Wander Stars Review – Watch Your Words

Traveling Stars Review

Wander Stars is a turn-based anime-style RPG with a unique twist: your attacks are determined by the words you shout. If this Game “Fellow Traveler” already sounds very anime, trust us, you can always get more anime. It's a compliment. Wander Stars is a delightful treat for fans of nostalgic fighting anime and clever RPGs.

Ringo is an extremely energetic and spirited girl whose goal is to one day compete in the Kiai tournament. Then a wolfman named Wolf rides his jet bike onto a nearby beach and steals her phone keychain.

She chases after Wolfe, forgets to buy groceries, and runs into some pirates. By the end of the day, Wolfe's magic card has been stolen and the pair team up to get it back.

However, Ringo's motives are personal. Her missing brother has another piece of the map. And the pieces of the legendary Wanderstars map are always facing each other.

The game's narrative can move from jokes straight to emotional drama. I respect his ability to take himself seriously while never losing sight of his inherent absurdity. And his meta elements work surprisingly well.

Vocabulary action

Verbal combat in Wander Stars allows for a variety of strategies and settings. Different words give different effects to your movements. Some add elemental bonuses, while others increase damage. You can also use different strategies such as blocking or items.

You collect new words through events, shops and victories. Each word has a cooldown after use, but a super effective hit can give you SP, reducing the cooldown. You can save up SP for later or burn it all at once.

The game is divided into combat, Mario Party-style level exploration, and visual novel-style cutscenes. Sometimes it even features fully animated sequences, done in a retro anime style reminiscent of games like Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z.

During combat, you earn honor, which you spend at the end of the episode on new words and bonuses. There are ways to earn more honor, but to do so you will have to complete some self-imposed tasks.

Wander Stars encourages you to think about your words

Wanders Stars adds a fun new strategy element to its RPG combat: turning points. Much like a shonen anime character, Ringo can spare his opponents and earn their friendship. The trick is to defeat them without knocking them out. By completing this, Ringo will receive additional honor and a new power-up.

In boss battles, critical points are discarded in favor of a series of thresholds that change the boss's behavior. If you're careful, you can stun the boss or make yourself immune to all of his attacks.

However, the wordplay in Wander Stars involves a lot of math. The game does not always display the full damage that Ringo will deal on his next turn. If you're looking to avoid turning points and make friends, you'll have to do some math yourself. Sometimes I feel like I'm being punished for not doing well in math.

The game uses an episodic structure, where each level is quite independent, but the plot and mechanics are based on the previous ones. These episodes are quite long, especially if you study them closely. However, you can miss most battles if you are low on health or can't feel it.

Completing a level unlocks a version of the challenge mode. They present greater dangers and greater rewards. You can also choose a difficulty level at the beginning of the episode, which will identify your weaknesses in verbal communication. Removing all weaknesses incurs an Honor penalty, and adding additional weaknesses gives an Honor bonus.

Special extra fire strike

Playing Wander Stars feels like being immersed in a delightful retro anime for everyone. There is no voice acting, it's a shame. I'd love to hear Ringo scream dramatically with every new word the player chooses.

The character designs range from fun to extremely accurate, all the way back to the 90s and early 2000s shows that Wander Star is inspired by. The fight animations are stilted but charming, and the animated cutscenes are beautiful. The entire game is based on the visuals of retro shonen anime from the Dragon Ball Z era and before, and it's delightfully nostalgic.

The storytelling isn't the strongest, but it's interesting and delightfully corny. While the combat system has its flaws, collecting words and stringing them together is a lot of fun. If you are blocked, you can replay the episode with different words.

All in all, Wander Stars is a good time for RPG fans and anyone nostalgic for old fighting anime. I had fun with it and you probably will too.

***Steam code provided by publisher***