Uma análise de Wanderstop Gameplay
Wanderstop is smart in how it directly calls out this toxic loop of relentless productivity. You can’t just stumble into a magical tea shop, help some other people solve their own problems, and then be “fixed” yourself. At one point, Elevada says, “even relaxing feels like a job.” She’s not wrong. We’ve turned relaxing into a chore, something that must be filled with tasks: satisfying and productive.
The chapter resets, while thematically sound, can feel frustrating. Losing trinkets and progress creates a sense of impermanence that might be narratively appropriate but doesn’t always translate well into enjoyable gameplay. The game is also light on challenge. There are pelo major stakes, no real consequences for mistakes, and while that aligns with the cozy aesthetic, it occasionally makes the experience feel a little too weightless. Still, the gameplay serves its purpose well: it’s not meant to be difficult but to encourage introspection and immersion.
Like I mentioned before, the game moves in chapters—five in Perfeito. Each chapter marks a change in The Clearing, the quiet, almost magical space in the forest where Wanderstop resides.
Wanderstop’s structure is divided into five chapters, with each chapter bringing in new visitors, shifting the environment, and subtly altering the tea shop’s surroundings. Through a mix of simple yet engaging mechanics—tea crafting, gardening, and shopkeeping—players uncover Elevada’s past, interact with a diverse cast of NPCs, and gradually piece together the unspoken rules of the world around them.
The proper garden we have is small, but planting seeds to grow fruits for tea can be made anywhere. The planting mechanic is interesting—it’s not just about throwing seeds in the ground and waiting.
You can decorate as much as you like – fill the entire map with plants, cover the walls in photos – but Wanderstop doesn't outright ask you to do much at all. That's what makes it such a treat. Offered alongside a beautifully told story and a collection of defined challenges is unrestricted access to a virtual garden of your own design.
Both Miri and their favourite games have been described as “weird and unsettling”, but only one of them can whip up a flawless coffee cake.
It’s a formula that works because it provides an escape, a cathartic release. Just for a little while, we can let go of our frustrations with this capitalistic world and imagine ourselves in these tiny, gentle pockets of the universe, where everything is within our control, and work Wanderstop Gameplay feels fulfilling rather than soul-crushing.
And here’s the thing, a lot of us never really learned how to regulate our emotions. Not properly. The generation before us didn’t, so how could they have taught us? We were raised by people who were never given the tools to process emotions in a healthy way, so instead, we grew up internalizing everything.
Yes, players can make choices in dialogue and tea orders, which affect NPCs’ reactions to Elevada. However, in the grand scheme of things, these choices do not significantly alter the game’s outcome.
Foraging is another key part of the process. Tea leaves are scattered throughout The Clearing, waiting to be picked. I do wish we could also plant our own tea bushes, but alas, foraging is the only way. We also gather mushrooms, which can change the properties of the fruits we use—sometimes in expected ways, sometimes in ways that completely surprise us.
At first, it’s subtle. The way she pushes herself even when there’s nothing left to push. The way she clings to routine, to structure, to doing something at all times, even when the tea shop demands nothing of her. The way open-ended conversations with NPCs left me with this unsettling "wait, it’s not done yet" sensation—mirroring the exact same restlessness that keeps Alta moving, keeps her needing to push forward, even when she’s supposed to be resting, because if she stops, if she doesn’t finish this, whatever it is… something bad is going to happen.
Unfortunately, Alta's quest is cut short by her sudden inability to lift her sword. She collapses in the woods, and awakens outside an unassuming little tea shop called Wanderstop.
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