The Wandering Village Reviews

Hello! I hope everyone is doing well. So far, The Wandering Village has been an absolute blast. I’ve really enjoyed the story, the game mechanics, and the progressive difficulty — it strikes a great balance between peaceful moments and stressful decisions based on in-game systems. However, I’ve hit a major frustration point. At one stage, the game presents you with a mission to feed citizens to Onbu. If you choose to do so, you unknowingly trigger the development of a cult, which later forces you to sacrifice a villager every 2–3 days. There is no clear warning that this will be a long-term consequence, and once it starts, there’s no obvious way to stop it. I understand the design intention and the challenge it introduces — but it becomes extremely frustrating and repetitive. After investing 14.2 hours into the game, I feel like my enjoyment has been completely derailed by constant, unavoidable sacrifices. It’s excessive, immersion-breaking, and ultimately discouraging. Please consider adding: A warning or clearer explanation about the long-term impact of feeding Onbu citizens. A way to reverse or manage the cult system once triggered. More player agency to opt out of extreme mechanics like this. Otherwise, it’s a fantastic game with huge potential — but right now, this mechanic genuinely ruins the experience for me.

I fell in love very quickly with The Wandering Village, but I waited to write a review until I was sure that the gameplay remained interesting even after the initial novelty wore off. It should be noted that I am not generally a fan of city-builders as I find that the gameplay becomes tedious, complicated, or done without a real end objective in mind. I gave The Wandering Village a try because I loved the look and premise, and because I greatly enjoy survival games. Indeed, this game leans into the survival elements in a way that keep the city-building engaging and resource management feeling impactful. The city-building itself is not so complex as to be overwhelming, but the cost for research and construction can be punishing if you are not careful in your planning. Management of the village largely comes down to laying down a reasonably efficient layout of buildings, carefully assigning workers to tasks based on need, as well as determining what resources are required to survive the oncoming challenges. The different biomes you encounter as the (unreasonably adorable) Onbu moves drastically change what resources you can obtain and need to survive. In this way, there is always a sense of a careful balancing act whilst on a timer in having to maintain both the needs of the village as well as Onbu. At first, I was worried that the game would become dull or tedious as the village grew, and while there are certainly still some warts regarding efficiently managing workers and resources, I never felt like I had to put the game on fast-forward to keep things engaging. This was a strong mark in the game's favor over similar city-builders I've tried. My first playthrough focused on getting through the new story mode. The story was pleasantly solid in both building up the history of the world while also being integrated almost seamlessly into the regular gameplay. The objectives given throughout the story act as ways to introduce the player into new elements of the game, as well as encouraging you to make potentially difficult choices. The most obvious and distinguishing system in the game is your maintenance of your Onbu's health, exhaustion, hunger, and trust. Onbu's trust in you serves as a sort of currency that you can choose to sacrifice for resource advantages. However, losing too much trust can be risky since angering Onbu can result in very dangerous situations, (as well as the guilt that comes with exploiting a cute and friendly creature). I never felt too pressured to hurt Onbu in my first playthrough, as playing on Normal difficulty was not too threatening even with suboptimal play. Now, as I am beginning to play on Hard with the various difficulty modifiers, I can see how these choices can become more important, and the trade-offs become more necessary. On Normal and Easy difficulties you can rest assured knowing that treating Onbu very well is not punished. Overall, I would strongly recommend the game to people who find the style appealing; it is a remarkably charming game to look at and to listen to. Furthermore, it is a great game to relax with on a lower difficulty. And for those like me who want more of a survival challenge, where your ability to plan and min-max is tested, the difficulty modifiers seem to offer that in spades while still maintaining a level of relaxing fun. The Wandering Village isn't a perfect game, but it has a lot to offer a wide variety of players. As for myself, it has succeeded in charming me far beyond what many other games have managed to do, and for that alone I would recommend it.

Underlying gameplay is fun, but 1.0 is a constant exercise in micromanagement and the UI is not helpful here. You can't queue anything or set resource limits so you'll spend most of your time clicking across your Onbu tweaking worker allocation. All growing facilities(farms, shrooms, etc) grow a lot more crop than workers there can harvest. Which means either finding how much each facility can make, then making more of them or habitually manually harvesting with idle workers. Neither are intuitive. You need to shift workers around constantly but there is no overall UI screen to help you. You must rely on the flags next to each building then manually click on each one. Once the village becomes large enough it's easy to lose track of a worker or two and find out they were doing something you didn't need. There's potential here and I am an early access buyer it's just the user experience needs a lot of work.

I'm having a blast with this game! It has a lot of charm, but don't sleep on the systems. Being on the back of a giant dino roaming through different biomes is really cool and adds a plausible way for challenges. I'm a huge fan of games like RimWorld, Banished, Farthest Frontier, Enzone 1 & 2, Timberborn, Manorlords, etc. and this really gives me a different vibe. I LOVE IT! Great job devs.

