that, the pace can be slow. Selecting words, picking out ones that can be used and aren’t on cooldown, and working out combos, is a lot. When you get words selected, you need to press a button to execute that attack, then press an additional one to end the turn. Sometimes in episodes after the first one, I had issues with equipping and removing words for an attack when rearranging my moves, which could bog things down too.
The execution of the save system sometimes got in the way of my sessions as well. It only saves once you enter a new map. You can’t take a pause in the midst of an area. Considering these locations can involve multiple long battles, not to mention a lot of time can be needed to get through if you want to visit every point on the road.
What’s even worse than the awkward pacing in battles and save system are the bugs. I actually waited to write this review to see if a few patches would help. There was still an instance in which it softlocked when I was in the pause menu, but I can’t seem to trigger that anymore. However, it does seem like an issue I experienced with a first episode boss softlocking the game is gone for good. And since it does only save when you first enter a map, you might need to replay quite a bit to catch up. You also can’t skip story scenes, so if a softlock issue does come up, you need to see everything again.
Wander Stars is interesting and tells a Dragon Ball type of tale, especially considering its novel combat system that uses words to construct every action. The aesthetics are fantastic. It’s clearly a labor of love and tribute to shonen series. The issue is there are some bugs that can hamper the experience, especially if it softlocks and you find yourself losing progress due to it only automatically saving at the outset of every map. A few patches should help things along and I think it is neat, but I do think the execution and bugs might keep it from being for everyone. I recommend checking out the demo first.
Wander Stars is available for the Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.
Wander Stars
Wander Stars is interesting and tells a Dragon Ball type of tale, especially considering its novel combat system that uses words to construct every action.