The Wandering Village Reviews

The Wandering Village is a solid city-builder with a comfortable learning curve. It offers a challenge while drip-feeding you new ideas along the way.

To me, the beating heart of any city-builder / simulation game is the poetic balance of aesthetic design and mechanical optimisation. It’s how successfully the game lets you create a visual paradise while scratching that itch, telling you that what you’ve made is pretty good, buuuuuuut… if you tweaked the layout and placed some better roads, or redesigned the work schedule and resource distribution, it could be OPTIMAL. MORE EFFICIENT. GLORIOUS MECHANICAL PERFECTI-

We take a look at The Wandering Village in our latest review, where the City Builder and Survival genres collide. You'll live on the back of a giant creature called an Onbu and build your village from the few resources you'll find. Developed by Stray Fawn Studio, their game blends resource management, environmental planning, and long-term survival as you try to keep both your villagers and your host creature alive in a post-apocalyptic world.

Despite some flaws, The Wandering Village still succeeds in creating something unique in the city-building genre that's usually monopolized by AAA titles. It's a game that isn't entirely rooted in building the perfect metropolis or maximizing efficiency by carving a better route to take. Instead, it's about surviving together, adapting together, and the symbiotic relationship between you, the villagers, and the gentle giant carrying you all to mend a broken world. The game feels slightly overpriced for what it is, though it does offer you a lot of replayability after you've finished the story in its Challenge and Sandbox modes.

Set atop a colossal beast called an Onbu, The Wandering Village takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where poisonous spores have wiped out the world as we know it. Originally released on Steam in 2022, the popular city building simulation has now released on PS5.

The Wandering Village is a worthy addition to the city-builder genre. It's a mostly undemanding hybrid that mixes sim management with a touch of pet care. A slight experience, with an uninspired and slow-moving story, but it still manages to charm in its own quiet way.

Stray Fawn Studio has a good game on its hands. The setting is creative, and the gameplay loop is simple but fun.

A captivating city builder where you play a group of nomads building a new home on the back of a magnificent, giant creature.