Wandersong

one of the best indie games i have ever played, the whimsical style and osts gives me a nostalgic feeling. also
Lil B is The Bard Of All Time

This takes "I'd like to teach the world to sing" and makes a whole world out of it. It was a bit frustrating to get into because there is zero instruction and so there's a bit of a learning curve, but it's worth it. This game knows how to use color and sound to create whole stories even before the words are added, and there are plenty of characters to chat with if you're interested in in-game lore. (If you're not, this might not be your game; there's a *lot* of dialogue.)
I appreciate how this screws with the concept of what a "hero" is and celebrates "simple" joy, but it doesn't dig quite as far into some of that as I was expecting. This wasn't a revelation of a game, but I had a good time messing around with it and applaud the developers for the visual aspects.
(Note: I played on a keyboard with a numeric pad, which I think is necessary unless you rewrite the controls since the song notes are tied to the number keys. Even with the numeric pad, there were a handful of times I had to just go ham on the keys and that was....not great for my keyboard but not awful. This is well played on a keyboard but is obviously designed with a controller in mind.)

Good for those who want a great story but can't invest hours and hours into a game.

This game is one of those games where it actively changes your brain chemistry after playing it, I cannot recommend it enough, PLEASE play it if you haven't especially if you're doing it blind. The finale had me sobbing for like 10 minutes straight and it's a game that is both fun, an emotional bumpy ride, and beautifully written game that had me talking to every character several times over just to check what they had to say. This is probably one of my favorite games of all time at this point.

10/10.
Honestly, there is *nothing* more to say. You just need to play it. It is cute, quirky, silly, humorous, heartfelt, wholesome: *amazing*!


Okay fine, here's a little more detail! If you like stories like Undertale maybe to compare. Stories that really are just wholesome if you play and talk to everyone and try to help as you go on your adventure. Stories with silly dialogue that just can't help to actually make you laugh and doesn't seem forced or awful. Okay, some *can* be corny, but it suits the game greatly. It's all about that sort of humor in the best way really that I really think *anyone* would laugh or smile and enjoy.

Just be a Bard.
Be an adorable bean singing everywhere you go; even if it annoys a certain someone that you'll also just end up loving~ (you personally, not the Bard nor literally lol).
Connect and love the characters~. And love the little messages throughout the game as well.

Pros:

• Cute. Wholesome. Heartfelt, Adorable.- all the words in relation.
  
• Thought out and unique story fitting for it's style and gameplay~.
  
• Just be a happy little Bard!! Feel bad for the Bard personally as you play, because you love him, and support the Bard's want for adventure!
  
• Secrets to find that are not too hard or too easy.
  
• Art is quite simple, but colorful enough to fill the world. The characters are what brings it all more to life~. As well as story!
  
[*] Personal opinion: Achievements are actually clever and I think match the game's humor or style. (Play through at least once before looking up the hidden achieves for hunting~.)

Cons

really simple and beautiful game, absolutely worth picking up on sale

Simple and sweet, but never so much so that it crosses over into being annoying. This game has a lot of heart and a unique visual style- it ends up just being a really solid indie title to pick up and enjoy. There are semi-frequent small visual glitches and one scene I accidentally locked myself out of and progressed past, but overall I do recommend this game to anyone who doesn't mind a little bit of over-persistent optimism in their life. At times the character writing is so damn charming it just forces you to smile, which I imagine is the whole point. : )

This game is so so beautiful. The themes of the story - it really makes you feel alive. It's so inspiring. I fell in love with the characters over the course of the story.

Such a joy. Emotional, fun, unique storytelling and world building with a beautiful soundtrack. I am reminded of Super Paper Mario, which is one of my favorite games of all time, except I feel that this game has executed upon that vision and taken it even further.

Has the spirit of a 90s-00s Zelda game and the heart of games like Night in the Woods or Celeste, with a goofbally but sincere personality all its own. The story is masterfully delivered in a very creative way, and the gameplay always had something new to show- it never became dull or predictable. My only criticism is that the game can get pretty buggy or laggy sometimes. I recommend turning the auto-resolution off, otherwise some dialogue might become illegible, especially during scenes with a lot of animation going on at once. Other than that this game is extremely charming, and has an incredible story to tell. GO IN BLIND!!

An incredibly fun and engaging puzzle platformer with delightful characters and genuinely inventive music based platforming.

This game was so cute and lovely. The story and characters kept me engaged all the way to the end. This might just be one of my favorite games of all time now.

cutest game ever, full of great puzzles, songs and story! Very sad that I finished because I wanted the story to keep going!

One of the best games I've played, yes it has a decent amount of bugs and some pacing issues with the main plot but this game is filled with so much character. Each of the 150+ characters in the story are interesting and unique to each other. Plus this is the one of 3 games to make me cry

This game shocked me so many times highly recommend it's so filled with like every emotion possible

Beautiful game that hits hard and always pushes you forward. Highly recommend you go in blind.

words cannot describe how much i loved this game, a story about love and hope. give it a try! <3

The Little bard that could

absolutely gorgeous game, stunning and emotional storyline, and, the best part, You Can Pet The Dogs!!

