Where the Water Tastes Like Wine Reviews

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is ranked in the 48th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Nov 30, 2019

Like its titular drink, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine has a distinct flavor that certain connoisseurs will really appreciate.

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8 / 10
Feb 28, 2018

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

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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

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Alana Hagues
Top Critic
78%
Apr 11, 2018

A truly unique adventure, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is not that far from sweeter waters.

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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.

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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.

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7.5 / 10.0
Mar 1, 2018

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine celebrates storytelling but loses the plot

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75 / 100
Feb 28, 2018

I love the idea of Where the Water Tastes Like Wine. It has a lot of personality, and several days after I finished it, I was still humming some of the songs to myself. However, it's impeded by a few gameplay quirks, like how tedious it is to move around.

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7.5 / 10.0
Dec 5, 2019

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.

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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.

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7.4 / 10.0
Mar 9, 2018

Where the Water Tastes like Wine is an amazing piece of storytelling caged in an unwieldy game structure. The journey through the States is a charming trip about the importance of the stories we share everyday and a great portrait of America form many point of views. On the long run, unfortunately, the lacklustre gameplay simply fails to sustain the sense of wandering and discovery of such an amazing journey.

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7 / 10.0
Dec 9, 2019

An inspired attempt at something new, like an Americana graphic novel read through at a snails pace. The lovely meditative quality to the gameplay eventually becomes somewhat frustrating because of repetition, the limitations of the concept and how much the player can interact with the characters and stories. Regardless of these shortcomings, anyone looking for some fresh ideas in their games should give it a try.

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7 / 10.0
Feb 28, 2018

Its knapsack may be bursting with brilliant stories, but it can't quite sing for its supper in the gameplay department

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7 / 10.0
Jan 15, 2020

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.

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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.

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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...

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6.8 / 10.0
Mar 7, 2018

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a narratively-driven adventure game in which you travel across Depression era USA collecting stories amid a beautiful backdrop of hand-drawn story vignettes. However, the experience is heavily bogged down by a clunky overworld and purely disruptive gamification of an otherwise pleasant collection of stories.

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65 / 100
Dec 10, 2019

I do think Where The Water Tastes Like Wine is worth a gander, just don’t expect a swan song of a tale or gut punch metaphor about early America. Enjoy it for it what it immediately offers: a fun series of tiny vignettes and discoverable characters to unwind with. Forget the rest.

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6.5 / 10.0
Dec 3, 2019

There's no other game like Where The Water Tastes Like Wine, even if it does lose the plot when it celebrates the art of stories and the power that they possess.

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6.5 / 10.0
Jan 2, 2020

As an interesting intellectual exploration of the role that word-of-mouth plays in storytelling, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine plays like a proof of concept that never graduated beyond an initial prototyping stage. Sure, it has plenty of narratives to uncover, but ultimately the repetitive, shallow mechanics prevent the experience from meeting its full potential. Despite the best efforts of the excellent visual presentation and voice acting, the net product is a hollow shell of what it could've been.

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