Take a Break for Tea Therapy: Wanderstop, Developed by Ivy Road

 Alta finds herself searching for Master Winters, a retired swordswoman who was considered the greatest fighter of all time. She runs through the forest, trying hard to ignore her own exhaustion, and pushing herself harder and harder to find this mentor. Why? Because suddenly, after a perfect three-year streak, Alta isn’t winning anymore. 

She collapses and wakes up being cared for by a monk-like person named Boro. 

Welcome to Wanderstop, a “cozy” tea shop management game by people who have worked on games like The Stanley Parable, Minecraft, and DLC for Bioshock 2, in an indie studio called Ivy Road. 

Look at that little guy in the right hand corner! He looks so angry, but just wants pets.

I don’t want to give away too much of the story for this game, specifically because the story is really the biggest draw of the game. Basically, you agree to help Boro run the tea shop by planting, harvesting, cleaning, and brewing tea for various customers as they appear at the tea shop. Your tools are provided to you and you even have a handy guide that shows you potential hybrid plants you might not have grown yet. There’s even a “Book of Answers” if you can’t figure out what type of tea to make for your more complicated customers. 

There are other extra mechanics - you can find and return lost parcels, which get you trinkets that appear all over the small area you can explore. There are penguin-like creatures that occasionally carry things around that you can shake out of their little beaks (but please make sure you pet the poor dears afterwards). The game mechanics aren’t the big draw, and in fact the controls sometimes feel a little clunky.

I didn’t care. After a certain point, managing a tea shop is only a way for Alta to really think about her situation, to figure out why she can no longer lift the sword that has been her sole focus. Right here is where the game really begins to shine. It’s aided by the beautiful colors throughout the world, the brilliant voice acting, and especially the sounds design, featuring music by C418 of Minecraft fame. 

This isn’t a game that you have to play straight through, either. You can leave for a while, and the tea shop (with the help of the Guide and the Book of Answers) waiting for you to pick your work back up. Given that this game can really hit you in the feels, it is a good idea to take breaks as you need. Alta is experiencing burnout, but it is more than just that. She is going through things that all of us experience at one time or another, such as when we are no longer as good as others at things we were really good at before or when things we love no longer bring us joy. 

I’m only about halfway through this game, because there have been aspects that have affected me deeply. On one occasion, as Alta sat on a bench sipping a hot mug of tea, she started speaking about the difference between good pain and bad pain. For her, stopping, resting, and contemplating felt more like bad pain. For me, I took this far more physically. I have fibromyalgia, a condition that is not very well understood, but a major part of it is pain that has no obvious explanation. I have talked about the differences between good and bad pain. For me, I would rather be in pain because I went out and did something I wanted to do or because I played Beat Saber or Dance Dance Revolution (and yes, performing as Reed in Drag). This, for me, is good pain. It’s preferable to the pain and exhaustion I have just from existing. It has nothing to do with my age, either. It was a revelation that I don’t know what it’s like to NOT be in some kind of pain. Some days are just better than others.  When I say I had to stop playing because I felt so SEEN, I mean it. This concept I had been talking about, even if not necessarily in the same way Alta was. 

I definitely recommend this game if you are experiencing burnout of any kind, but also if you are interested in exploring the mental health of a character who is highly relatable in her struggles. It isn’t a perfect game, especially with the sometimes frustrating controls, but it is definitely worth it for a low stakes, easy to play, and deeply enjoyable experience. 

Remember, when the world seems too big and loud and you are down to your last drop, I shall be here with a mug of tea, a kind word, and a new suggestion, should you need it.