Nifty game. Resource management is a little off, but not too bad. Overall, if you liked Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, or almost any other Miyazaki film, you'll love the style and the feel.

i think im at a point where i i will play a bit longer just see how the story ends but once you establish yourself in the game and understand the fundamentals it begins to feel like there is little to no content. The content that does exist still feels incomplete as the ui feels hard to interact with at times, it is hard to place multiple of the same building consecutively, you must return to the build menu and select the building again, making adding bushes and other elements for villager happiness a chore at best and downright hellish at times. you cant rotate buildings, making your village layout feel very limited. overall it feels like a lot of key elements in city builders are missing. including diversity in upgrades and research as well as a fun late-game with reason to continue journeying on the legendary Onbu. The game is very nice aesthetically and i hope to see some free big updates before paid dlc, as it would be nice to see some cool new varieties in how you specialise your Onbu similarly to how rim world has the different dlcs for different "paths". Once they work on the quality of life and adding some more meat to the base game i can see this game truly being worth the time to check out. As of now I still think it deserves the Early Access title.

The Wandering Village offers a unique blend of city-building, survival, and exploration mechanics wrapped in a striking fantasy setting that sets it apart from traditional management games. At its heart, the game invites players to build and manage a thriving settlement atop the back of a colossal, wandering creature named Onbu. This imaginative premise fuels much of the game’s charm, as players must balance resource gathering, infrastructure development, and the welfare of their villagers while contending with the challenges posed by both the environment and the creature itself. The gameplay loop revolves around expanding your village in harmony with Onbu’s movements, creating a dynamic interplay between exploration and survival. As the creature roams through diverse biomes, players must adapt their strategies to the changing conditions—harsh weather, dangerous flora and fauna, and resource scarcity all impact the success of your settlement. The sense of scale is impressive, with Onbu’s massive body serving as a living, moving platform filled with opportunities and hazards. This adds a fresh twist to the city-builder genre, forcing players to think vertically and laterally about placement and expansion. Resource management is both deep and satisfying. You must gather food, build tools, and upgrade buildings while carefully managing the villagers’ happiness, health, and productivity. The villagers themselves have distinct needs and professions, adding layers of complexity to your management decisions. Balancing short-term survival with long-term development is a constant tension that keeps the gameplay engaging. The game’s systems are interconnected, meaning choices in one area—such as farming location or waste management—can ripple throughout the village’s ecosystem and affect Onbu’s well-being. One of the standout features is the relationship between the village and Onbu. Unlike many city builders where the environment is static, here the creature’s moods and behaviors directly influence gameplay. Onbu can be calm and cooperative, allowing for easier building and resource gathering, or agitated and restless, forcing players to quickly respond to threats or damage. This dynamic relationship adds emotional depth to the game, as players grow attached to the creature while also feeling the pressure to keep it healthy and content. Visually, The Wandering Village combines charming, stylized art with detailed environmental effects that bring both the creature and the surrounding world to life. The graphics strike a balance between whimsy and realism, with vibrant biomes that change as Onbu travels. The soundtrack complements this beautifully, featuring calming melodies that contrast with moments of tension when disaster strikes. Together, these elements create an immersive atmosphere that enhances the player’s connection to the game world. While the game shines in creativity and atmosphere, there are moments where its pacing can feel slow, especially for players accustomed to faster city-builders. The complexity of balancing village needs alongside Onbu’s state means progress requires patience and careful planning. Some players may find certain systems less intuitive at first, requiring a learning curve to master the interconnected mechanics fully. However, tutorials and in-game guidance help ease new players into these concepts. Replayability is strong thanks to procedural biome variations and the unpredictable nature of Onbu’s journeys. Each playthrough presents new challenges and opportunities, encouraging players to experiment with different strategies and village layouts. The inclusion of events and random occurrences also ensures no two games feel the same, maintaining a sense of discovery throughout. In summary, The Wandering Village is a thoughtfully designed and beautifully executed city-building game that breaks fresh ground with its moving platform concept and symbiotic relationship between villagers and creature. Its rich management systems, atmospheric world, and unique premise provide a compelling experience for players seeking a slower-paced but deeply rewarding strategy game. While it may demand patience and strategic thinking, those willing to invest time will find a charming and memorable adventure that stands out in the crowded city-building genre. Rating: 9/10

I've played this game since Early Access, and I recommend it heartily. You uncover the story of this post-apocalyptic wasteland as a village leader, ignorant of the past that was lost. The art and premise both seem heavily inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and the preview was made by an animation studio that worked with Studio Ghibli on a number of its films! For a moment, when I saw it, I was suspicious of AI tomfoolery, but it looks like this is all just art by artists! For people who played early access, there are changes to the research system that make it much more difficult, in a way that seems rather obstructive at first pass. I think the main problem there is from being accustomed to the simpler and cheaper tech tree, but having played through to the end, I think it's paced well - you just have to accept that sometimes you'll encoutner challenges for which you are not fully prepared. Hold steady, take care of your Onbu and your villagers, and you'll weather the storm!

It's a cute game, but the 1.0 launch offers insufficient variation. Once you figure it out, you're pretty much done. Sure, you can add some difficulty modifiers, but more difficulty does not mean a more diverse game. I enjoyed my first play through, but everything after failed to captivate or entertain. Two more things which I found suboptimal: research and the constant shifting of workers. Depending on your needs and the current biome, you need to switch workers around. This gets somewhat tedious. Additionally, you're unable to queue research, so you have to go into the research menu for every single upgrade. There's the basis for a good game underneath, but it's just not there yet.

This one of my favorite city building games and I enjoy restarting over whenever there are updates. It is also a nice second monitor type game where I can play others while I have it off to the side too.