WARNING: THE FOLLOWING WILL CONTAIN MINOR SPOILERS FOR WANDERSONG
As a devout Sonic the Hedgehog fanboy, I’m no stranger to having my favourite games be mostly absent from end of the year “best of” lists. This year, however, I was deeply saddened to see my favourite game of 2018, Wandersong, be completely left to the wayside in “game of the year” discussions. It’s not particularly surprising when you think about it. It’s been kind of an incredible year for games, and it’s not hard to see how this cute little indie game, only available on PC and Nintendo Switch, may have gotten lost in the shuffle of colossal AAA games and hard-hitting indie titles that 2018 has had to offer.
Wandersong is a game about music. But more importantly it's about a Bard and a Witch, and the end of the World. In the beginning, this world was sung into existence by a being called Eya, and the time has come for Eya to sing a new song, which will destroy the world and create a new one in its place. Not happy about this turn of events, the Bard and the Witch set off on an adventure to learn all the parts of the “Earth Song,” which will hopefully convince Eya to not destroy this world.
Wandersong is also about staying positive in the face of… well, the end of everything. I’m a big sucker for positivity and for things that are endlessly joyous and looking for good, but the game never lets its positivity overwhelm. Game director Greg Lobanov said in an interview: “If everything was happy all the time, it would be a really empty experience, I think. I’m interested in making something that’s positive, but positive in an honest way.”
One of the things that surprised me the most about Wandersong was how simple it’s mechanics are and how often those mechanics are used for differing things. Like any other traditional 2D game, the left stick controls the character and the face buttons interact with the world; but the right stick allows you to sing. It’s like the Ocarina from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but unlike the Ocarina, which only serves a small function in the overall game, the singing in Wandersong is an integral, constantly evolving part of the gameplay. The game is split into seven acts, and each of them finds some new small way to fit this mechanic into a different shape.
While Wandersong consistently surprised with its mechanics, it’s story completely blew me away too. Okay, so maybe not it’s story specifically, so much as its characters. The writing is funny and powerful and deeply, deeply human. A really strong sequence later in the game centers on the Witch who has been tasked with aiding the Bard on his quest. Though Miriam spends most of the game cold and aloof, the Bard eventually stumbles upon her dancing all her troubles away in the back of a nightclub, the two of them finally opening up to each other about how scared they both are and how much they’ve gone through. It felt very real and honest in a way that caught me off guard. In a game about celebrating our differences through the power of music, I wasn’t quite expecting to be confronted with some very real memories of going to clubs with my friends at whatever o’clock at night, the loud music heightening our emotions so we end up crying and dancing and laughing and promising to always be friends for the rest of our lives.
These human emotions are expounded upon when the game introduces Audrey. Just as the Bard is on a quest to gather all the pieces of the Earth Song, Audrey is introduced as the actual quote-unquote “hero” of the story, tasked with killing the very beings the Bard needs to learn the song from. Y’see, Eya needs to sing her song to end the world and create a new one, and Audrey is the hero chosen to help this terrible event come to pass. The writing for Audrey is outstanding, as she happily picks up her role as “the chosen one” without question, as both the Bard and Miriam try desperately to tell her that maybe there’s another way, and as the Bard slowly begins to realize that despite being given this quest by the same being ushering Audery through her quest, no one (except maybe Miriam) actually believes he will be able to do it.
All of this culminates in an up-roaring powerful finale. I will say that perhaps the ending is a tad predictable, I saw it coming from pretty much the beginning of the game, but the journey the game takes to get there and the way that ending is masterfully orchestrated and executed left me absolutely awe-struck. I've loved music my whole life. I carry with me perhaps an almost naive, sentimental view that music is the one thing that could save us all (who knows where I got that ridiculous idea from) and to have Wandersong be a game almost fully about that idea while exploring these very real human emotions struck a chord (hah) with me in a very profound way.
Wandersong is an adorable, wonderful little indie game that is incredibly fun, inventive, hopeful, scary, and absolutely oozing with joy. It's the most fun I had with a game this year, and I want so desperately for it to not be forgotten among the more-talked about games of 2018.
Log in to comment