The Wandering Village (PS5) | REVIEW | Creature Based City-Building

Stray Fawn Studio, a Swiss indie developer known for creative simulation games, teams up with publisher WhisperGames to deliver The Wandering Village, a unique city-building experience on the PS5. Set in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by toxic spores, the game follows a group of survivors who establish a settlement on the back of a massive, wandering creature called Onbu. The story unfolds subtly through environmental storytelling and light interactions, focusing on the survivors’ struggle to coexist with Onbu while navigating a poisoned landscape.

The Mechanics ...

The gameplay mechanics in The Wandering Village blend traditional city-building with survival elements, requiring players to micro-manage resources like wood, stone, and food while adapting to Onbu’s movements through diverse biomes. You’ll construct buildings, assign workers, and unlock technologies via a research tree, all while balancing the needs of your villagers with Onbu’s health and trust. The creature’s unpredictable behavior, including sometimes ignoring commands to rest or avoid toxic area adds a layer of challenge, forcing strategic adjustments to maintain a symbiotic relationship.

The Gameplay ... The gameplay loop, in general, involves gathering resources, optimizing production chains, and responding to biome-specific challenges, like droughts or spore outbreaks, which keep you on your toes. However, the lack of varied objectives or a robust endgame can make long-term play feel a little lacking, especially for genre veterans seeking deeper complexity.

At the start of your playthrough you can select from one of three difficulty settings, each pertaining to experience. There's Tutorial, Normal, and Hard. After choosing the difficulty you'll choose one of three modes to play in. There's the Story mode which has character interactions, the Challenge mode which adds modifiers that will test your survival skills, and lastly Sandbox mode in which you can experience the gameplay in the most casual way that you desire by changing settings tied to both the Onbu, and the villagers.

Each mode brings with it customizable options, and a custom tailored experience that is gamer focused. Adding or removing challenges depending upon mode choice while showcasing the mechanics if you opt for the story playthrough with hands-on tutorials. As you progress on a day to night cycle tending to the villagers, village, and the Onbu you will need to micro-manage resources, and assign newcomers to building and management tasks as you use the research building to open up new crafting and job options. Maintaining a healthy biome amidst environmental threats is part and partial of the gameplay loop, and keeping the Onbu happy part of that.

The Presentation ... Visually, The Wandering Village shines with a charming, hand-drawn art style inspired by Studio Ghibli, featuring vibrant 2.5D landscapes and detailed animations of villagers and Onbu. The creature’s lumbering movements and expressive design make it a standout, though the inability to rotate the camera can hinder building precision. The soundtrack, with its soothing flutes, tribal chants, and ambient melodies, perfectly complements the game’s reflective tone, enhancing the immersive atmosphere.

The Verdict ... For replay value, the game offers sandbox and challenge modes with customizable difficulty, providing some incentive to experiment with new strategies. However, the limited depth of mechanics and narrative may not sustain multiple playthroughs for all players. The Wandering Village, despite it's slight shortcomings, is worth a purchase for fans of cozy city-builders or those intrigued by its unique premise. Its charm, innovative setting, and polished presentation make it a delightful, if not endlessly replayable, experience on the PS5.