A wonderful game with a unique mood, but also some strange design decisions. The ambiance is superb, the voice actors are splendid and the idea of just wandering around a little floating hospice is really nice, with some clever dialog and pace. The music help set up the mood and also characterize the game and each character. The story also change and evolves as much as needed to let you feel to have an influence while not being the almighty most important character : you're just an observer, a bystander. The idea of eardropping on other conversation just by passing by also feel very good !

The biggest flaw is the save system : it only save the game inbetween day of the game. The game is 3 day long. The days are in "real time" so they take like 1h30 to pass. So, it's mean if you launch the game, you have to play for at least 1h30. And if you want to play the second day, you HAVE to play for ~3h. No inbetween. It's really frustrating.

But in general, the game style touch me and charmed me. So, I still recommand it.

It's a sweet, low-paced, reflexive, and significantly subversive game based on a child spending three days in a hospital to help her mother (a nurse). Basically you just wander around, speak with patients, take notes on your journal. Time marches on, three days are quite short, and people mind their own business (meaning that they have their own schedules, dialogues, actions, and experiences even if you're not there - as in Deadly Premonition, but way more impactful). You follow them, spy them, speak with them as a bored child would do. You dream about becoming a journalist and solving some mysteries within the hospital, and there's a mysterious VIP who's supposed to visit someone soon. Eventually, it turns out there's nothing to solve, no VIP visiting, anything at all. The game subverts many gaming clichés and logics at the same time: from the concept of progression to empowerment, from tasks to exploration, from the relationships with npcs to dialogue-based storytelling. It works by subtraction, especially towards the ending - where you're entirely free to draw your own conclusions.

Have you ever been walking through a street and caught a fragment of some stranger's conversations? A sentence or two, or maybe something more substantial if they are being particularly loud. You ever wonder how, others who live rich lives as complex as yours will only intersect with yours at such brief moments? One day I wish to make a game based on that concept but until then I have Wayward Strand.

One particular narrative pit that games fall into sometimes is making the characters feel like mere simulation, an NPC
who will sit still dispensing quests and exposition at your convenience with seemingly little goals beyond that. Of course this is mostly just due to scope and cost, having NPCs "lead lives" can get you an Oblivion style situation where they almost behave like humans but not quite. I think this is the main reason for the popularity of timeloop games, you can add to the illusion of characters existing beyond being useful to players whilst also being able to limit their freedom and activities to a single day/week/whatever.

Wayward Strand is on a really slow boil, theres no great mystery and is honestly really mundane, but its greatest asset is what it DOESNT show you. Whilst having little in the way of mechanics its as interactive as games get, the wheel of time keeps moving and you cant be everywhere at once.

Eavesdrop on a conversation about who stole Mrs Fitzimmons' cookies and miss the chance to see Mr Finch try to flirt with the Nurse. These characters start to grow on you as you get to know them and even just the act of letting time pass as you sit with one of them is a choice, leading to missed events but also to the character saying something that cannot be asked by you, sometimes helpful, sometimes not so much.

I realize I may come across as a bit of a hypocrite here, because earlier this month I reviewed Outer Wilds and was slightly dismayed at just how prevalent the theme of death and mortality seemingly is in Games, especially those praised for being "arty" or "elevating" the medium. Thats not to say I inherently just hate the theme, its more it becomes tiresome to see the same sorts of themes and narrative threads being gone over so many times, even if executed differently. I've got To The Moon and Rakuen in my backlog as well and I'm dreading getting to those anytime soon.

Wayward Strand does deal in death a bit, these are all Elderly Patients at a hospital after all. There is a sobering but refreshing sense of grounding to it all. A character passes away before you arrive on the first day but he just sort of died of natural causes. Life goes on and those around him try to varying degrees to keep his memory alive.

Some characters are prickly, cantankerous, others a bit sad. Some cannot speak and many cannot walk. Its quite the vehicle for empathy as you get to know these characters and you see these abrasive character traits for what they are. Of course the old cancer patient who seemingly struggles to stay upright doesnt want to talk to you much, she's being kept at the hospital even though she really just wants to go home and spend her final days there. Another is a bit standoffish but seems in immense pain, which has its own narrative payoff at the end.

I enjoy this much more because whilst these characters all live knowing the reaper isnt too far away, they all live their lives how they want to, the theme isnt the same hackneyed memento mori bullshit as always (though there is some of that, and the perpetually ticking clock mechanic does slightly point to it thematically) but much broader about compassion and understanding. Even the asshole nurse Joe becomes more sympathetic when you learn about his relationship to a nurse who quit a few weeks ago.

A ship full of flawed and sympathetic souls to spend your time with, catching glimpses of their lives and yes, eavesdropping on their conversations at times (though even they are not above this sort of behaviour at times). You never get the complete picture of them, much like you don't in real life (and certainly not over the span of 3 days) but it works wonderfully. Their voices and character designs are very well done and expressive, in particular I liked Mr Pruess, Mr Avery and Mrs Fitzgerald's performances. There are some minor visual bugs and stutters at times, but its all more than worth it. And whilst it did wrap up okay in the end, I must say I wasnt the biggest fan of the overarching story arc between you and your mum, the Head Nurse. Could have been executed better, I think.

Overall though I quite recommend Wayward Strand, it is a very talky adventure game with little in the way of puzzles, but its interactivity is hard to deny in a game where jsut choosing to walk into a room or not can make all the difference in the information the Main Character will learn and take with her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lePaEZCFAWU

I never felt the weight of my decisions more than in this little game about a busy hospital airship. There's a lot to see and do but there are only so many hours in the day, you know? I'll never be sure if I spent my time as wisely as I could have.

I caught so many snippets of other people's conversations while engaged in one of my own. There was offscreen drama happening while I was busy spending time with someone else! I stumbled into special moments I would never have experienced if I hadn't been in the right place at the right time.

The story is joyful, sad, mundane, exciting, funny and sobering all at once. It offers very little in terms of closure but is stronger for it. That's just the way life goes! There is so much beauty to be found in the mundane and this game is a wonderful celebration of that.