Wanderlust Travel Stories
- September 26, 2019
- Different Tales
- 4h median play time
Get on Steam"Wanderlust Travel Stories" is an interactive collection of playable novels, where you step into the shoes of strangers sharing their travel tales in a remote island bar. Inspired by real events and places, your choices determine the course of each journey, offering unique perspectives from various individuals. It's a literary gaming experience for those seeking something different, with four long stories and five short ones, each providing distinct playstyles.
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Mac OS
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Reviews
- Wanderlust: Travel Stories offers beautifully written narratives that evoke strong emotions and provide a sense of connection to the characters and their journeys.
- The game features stunning photography and a relaxing soundtrack that enhance the immersive experience of traveling through different cultures and locations.
- Players appreciate the variety of stories and the thoughtful exploration of themes related to travel, personal growth, and the complexities of human experiences.
- Many players feel that the choices in the game lack significant impact, making the experience feel more like reading a book than playing a game.
- Some stories are criticized for being too short or lacking depth, leading to a feeling of dissatisfaction and a desire for more substantial content.
- The pacing can be slow, with some players finding certain sections tedious or filled with filler dialogue that detracts from the overall enjoyment.
- story70 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 77 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The game's story aspect is a mixed bag, featuring a collection of travel narratives that vary in engagement and length, with some players finding them amusing while others criticize their pacing and lack of meaningful choices. While certain stories, like those set in Thailand and Antarctica, are praised for their immersive qualities and emotional depth, others feel clichéd or overly scripted, leading to a sense of monotony. Overall, the storytelling is described as well-written and enriched by beautiful visuals, but it often lacks the dynamism and interactivity that players desire.
“The game is a casual text-based travel story game.”
“I really love how interactive it is and how much of an impact your choices have on the story.”
“Wanderlust is a storytelling experience.”
“My only hesitation is that all of the stories are by folks in the West (Europe and North America) traveling to other parts of the world, and despite the game being somewhat self-aware of the privileges and ways in which travelers from these spaces behave in other parts of the world, there were some moments that I was annoyed by the storytellers for their ignorance and behavior.”
“All the features that make you feel like you're in control of the story, options for different routes, attires, spending choices become either completely written out, or so strictly scripted there's barely any room for choices that matter in future stories.”
“The pacing suffers as a result of this bizarre lack of focus in the gameplay and storytelling.”
- music16 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players finding it dull and generic, while others praise it as beautiful and immersive, enhancing the overall experience. Many highlight the soundtrack's ability to match the mood of different scenes, creating a relaxing atmosphere that complements the visuals and storytelling. Overall, the combination of evocative music and photography contributes significantly to the game's immersive quality.
“Finally, the soundtrack is simply the best I've heard in a long time.”
“With relaxing music and beautiful photographs, you'll travel the world from behind the screen.”
“There’s a lot of different music in the game, and what’s playing often changes to match a particular scene, which helps set the mood.”
“The music is dull and the very few photos included look generic.”
“They're accompanied by a bit of music and the occasional stock photograph of something vaguely related to the story.”
“On the surface it's underwhelming: some text, some photos, music.”
- gameplay13 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 54 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The gameplay is generally enjoyable but suffers from pacing issues, particularly during slow segments that can lead to boredom, as players often find themselves waiting for events to unfold without engaging activities. While it incorporates elements like stamina and happiness that affect the narrative, the choices made feel limited and lack significant impact, making the experience more akin to a choose-your-own-adventure story than a traditional game. Despite these drawbacks, the integration of thematic music and real photos enhances the immersive storytelling aspect, making it a compelling interactive novel overall.
“Imagination is a really powerful tool, and wanderlust can really open it up - with real photos in the background, thematic music playing alongside the gameplay.”
“Both the stories and broader narrative are interesting, and it is a strong interactive novel; however, there are additional gameplay elements and mechanics integrated with just enough subtlety.”
“It's worth the money for the adventures and tales you'll be a part of, but the pacing and focus of this game sabotages any attempt at gameplay it tries to bring to you, the player.”
“It's worth the money for the adventures and tales you'll be a part of... but... the pacing and focus of this game sabotages any attempt at gameplay it tries to bring to you, the player.”
“The pacing suffers as a result of this bizarre lack of focus in the gameplay and storytelling.”
“It's not fantastic, or experimental gameplay... the choices you make do not matter in the long run.”
