Where the Water Tastes Like Wine Reviews

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is ranked in the 48th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
8 / 10
Feb 28, 2018

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is one of the bravest, most unique independent experiences out there

Read full review

9 / 10
Feb 28, 2018

Where The Water Tastes Like Wine is a colossal re-imagining of what a narrative driven game can be.

Read full review

9.1 / 10.0
Feb 28, 2018

Everything about this game penetrates right to my bones and I am afraid that it raised the bar for me even higher than I expected.

Read full review

Unscored
Feb 28, 2018

This is slow burn gaming experience that is not for everyone, but those that fall into the demographic it’s aiming for are going to be absolutely smitten with it. Where The Water Tastes Like Wine is like nothing else I’ve ever played and is a title I intend to keep savouring over coming weeks.

Read full review

9 / 10.0
Mar 6, 2018

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a game as well as a full experience. It transports you to another time and another place, and brings you to the stream of American legends. With fun, inventive gameplay and story after story to collect, it's a game unlike any other.

Read full review

77%
Mar 19, 2018

A powerful, rich, and exceptionally well written narrative experience, with exploration mechanics that heighten the power of its stories, Where The Water Tastes Like Wine is let down by its own central premise. Fascinating, but flawed.

Read full review

Jul 27, 2018

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine contains charming stories, wonderful illustrations and voice-acting that fits the game’s slow-paced and relaxing nature. And this is where the budget ran out. I have to assume that after paying Sting, the writers, and the illustrators, there was no money left to design the over-world and flesh out the short stories. This leaves Where the Water Tastes Like Wine being half of a great game that requires you to wade through the weaker parts to get to the good content. It’s an eight to ten hour game when it would have been better as a four to five hour one.

Read full review

76%
Feb 28, 2018

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine excels in its narrative, visuals and audio but really struggles to fit into the video game medium with its tedious gameplay. This is overshadowed by beautiful stories and moments of pure humanity.

Read full review

8 / 10.0
Mar 22, 2018

Where the Water Tastes like Wine is an engrossing trip into 1920s America that brings its mystical - and sometimes dark - storybook setting alive. Its game mechanics don’t work as well, but it’s an amazing instance of storytelling in an interactive medium, and visual novel fans should pick it up

Read full review

7.5 / 10.0
Mar 12, 2018

Where The Water Tastes Like Wine almost certainly won't appeal to everyone, but if you can look past its sometimes myopic design, you're sure to fall in love with it.

Read full review

OnlySP
Derek Swinhart
Feb 27, 2018

At the end of a long road, emotions can be mixed, with many exhausted by the experience or rejuvenated by the discoveries made along the way. WTWTLW instills the former, driving players to feel dragged through the mud as opposed to fulfilled. Although the game touts the importance of the journey over the destination, neither offers any real sense of satisfaction. In the end, an interesting concept and great art direction cannot save the game from the weight of ambition. The attempt is admirable, but the execution leaves much to be desired. WTWTLW is lacking the narrative punch and cohesion of other story-focused games, as well as the freedom and gameplay quality of other exploration-based titles. WTWTLW has all the promise of a long and exciting road-trip across unknown territory, but ends up only offering flat tires and postcards of better places.

Read full review

7 / 10.0
Mar 23, 2018

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a game which, deserves your time but not in one sitting because just like any adventure you should just kick back and enjoy the journey. If you’re looking for an experience which is equally enchanting and haunting head over to Steam. Itch.io or GOG. Just remember, take your time.

Read full review

5 / 5
Mar 1, 2018

It’s a hell of an artistic achievement.

Read full review

Unscored
Mar 5, 2018

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine remind us of the power of oral tradition and how can shape our perception of life. Unfortunately some times these stories can feel like a chore, due to the way the game uses them as mechanics.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

90 / 100
Dec 25, 2019

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a breath of fresh air, a unique game with an outstanding narrative section and a tremendously beautiful artistic finish. It is not translated into Spanish and some of the mechanics do not work, but it manages to keep the player interested in continuing to collect stories without becoming boring.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

7 / 10.0
Nov 29, 2019

One of the things I love the most about indie games and devs are the risks you see being taken in the form of new experiences that challenge the status quo and expectations of what a game can be...

Read full review

5.5 / 10.0
Dec 9, 2019

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a simple game about traveling the USA while listening to and telling stories.

Read full review

Digitally Downloaded
Matt C.
Top Critic
Mar 1, 2018

In short, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is an incredible achievement, and the latest in a growing body of games that really push the bounds of what the medium can do. It is, at its heart, a game about stories, and the incredible power that they have, brought to life in the most beautiful way possible.

Read full review

Ofisil
Top Critic
3 / 10
Feb 27, 2018

Another example of that latest trend of videogames with "high artistic quality," Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is not something brand new, unique, and meaningful, but something boring, boring, boring that uses big words to say things that aren't that interesting. Oh, and it has Sting in it…

Read full review

9 / 10.0
Mar 10, 2018

Despite the star authors, Where The Water Tastes Like Wine runs the risk of being overlooked by the general public. Game is very specific in form and deep in content, almost devoid of gameplay in the usual sense. A collection of stories, dipping into folklore and exploring basic American archetypes under the guise of a video game.

Review in Russian | Read full review