Farming sims, shop management games, and all around cozy vibes are no longer hard to come by these days. Wanderstop is another one of those games, for sure, but its killer lineup of developers had me suspicious that there was more to it than just wholesome tea-brewing - and, now, its Steam Next Fest demo has me convinced.
Wanderstop is the work of Ivy Road, a new indie studio formed by Davey Wreden (Stanley Parable's co-developer, The Beginner Guide's creator), Karla Zimonja (known for Gone Home and BioShock 2's incredible DLC), and C418 (Minecraft's iconic composer). For a group of developers with such an emotionally heavy gameography, you might be pretty surprised to open the game's Steam page only to find lush, storybook greenery and characters with adorably off proportions. But rest assured, Wanderstop will still hit too close to home for some people.
