Stanley Parable and Tacoma creators fight back against onslaught of coffee games with tea-themed Wanderstop
Listen, I’ve got nothing against coffee games – they’re some of my absolute favourites – but I’ve got to admit, I’m a tea-drinker at heart, and it always makes me a little bit sad when all I can serve in these games is a hot cuppa joe while tea gets relegated to the sidelines. Good on the developers at Ivy Road, then, for finally doing us tea-drinkers justice with their debut game Wanderstop.
Revealed this evening at the Summer Game Fest, Wanderstop’s development is being headed up by Davey Wreden, creator of The Stanley Parable and The Beginner’s Guide, as well as Karla Zimonja, co-creator of Gone Home and Tacoma, along with music duties being performed by Minecraft’s composer, Daniel ‘C418’ Rosenfeld.
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You play as Alta, who desperately wants to get back in the fighting arena but must instead run a tea shop in the heart of a magical forest. Tough break, eh? I know which one I’d rather do.
As you slowly adjust to your new life, you’ll need manage the shop, grow and harvest the necessary ingredients, and mix them altogether in your enormous flask machine to make the perfect blend. While your tea is steeping, you’ll also need to keep your shop in tip-top shape, decorating and keeping it clean, while also chatting with customers. Or just, you know, having a nice sit on a bench.
I’d certainly be down with that kind of routine, but alas, Alta has other ideas, and as you can see from the trailer, she isn’t best pleased with her new life. Patience is not in Alta’s nature, and she’s not that keen on making small talk with the locals as she serves her hard-brewed tea, either.
How Alta will reconcile these two realities will no doubt form a big part of Wanderstop’s overarching story, but for now, that’s all we know about it. Hopefully we’ll be able to find out more soon, as it’s due out on PlayStation 5 and PC on Steam in 2024 later this year.
