Sometimes when I get a look at a trailer for a game, I think it is going to be more compelling to me than it is. It isn’t necessarily the fault of the game itself that my expectations were different, but it leaves a bad taste in your mouth all the same. Wayward Strand is not a bad experience, but it isn’t an experience that everyone will enjoy.

In an alternate-history version of 1978, you play as a young girl named Casey Beaumaris. Casey is an aspiring journalist, whose mother works on an airship that doubles as a hospital for the elderly. Casey’s mother ropes her into spending time with the patients, asking her to help since the staff is busy preparing for the arrival of a government official, presumably for an inspection.

Over the course of a long weekend, Casey will interact with a variety of patients and staff. Who you interact with (and when) is up to you. As you interact with the residents, you’ll uncover information about the airship, the history of the residents, and a variety of other storylines.

The trick with Wayward Strand is that every character has a schedule and a storyline. However, you can only be in so many places throughout the day. As a result, you’ll have to choose who to spend time with, and when to spend time with them. This leaves the option of multiple playthroughs open, so you can unearth new secrets and solve various mysteries.

By exploring the hospital and talking to patients, you’ll uncover information that you can record in Casey’s notebook. You can also passively pass the time by sitting or simply talking with people. Here is where I find myself conflicted.

Wayward Strand is a game with a heartfelt message. Actually, if I’m honest, it has a variety of themes and messages it wants to tell. It deals with things such as loss, people being abandoned by their families after a certain age, and even coming to terms with disabilities. I’m just not sure if I would consider Wayward Strand fun.

I can imagine that after a few playthroughs, you start to get the feeling of who shows up where, and when you want to follow a particular story path. However, for my playthrough, there was a lot of time where things just felt aimless. I was getting a lot of little tidbits of information, but the progression itself wasn’t all that compelling.

The art style is interesting, and the voice acting is well done, which serves as a benefit to the overall product of Wayward Strand. It can also be said that the heartfelt ideas it presents are a strong selling point too, but I didn’t find the characters or storyline engaging enough to find it as compelling as it should be. In fact, I think the open-ended, free nature of the experience hurts it.

If there had been a story centered around a few patients that you absolutely had to interact with, the focus would have made things more grounded and meaningful. Instead, I found myself worried that I was missing the good bits and wondering which person I’d have to spend time with just to get one other character to open up the way I hoped they would.

At the end of the day, I think that the experience Wayward Strand presents just isn’t for me. It plays like a calm, slow, measured visual novel. For some people, this might end up being the best Indie title they play all year. For others, I could see someone picking it up, playing for an hour, and then putting it down to move on to something else.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Wayward Strand was provided by ghost pattern for this review.

Wayward Strand

$19.99

5.5

Score

5.5/10

Pros

• Interesting Art Style
• Solid Voice Acting
• Emotional Themes
• Plenty of Replay Value

Cons

• Feels Too Open in Places
• Story/Progression is Slow