Apparently, actions speak louder than words. Though it may be hypocritical for me to say this as a writer; I completely agree. But what if there was a video game where your words were your actions ? And what if, cos why not, it was heavily inspired by old school 80s/90s anime’s that the developers obviously grew up watching reruns of? Y’know, the ones where characters spent a lot of time stood on open ground talking about fighting instead of actually fighting. Well then you’d have Paper Castle’s Wander Stars, and you should count yourself lucky, because this game is a delightful little gem.
Our hero Ringo (no, not the drummer) is a spunky 14 year old aspiring Kai fighter, with giant legs and an indomitable spirit (and temper). She’s essentially just young Goku, gender swapped and minus the monkey tail, and the art style only reminds you of this. Orphaned at a young age due to a flood on her island, she and her older brother were taken in by an incredibly muscular older woman they refer to as their grandma, who trains them in Kai Fighting, the combat of choice in this universe. However, the older brother leaves home (and the planet) upon turning 18 and is never seen again. Years later, a spaceship crash lands on their island, and Kai meets its pilot, an anthropomorphic wolf brilliantly named Wolfe. He is hunting down pieces of the Wonderstar map, one of which Ringo just happens to possess; likewise with her lost brother. Chased down by slightly inept space pirates (there’s a throwback), Ringo leaves the planet to join Wolfe in his quest for the map shards, in the hope of reuniting with her sibling.
Tropey of course, but I do love my tropes, especially when they’re played with the right amount of tongue in cheek, and this game perfectly manages to balance its wacky humour with genuine character moments. Ringo’s curiosity contrasts with her stubbornness in a way that never grates, an easy trap to fall in with talkative child characters. She plays well off of Wolfe, a canine Han Solo with a heavily implied romantic past with one of the pirates pursuing them. The NPC’s, varying species of the galaxy with outlandish designs, may not offer deep conversations or side quests, but they do offer opportunities for Ringo and Wolfe to argue; nice light entertainment. In episode 4 you meet Camela, a young witch in training, who dumps a bit of dorky optimism into the mix. It all falls into a story that isn’t particularly intense or unique, but has a strong emotional heart. Oh, and where does the Wanderstar map actually lead to? The characters don’t even know for most of the game.
As mentioned above, the game’s art style emulates the look of classic anime’s, mainly OG Dragonball, with some animated segments for key story moments absolutely nailing the look. There’s even an audio setting that muffles the sound and replaces the sound effects with the wooshes and heavy bass of the shows that inspired it; I highly recommend turning this on and I even wish there was a similar CRT visual filter. My only complaint about the presentation here is the lack of fully animated segments; dialogue is portrayed through a visual novel style mix of characters striking poses on a static background, and you’ll see a lot of these repeated, with some feeling out of place for the aesthetic they’re going for. There’s also zero voice acting, minus character grunts during combat, perhaps a shame but not entirely necessary; you can hear these characters well enough through the written word.
Speaking of the written word, the game’s turn based combat revolves around you selecting them to build up attacks. Starting with a central act command, you can then select modifiers to power it up and then top it off with an elemental effect if you feel like it. A simple kick can become an Extra Super Special Fire Kick (anyone remember that show?) and rank up your damage output alongside a negative status effect. It’s very typical turn based RPG stuff, but it also kinda begs the question; why use words when they’re all just the usual physical combat abilities? There’s no way of actually talking to characters in combat, using your words to convince, charm or negotiate. True, Undertale did this a decade ago almost pitch perfectly and yes, there is a mechanic where beaten up enemies will surrender and you can choose to end the encounter peacefully. Am I asking too much here and projecting my own expectations unfairly onto it? Perhaps yes, because at the end of the day, the combat is still engaging and surprisingly satisfying.
You explore the land via a board game map screen, moving space to space and encountering your usual NPC’s, combat encounters and ships. It’s rudimentary but perfectly functional, and actually presents you with a fair amount of optional routes and rewards. A random encounter may be a wishing well, and you are given the choice to peer down and fall into, losing HP but finding some cash at the bottom. For my favourite thing about this game is the pacing, the game is broken into segments labelled as Episodes, and they follow the typical 3 Act structure of an anime episode, ending with a giant To Be Continued banner. If you breeze through the quickest routes, an episode can take less than an hour and there’s a nice round 10 here, subverting the anime and JRPG trope of going on and on.
Wander Stars is a lovely little JRPG that never overstays its welcome, with a cute, charming cast and a fun but basic combat system. Broken down into parts, it’s nothing special, but as a complete package it might just be one of my favourite gaming experiences of this year. And keep in mind; I am not an anime fan and have never seen an episode of Dragonball, so if you are then this is an even bigger no brainer, especially at just £21 on Steam. Like its own protagonist, Wander Stars is short, punchy and sweet.
