Wander Stars Review
Anime-inspired Wander Stars hits a lot of the right notes but is missing key elements of a successful RPG.
Wander Stars. Credit: Paper Castle Games / Fellow Traveller
Wander Stars from Paper Castle Games and publisher Fellow Traveller is a turn-based RPG with a creative word-building combat system and striking visual design. The developers structured the game in episodes, which suits the anime homage they're aiming for. However, they sacrificed traditional exploration for a node-based map system, a choice that doesn't pay off.
The story follows Ringo, a young martial artist looking for her brother, and Wolfe, a thief, as they partner up to collect the pieces of a fabled map. They leave Ringo’s home and travel through space. Naturally, most problems are solved by fighting. It's a straightforward shonen anime setup about friendship, growth, and discovering your inner strength. The narrative hits familiar beats but commits to them earnestly enough to work.
Wander Stars. Credit: Paper Castle Games / Fellow Traveller
Combat revolves around constructing attacks and defenses from individual words and modifiers, constrained by your available action points each turn. You might throw together something like “SUPER FIRE KICK,” with each unique combination producing different effects and damage types. Success means balancing enemy weaknesses, managing word cooldowns, and maximizing your limited actions.
The game uses a defense system I’ve seen in many turn-based games recently; instead of traditional defending, you build up separate shield points that absorb damage before touching your actual HP. It's more strategic than just turtling behind a generic "defend" command that I rarely touch in other JRPGs. There's also a surrender mechanic where enemies will give up if you keep their HP within a specific range, rewarding precise damage control with equippable Pep Ups and new words for your vocabulary as you befriend your opponents. It adds a tactical layer that makes you think beyond simply blasting everything with as much damage as possible.
Wander Stars. Credit: Paper Castle Games / Fellow Traveller
Early dialogue is almost entirely devoted to tutorials, which was irritating, to say the least. I would've much preferred a dedicated tutorial mode where I could experiment freely, rather than having explanations force-fed through character conversations. Once the game trusts you to understand its systems, the writing finds its footing and becomes more enjoyable.
Breaking the game into episodes creates natural stopping points and reinforces the anime aesthetic. But ditching exploration for node-based progression makes everything feel constrained and abstract. You're moving between predetermined points on a map for battles and story events rather than actually exploring the world. It flattens the experience into something closer to a visual novel with combat segments. Good RPGs thrive on that sense of adventure and discovery—finding hidden areas, stumbling into unexpected encounters, and watching the world unfold around you. Wander Stars offers none of that and suffers as a result.
Wander Stars. Credit: Paper Castle Games / Fellow Traveller
The game draws heavily from 1990s anime, particularly Dragon Ball. The “kiai” martial arts obsession, the characters, etc., all channel that shonen style. Visually, the character designs echo Akira Toriyama's distinctive aesthetic, with clean lines, expressive faces, and dynamic proportions. The static character art is genuinely beautiful, full of personality and energy. Unfortunately, the actual animation is bare-bones. Characters barely move during scenes, which creates a disconnect between the gorgeous portraits and the limited motion. I’m sure budgetary constraints prevented the developers from pushing beyond what’s here, but it would have made the experience much better.
Wander Stars brings interesting ideas to the table with its word-based combat and earnest anime inspiration, but the absence of exploration creates a hollow center where adventure should be. The combat system alone can't carry the experience when you're just moving from node to node without any real sense of discovery. It's a game that understands the aesthetics and themes of its inspirations but misses a key element: the sense of adventure. For players who want an anime-styled battle system to tinker with, there's enjoyment here. But if you're looking for a complete RPG experience, Wander Stars feels like half of a good game.
Wander Stars is available now on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.
Overall Score: 6/10
Played on: PS5
