System: Switch
Release date: September 19, 2025
Developer: Paper Castle Games
Publisher: Fellow Traveller
What if Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother wasn’t some frail old woman, unable to defend herself from the Big Bad Wolf? What if instead, she came with a professional wrestler’s physique and a chip on her shoulder? What if Little Red was her grandmother’s prized student, more than capable of taking down a dangerous predator? And what if their story took place not in some secluded forest, but across wide galaxy of wacky anthropomorphic characters all ready to beat the stuffing out of each other to prove who’s the strongest? Wander Stars, the new turn-based RPG from Paper Castle Games, has your answer. With an art style and narrative tone that borrows heavily from Japanese anime, Wander Stars looks to answer these questions and more in a tight and imminently replayable package.
First of all: Wander Stars absolutely drips with style. The game presents itself without a hint of shame at its anime influences, fully embracing the wacky, zany, action-packed, and shockingly heartfelt themes of its forebears.
The story follows Ringo, an 14-year-old orphan who has lived for years in a secluded forest with her grandmother and older brother. Two years before the start of the story, Ringo’s brother unexpectedly abandons the family, leaving Ringo with emotional scares still felt in the present day. When an anthropomorphic wolf (aptly named Wolfe) arrives on the planet seeking a legendary treasure, he finds herself robbed of a precious heirloom and in pursuit. The interactions between Ringo, Wolfe, and the grandmother throughout the first chapter possess all the charm you could expect from an anime-inspired adventure.
As stated, the whole opening of the story is inspired by the events of Little Red Riding Hood, with the twist that Ringo and her grandmother are far from harmless. Grandma turns out to be a musclebound, retired martial artist, having trained Ringo and her brother in the way of Kiai, the universe’s premier competitive fighting league. Wolfe rapidly finds himself outmatched by the pair, eventually joining forces with Ringo on a spare-faring adventure to locate the treasure and hunt down Ringo’s long-lost brother.
Kiai battles make up the bulk of the gameplay of Wander Stars, offering a unique take on turn-based combat that combines good memory, deductive reasoning, and resource management to keep each of the game’s chapter feeling fresh and unique. Each round of a battle, Ringo is given access to a collection of word slots that she can use to make attacks. Slots can be used one a time, allowing for several actions to be made in a single round. Conversely, multiple word slots can be combined into a single, ultra-powerful attack. You’ll collect more and more words as the game goes on, giving a more varied arsenal of offensive and defensive options as the story progresses. As stated, each chapter introduces new wrinkles to the combat system, providing a consistent sense of progression and discovery.
Specific words include “Act” words like Punch, Kick, Block, or Item, “Element” words like Fire, Water, or Ice, and “Mod” words like Big, Wide, Fast, Amazing, or Extra. Each action you take must include an “Act” word, and most “Act” words can be combined with a single “Element” word and as many “Mod” words as you can room for. Each collection of enemies will require a different combination of words, as enemies come with strengths, weaknesses, and special bonuses for getting them into specific HP ranges before ending the battle. On top of all that, each word comes with a cooldown time, meaning you need to carefully manage which words are on rotation from round to round.
Beyond simply collecting new words, there are several other ways of powering up Ringo and her allies throughout the adventure. You will encounter additional characters throughout your adventure who may join or leave your team, including Wolfe, each of whom come with their own set of words to add to Ringo’s arsenal. Often these characters come with critical skills different from Ringo’s typical blunt approach to combat. You’ll gain the ability to put enemies to sleep, uncover their weaknesses, and gain powerful attacks that hit multiple enemies by default. Unlocking new characters is always an exciting prospect, especially for characters who have been a thorn in your side during previous chapters.
Between each chapter, you’ll also have the chance to level up Ringo’s stats and expand your word collection. You can increase not things like Ringo’s HP, but also the number of words usable per round, how many words you can bring into equip at a time, or the number of items Ringo can carry. Beyond these permanent changes, each time you play a chapter you can discover short-term rewards (called Pep-Ups) that can be equipped until the end of the chapter. Most Pep-Ups can be obtained by peacefully finishing battles when enemies are within the aforementioned HP range, increasing the strategy needed to finish each fight and make Ringo all the more powerful. Additional bonuses (and penalties) can be found all around the maps for each chapter. Some trigger automatically, while others lean on player choices to determine their outcome. These miniature story beats are largely there for flavor, but succeed in providing some bits of humor or expanded characterization between the major story beats.
All these elements come together to not only create an immersive and amusing adventure, but they also infuse Wander Stars with some roguelike elements as well. Previous chapters can be replayed at any time to gain additional experience and can also be attempted in a special “challenge” mode, with increased difficulty and randomized enemy weaknesses. Despite being a largely linear story, I often found myself jumping back for a short bit of grinding throughout my time with the game.
Wander Stars is a game with all the right ingredients to become an instant classic, and the developers prove themselves to be master chefs by the end. Between the complete confidence in its tone, the creativity of its gameplay, and the ability to constantly expand on seemingly simple systems, Wander Stars has everything you could want for a unique, turn-based experience. Bon appétit!
Wander Stars copy provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.
