Where the Water Tastes Like Wine Reviews
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...
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
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
It’s a hell of an artistic achievement.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Where The Water Tastes Like Wine is a colossal re-imagining of what a narrative driven game can be.
Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is one of the bravest, most unique independent experiences out there
Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a simple game about traveling the USA while listening to and telling stories.
This game isn't worth a deal with a devil, but it could be worth it for you if there's a good deal. Just don't put up your soul as collateral.
If you treat Where the Water Tastes Like Wine as a visual novel with added interaction, you'll find a unique premise surrounded with a host of interesting characters and stories. As a video game, however, it is too stripped back to feel substantial and remain engaging through its lengthy run time.
Overall, if you enjoy a very slow burn game that really seems better suited to being played for an hour or so a day, or just really want something with a huge focus on narrative, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine may scratch that itch. Those looking for a game with more varied gameplay probably won't find much to like here, however, as just walking around an admittedly bland map will likely come to bore you sooner rather than later. The game has value and I certainly enjoyed my time with it, but its Switch debut likely won't turn any more heads than its original release did.