I’ve always been a big fan of building sims where you get to watch the city you’re building grow, its population fluctuates, and it faces various challenges. That’s why I got interested in the original The Wandering Village right after it was announced. You can read how it is played in our gameplay impressions.
- Platform: PC (verified version)
- Publication date: September 14, 2022 (Early Access)
- Developer: Studio “Stray Deer”
- Publisher: Studio Stray Fawn, WhisperGames
- Genre: Building strategy
- Czech localization: Not
- Multiplayer: Not
- Price: 22 euros (Steam)
giant savior
The world of The Wandering Village is an unforgiving place, the surface of which is teeming with poisonous fumes that kill all life. In the beginning, almost even a group of survivors from your small village counts. However, the gigantic creature Onbu then appears on the scene, taking all the creatures on its imposing back and offering them a temporary home on their way to a new and, above all, better life. The beginning is similar to other games with a similar setup. In short, there are a lot of people out there waiting for you to put your life on the line.
You need to think about the future from the very beginning. Build small huts for survivors, farms to produce food, and then start clearing the Onbu Ridge, where trees, rocks, and bushes full of food grow like a giant sea turtle’s shell. The top priority is to provide for the people, because they need a stable place to rest, food to satisfy their hunger, and a doctor to protect them from the effects of toxicosis. This is because sooner or later he will end up on the body of a still walking titan anyway. After that, it’s up to you to decide if you can deal with her, or if she will neutralize you.
Water is not that important to your people. Well, at least in the sense that he would have to consume it in order to survive. However, in The Wandering Village, you need it for a number of other things, because with it you grow vegetables or herbs needed to cure deadly diseases. In addition, there is nothing to count on its supply. This is determined primarily by where Onbu walks. In deserts, for example, not a single drop will fall on you, so you will have to rely entirely on the technologies that you get during the game. Your salvation will be, for example, cacti, which should be a reservoir of water in case of bad weather. I really like the development here, I’m already looking forward to the creators adding more mechanics and buildings.
Build Relationships or Die
At first glance, The Wandering Village looks like a traditional building sim in every way. However, it does have one element that sets it apart from the competition. This aspect is the Onbu, the being ready to carry humanity on its back. It is not just a passive carrier. This is a thinking creature that you have to take care of during the game and monitor his mood. The population even has the opportunity to talk to him and thus determine the pace at which he moves, or when he should rest from the fatigue that weighs on him during the march.
In order for Onbu to obey the villagers, it is necessary to take good care of him and build some kind of relationship with him. Because if you ignore his needs or even overload him, then after a while he will begin to ignore you, which can take revenge on you, for example, when he walks through the desert at a slow pace, while your people suffer due to the lack of a stable source of water . Interestingly, when he loses faith in the villagers, he even ignores their attempts to help him, which is why he arbitrarily lies down in poisonous mushrooms and begins to slowly succumb to the poison that he is already spreading.
The idea of the necessary collaboration with Onbu is one of the cornerstones of The Wandering Village. While elsewhere you make a stable choice, here it is, but not as important as how much you cooperate with the giant that carries you on its back. To survive, it is important to achieve a certain symbiosis, because if you refuse to try to live with a titan, this can automatically mean for you a shameful death in the wastelands. You have no chance in them without your carrier.
Is there somewhere to move?
The Wandering Village has just entered Early Access, so this is basically the start of the journey. It’s already a decent building sim with its own strengths. The development of the village is interesting, the landscape is never the same, so boredom does not come even after the hundredth attempt to pass it. In addition, the most important element is some form of relationship building with the giant on whose back you are carried.
I didn’t encounter any bugs while playing The Wandering Village. The main problem is probably the size of the building space, the smaller scale of the buildings, and the associated element of stereotype. However, the creators want to fix this issue during early access. If the authors manage to realize all their dreams, we can count on the perfect construction, which is rarely seen.
Source :Indian TV
