Wandersong

Wandersong is divided in seven acts -- most of these are excellent, some are not. The first four acts are great fun and lets you visit varied locations and meet the interesting characters there. While the overall plot is about a world-ending event, the problems the characters you meet have personal stakes and the game doesn't bite of more than it can chew. The three final acts change this. The fifth act, the longest in the game, is about a generation-spanning war between two neighbouring nations and how you convince the rulers to put aside their differences and make peace. At the time the game was written, this message would probably not have been as scrutinized. Now, after the full-scale war a certain European nation has started, the game's message about how warring nations should 'just make peace', feel like something you'd read in Chinese state media. It also doesn't help that this act lacks any new gameplay element and doesn't feature any likeable central character. The sixth chapter initially leaves you without your partner, the game's most likeable character, and is based on puzzles. Or rather a single puzzle, that you have to 'solve' again and again, by yourself. The final act works out in the exact way anyone would guess after seeing the gameplay and plot of a world ending disaster. But to the game credit, the framing is a bit different, and highlights how our hero was different from the antagonist in a nice, thematic way. If I had been riding the hype from the first four chapters, I would have probably have gives this game a higher rating. But with the final half of the game being head and shoulders worse both in narrative and gameplay, the game ends on a sour note, which means that the game's message of kindness and positivity comes of as something written by a twenty-something college kid that had their first life-shaking experience travelling to Paris. That's a shame.