Beautiful Game, Made Me Cry.

This game is just one of those stories that celebrates joy and tries very very hard to make the player smile. And let me tell you, it works. I haven't beat the game as yet, but it's obvious that the story has a lot to say on a lot of important themes. And you get to embrace bein silly and goofy as you play it!

Absolutely beautiful game. Wholesome, but can be dark and existential at times. The characters are endearing and the puzzles are relaxing but challenging enough for me to keep going.

Absolutely loved this game, it might not be a big game but was incredibly fun to play and I loved the story

Wandersong flew completely under my radar for a very long time. I don't remember how I heard of it but I did, and when I saw it on sale for $5 I figured why not. This is honestly one of my favourite games of the year so far. The start makes you feel like a disney princess, running around and singing and having the world react to it, and just being this joyous and whimsical guy. After the first act I was tearing up a little, because it was just so sweet. As I got further and further into the game, it was more and more emotional, and it was just a really beautiful experience. It has pretty fun gameplay, a wonderful balance of comedy and emotion, a good soundtrack, and really just an all around good experience.

If you're the kind of person to like a game for the experience, I definitely recommend picking this up, it'll be seriously worth it.

This game is very beautiful, I played it first in Gamepass all the way back in 2018, and bought on Steam soon after to replay it, but due to a save bug I had while sharing accounts with a friend the game got to 100% achievement with less than an hour of gameplay, but I still implore you to give this game a try, the story of Kiwi and Miriam has been stuck in my head all the way since 2018 and I hope that whoever reads it lets the characters live rent free in your head too <3

Wandersong is a hell of an game. A mix between the themes of Outer Wilds and Undertale, with a classic adventure story format. I got it at 5 dollars, but its defently worth the normal 20 it's asking. Sit down and just enjoy playing the game, talk to people and enjoy it.

It's worth $5, but it's not worth 10-12 hours. The platforming and music segments are very underwhelming, on top of the tedious fetch quests in each act. I'd rather not.

I was totally vibing with this game for first four hours or so. But the gameplay is so bloated! The devs really need someone, who will tell them when they need to stop. When you got that satisfying feeling when a level almost done, all the boring, children level puzzles got solved, but the level is going going going on!!! What`s the point? Even in the end, when we are in the process of saving the world, we need to do overseer`s tune mechanics twice!!!! WHY?

Not to mention lots of bugs and tons of pointless dialogues. If this game had a dialogue skip mechanic, it would be total thumbs up from me.

Also, I have to compliment the devs for all varieties of gameplay mechanics in this game. They tried to refresh the expirience, but alas, this isn`t going to work when you are tring to stretch the game this much

I loved every single second i spent in this game

there was a reference to homestuck the webcomic. very cool.

Played this game on switch and playing it again on switch and playing it a 3rd time on steam. Im addicted to this game it is such a masterpiece in narrative. Everything about this game is oozing with charm and left me on a rollercoaster of emotions. From beginning to end. It is one of my favorite games of all time. By far.

played through itch.io thats why i got cheevos but no playtime (thank you beastieball for being cheaper with wandersong included)

really cool game i love the concept also the bard is silly just a fun time overall

miriam and the bard should kiss!

This game is a wonderful hidden gem. I became way more attached to this silly little world than I had expected. Play it! You won't regret it!

The amount of depth and love that went into this short little indie game is astonishing. I stepped away from my PC sobbing tears of joy at how beautifully hopeful Wandersong is. I truly hope the creators know just how much this game impacted mine and others lives.

WAAAAAAAAADFSFASDASD 🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲😭😭😭😭😭

Local bard shows off the power of ridiculous optimism.

Some of the absolute best that twee indie game sensibilities have to offer, more mechanically eclectic and playful than a lot of games that are actually mechanically oriented can be, and generally just a game that instilled me with a sense of wonder like few others, Wandersong is an absolute joy through and through. There's an unmistakable kindness that feels core to the game feeling the way it does, and it's one that comes in many forms. The big thing is that above all else, it feels like a game where the most powerful force there is, is that of unwavering optimism and self-expression, something strong enough to disturb that natural order of the universe. What makes this feel especially important in Wandersong is with the way that the singing mechanic and most of the rhythm sections feel extremely janky and lacking in much that could be considered traditionally good in how they sound. I feel like this is one of the most meaningful elements of the game however, conveying how the act of artistic expression in itself is important and deeply beautiful, rather than only waiting until you think you're "good enough".

It feels very intentional as well, that the point is that The Bard in their complete commitment to their singing is able to get through so many situations despite not being super technically proficient. There's also a sense of comfort in a game that's got a world that is inherently kinder than it appears, in which even most seemingly towering threats are actually very reasonable and simply a tad misguided, which segues into the comparative hostility of the late stages of the game feel all the more oppressive. Fantastic character writing all across the board as well, playing very well into the "these characters just have one main trait that they embody to the fullest extent" with just enough moments of nuance with the main cast to have me adore them all.

