The Wandering Village

City-building games have taken many forms over the years; from the industrial revolution of Anno 1800 to the encroaching blight of Against the Storm, it is clear that bold ideas can really help a game stand out among its peers. Much has been done in this field over time to spice up the formula, but The Wandering Village finally poses one of the most important questions of a generation: can I take my pet village for a walk? 

Settling on the hide of Onbu – an enormous, flat-backed creature best described as a huggable dinosaur that roams a poisoned land – your nomadic people begin crafting a settlement using the resources conveniently growing on the great creature’s back to produce the usual resources these games demand: food, water and building supplies.

The general gameplay loop of The Wandering Village isn’t particularly taxing in the early stages, with Onbu wandering aimlessly as you create tents, set up resource channels and begin growing your research capabilities, but over time new factors are introduced that will test your ability to adapt – don’t expect anything akin to the gruelling world of Frostpunk with these decisions, but know that the life and happiness of both your nomads and Onbu rests on your choices.

On the subject of Onbu, where the game itself employs a fairly standard loop of resource mining, building and improving, it is the way in which you interact with Onbu and the world they roam that makes the game stand out among its peers; the idea of a moving settlement isn’t a new one by any stretch, with games such as Airborne Kingdom and even the 2002 classic Project Nomads (remake it, you cowards!) employing this idea in their own unique way, but where The Wandering Village differs greatly is in your relationship with the very creature your survival hinges on.

Over time you will develop tools and structures that allow you to communicate with Onbu, urging it to rest, run and eat as necessary, but as players will soon discover, just because you shout loud enough doesn’t mean they need to listen. As you progress, your ability to communicate and command Onbu becomes a major factor in your playthrough; although force may be an option to provoke a certain action, the game also stresses the importance of balancing discipline and trust – you certainly don’t want to anger the creature carrying you on their back, or you might be swiftly ejected!

There is a constant focus on symbiosis as you proceed through the game; much as the Egyptian Plover flies into the mouth of a crocodile to clean its teeth and enjoy a free meal, your nomads need to care for Onbu for the sake of their own survival if they stand any chance of making it through the poisoned world. This sense of peril will lead you to make tough decisions that otherwise wouldn’t feel as emotional in a nameless world.

As well as an incredibly strong gameplay loop, premise and story, the game excels in its design – evoking a 2D-on-3D feel akin to Heavens Vault, Paper Mario and other games inspired by it, such as Ruffy and the Riverside. Each nomad is beautifully rendered as well as being simple in their design, standing out from the vividly rendered village and giving the world a sense of motion.

There is very little disparity in design elements, with buildings and environment all feeling like a part of the world built from the resources available – raggedy tents blowing in the wind, the thatch and wood of the Hornblower used to give commands to Onbu, the insect-like structure of the pest control building – all of which are given a brushed feel as though the world were painted in gouache – even 3D models retain this painted feel, with the wood and stone of Onbu being rendered in bold, striking lines.

Even the music with its ethereal, almost natural tone helps frame this oddly cosy world in a way that feels calming – a fact even early access players appreciated, with loops of background music from The Wandering Village available on YouTube as early as two years prior to the version 1.0 release. Paired with impeccable sound design, each tired groan and roar of Onbu as they move carefully through the world or kneel to rest or even just the bustle of your village helps immerse players excellently.

The game does a spectacular job of introducing new elements in a fair and well-telegraphed manner, most notably in how research for related buildings requires a resource from something similar; water towers need water as a resource, mycologists need mushrooms and so forth. This creates a much more meaningful sense of progression, with each new function feeling like an extension of the last, instead of something completely unrelated.

Sadly one of the biggest issues the game faces comes in its pacing, with resource collection taking a fairly long time, especially in the earlier stages of the game; this isn’t as impactful as you progress, with more time taken up by managing Onbu’s needs and deciding how to apply and set up your resource chains, but when you have no choice but to set your speed to 4x while your limited number of nomads diligently chop down trees, it can be a bore. Thankfully The Wandering Village combats this with infrequent story beats, offering you the chance to divert some resources to the pursuit of knowledge (or more aptly, the pursuit of more dialogue). If this isn’t enough to sway players, the game also offers a more merciless difficulty in which the challenges are greater and resources even more vital.

There’s something special about The Wandering Village; it manages to even the scales between so many extremes we tend to see in this genre – it is charmingly cosy but still brings plenty of threat and peril to challenge the player, it has deep complexities in its systems but in a way that is streamlined without becoming simple, and it isn’t a slog by any stretch but also doesn’t rush the player into rash decisions.

As Tolkien once said, “All who wander are not lost,” though admittedly he never had to tackle a fickle Onbu into turning the right way at a crossroads. Even so, the adage holds true, with players able to enjoy a unique journey in a frankly unmissable experience for city-building fans. Also yes, you can pet the Onbu.