There is an intriguing premise at the heart of Wander. What if there were an MMO that focused on peaceful exploration and cooperation over conflict and combat? Wander attempted to be this game, but unfortunately its reach far exceeded its grasp. Wander is filled with unique ideas and attempts at world building that are constantly derailed by massive glitches and an extreme lack of polish. Movement and animation is painfully sluggish, which makes exploration incredibly tedious. Communication is accomplished by drawing symbols on the touch pad, which sounds great, but requires too much precision to be practical. Without a core goal to strive for, nothing of value ever feels like its on the line, and that makes putting up with all these problems an even less attractive prospect. Emptiness is the most accurate word to describe Wander. Despite wanting to enrapture players with a beautiful world devoid of violence to explore, there is no substance behind the gorgeous art design. Wander is a game whose ambitions make criticising it an unpleasant experience, but the hard truth is that it is barely playable. Even the most patient of gamers wont be able to tolerate it for very long.