- emotional11 mentions
- 91 % positive mentions
- -18 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is mixed; while it offers touching and socially relevant stories that can evoke feelings of warmth and nostalgia, many players feel a lack of deep emotional connection due to the brevity of the narratives and limited character development. Although some moments may elicit genuine reactions, the overall impact is often overshadowed by a sense of detachment from the characters and their stories.
“You are simply there to see a story unfold and to react emotionally according to how you actually would have felt in their shoes.”
“This game is so heart-warming it's like wrapping yourself up in a blanket and sitting outside on your porch, looking at the clouds and the setting sun.”
“Wanderlust travel stories helps you to relax, live through some amazing stories, even shed a tear, and laugh.”
“The game tries to evoke emotions, but it often feels forced and contrived.”
“I found the emotional moments to be shallow and lacking genuine impact.”
“Despite its attempts at storytelling, the emotional depth is disappointingly absent.”
- graphics5 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 40 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are described as a blend of a simple world map and photographs that enhance the storytelling experience, creating an immersive journey despite their basic nature. While the visuals may not be award-winning, they feature a calming art style that complements the narrative, appealing particularly to those who appreciate a literary approach to exploration.
“The way its visuals tie in with its writing is weirdly immersive, and it felt as if I was on a journey despite being what is essentially a slideshow.”
“Calming and nice art style.”
“If you like to read, ideally National Geographic, and you're interested in the human aspect of the world, be it center stage or just as an undercurrent of a flowing tale, Wanderlust is for you.”
“Graphical display/layout: Look, it's not going to win any graphics awards as it is a combination of a decent world map with a moving icon on it showing your travel (and sometimes latitude and longitude) and the rest of the time showing photographs of pertinent areas related to your travels.”
“Graphical display/layout: Look, it's not going to win any graphics awards as it is a combination of a decent world map with a moving icon on it showing your travel (and sometimes latitude and longitude) and the rest of the time showing photographs of pertinent areas related to your travels.”
- humor3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by haunting yet hilarious narratives that blend poetic elements with well-timed comedic moments. Players appreciate the empathetic pacing and the clever choices in storyline that enhance the overall comedic experience.
“Haunting, hilarious stories from the far corners of the globe (and Europe).”
“Occasionally poetic, often humorous, well-paced for an empathetic reader.”
“A good journey with a funny choice of storyline.”
- replayability3 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is mixed; while the Thailand story offers significant replay value with distinct narratives based on player choices, other aspects of the game lack depth and overall replayability, leading some players to feel it doesn't warrant multiple playthroughs.
“My favorite was the Thailand story, which is the longest and has great replayability -- you'll get two completely different narratives depending on whether you choose to explore the northern or southern part of the country, so you can play it twice with almost no overlap in content.”
“It has clear influences from Inkle's 80 Days, but boasts neither the level of depth, replayability, or writing quality to make it worthwhile.”
“Getting this out of the way first: this is not a long game, and I'm not convinced it has a huge amount of replay value.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious and often unengaging, with long stretches of inactivity filled with uninteresting dialogue and a lack of meaningful interaction. While some grinding is justified for story immersion, it frequently leads to boredom as players are left waiting for events to unfold without any engaging content to occupy their time.
“It tediously requires your input every step, oftentimes with barely anything happening but uninteresting filler dialogues and banter. The provided photos to depict the scenes are too focused on subjects like the local population and wildlife. I had to search for photos of churches in Africa that are similar to Notre Dame in Paris and Japanese plane wrecks in the Pacific Islands to know about the place better, even when they were the major landmarks of the area I was currently visiting in the game, as explained by texts.”
“While the gameplay is overall quite enjoyable, there are times when it drags on and on. This is typically done for story reasons (drifting around the Antarctic on a sailing yacht via wind and wave is going to be pretty tedious and slow), but that doesn't make it any less disagreeable from a gameplay enjoyment perspective. It's no fun waiting for something (anything!) to happen in a story while a little cursor shaped like a sailboat drifts lazily around a map, and you can do nothing to speed it up. There's nothing to do—no slideshow of pictures, no narration, no story choices, nada—to alleviate the mind-numbing boredom.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Reviewers suggest that the monetization strategy may rely heavily on advertisements, with some finding the promotional clips more engaging than the actual gameplay.
“The clips in the advertising of the game are probably the most interesting parts of the game.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere is highly praised, attributed to the effective combination of writing, visuals, and soundtrack, creating an immersive experience.
“The atmosphere is spot on, thanks to the writing, visuals, and soundtrack.”
“The immersive atmosphere draws you in and makes you feel part of the world.”
“Every detail contributes to a captivating atmosphere that keeps you engaged.”