The singing mechanic is a really cool part of the game as well for how many different ways it gets recontextualised, with each minuscule element that went into designing it having some big part in how you utilise it throughout the game. The cohesion that having this big central system brings makes the very playful and unique ways that each chapter progresses feel all the more interesting, evading the possibility of feeling weird and scattershot by everything being tied to this singing in some capacity. So many thoughtful touches going into the most minor of details further contribute to Wandersong feeling so lovingly handcrafted and fascinating to delve into the smallest of ideas, once you start realising things like Miriam's unique stuttering text crawl, or the way that being called by your real name is such a rare occurrence, everything starts feeling so cool to just, sit and think about for a second. A truly inspirational experience on many levels, this is what games are all about!

10/10

Silly bard, good game

A heartwarming game

singer wan save worl but "uhuhuh" say hero gir so witc is are attack and is song and boom and ok

I'mma be honest, the power of hope is really something people.
There are some glitches and softlocks, but beside that everything was amazing.
A 10 OUT OF 10.

I honestly thought i would reccomend this game. But this was too long, too easy, and not engaging enough for such a long gameplay. The graphics are definitely not my style. A lot of ppl reccomend it for the aesthetisc, but honestly, I don't like it, especially when colors don't match (but this is just matter of taste honestly). The bard's singing sounds not well, at first i thought my character is learning to sing and he will get better and better as the game progress, but no, he just AAHH OOO EEEE for the rest of the game and it gets so annoying. I got used to eventually, but it's disappoing that in the game where singing is the main mechanic, the singing doesnt sound like singing.
A lot of ppl recomend this game for the story and I'll tell you sth controversive rn.
I was reading Homestuck when I started this game. There is this moment in act 1 when you can find a girl reading book and if you really press on her, she will tell you that she's reading Homestuck (she will not say the title, but the reference is very obvious). From that moment i couldn't escape the feeling that the game is highly Homestuck inspired. Mask has strong Gamzee energy, i can't stop thinking that Miriam and Bard has such a Vriska and Tavros dynamic, the game has 7 acts and is about the world ending and act 7 is the shortest and come on one of the character late in the game wears godtier Seer of Light outfit and it's not even subtle. I facepalm so hard when i saw this and i couldnt take this character seriously bc they just look like one of the Rose Lalonde fanart. Since the moment I realised this game is just Homestuck fanfic, i wasn't able to enjoy the story.
But even ignoring this, the game is just too long. You usually just walk around and talk to lots of lots of ppl who have no connection to the story or your current goals. The moments, when platforming part of gameplay are good or at least interesting, are so short. Do not talk to npcs, do not look for secrets, do not look for achievements, do not look for answers. Basically, just do only what you are told to do, everything else is just waste of your time. And i played it for way too many hours, reading all those stupid dialogues, looking for sth interesting, but there is nothing. I have no idea why this game have so many useless npc to talk to. I usually enjoy a lot reading all the dialogues, but here it felt like waste of time bc most of them are just nothing. No lore, no jokes, no interesting subplots or little quests. 70% of NPC are just there for the sake of being there. And the ones that give you sth are not enough. Especially when their quests are so ridiculously simple and easy.
The main characters are cute and entertaining, but it doesn't really save the game for me. Honestly, i think i expected way too much from this game. I thought that maybe at least the ending would be good, but it was just easy little music game you have to play three times to win. You can't never lose or die, so there are no stakes at all. Honestly, i think the only challenging moments for me were the moments when my mouse stopped working and i had to play with touchpad. Oh and the game is also not really controllers friendly. I have a few and the only one that worked with this game had very unintuitive controlling.
There is so many to love in this game, but also even more nothingness. I read a lot of review before playing it and now i feel like im the only one not liking this game? Anyway, i took me 2 years to finish this game, because i got bored of it very easily or got stuck on sth very simple like unpleasant controlling or not very well made platforming. It wasn't the worst experience of my life, this game is not bad, i just think it's very disappointing and boring. If you think im wrong, I'm open to discussion. After all it's just my opinion.
Yeah, so i think the game is not worth your time. Go read Homestuck instead. Or play Pikuniku

I love this :)
theres a few wonky gameplay parts but its creative and fun :D
the story is awesome !!

I WILL FIGHT!... Peacefully :)

Audrey sucks. :)

In case you think this game is wonky you are totally right.
Those platformer parts are hugely annoying at times.

Apart of that: masterpiece.
You do not need to be good in rhythm games and will succeed here. Just be a bard.

Through Wandersong's use of immersion, well thought out characters, and its extremely touching, inspiring, and overall moving story, this game has proven by no doubt to earn a spot on my top tier list of games.

once you play it, you live it. and once you live it, you can't live without it.

From what I've played the game is very fun and challenging. The puzzles (for me) are hard, but not to hard that it takes me to long for it to get fustrating. All of the characters have their own plot line so it feels like everyone has their own lives away form the bard which I find very good, also the music is great even without the DLC. 10/10 game overall.

This game is awesome! The soundtrack is the bomb diggity and it is just so wholesome and omg, just play it