Wandersong

Wandersong is a side-scrolling puzzle and adventure game that uses music as a puzzle-solving mechanic. The player character can sing to cause events to occur in the environment around them, using a coloured "song wheel" with eight directions, each representing musical notes spanning an octave, which is controlled by the mouse on a computer setup, or the right thumbstick on a controller. Certain challenges in the game involve the player matching notes or tunes with a non-player character's song, similar to a typical rhythm game. Functions that allow the player to perform dances also exist, but do not actually serve a purpose in gameplay. The player character's goal is to gather the pieces of the "Earthsong", a composition that, when sung in perfect harmony with everyone on earth, will allow the universe to be preserved.

The protagonist, a bard, meets a messenger of the goddess Eya in a dream. The messenger tells them that the world is ending, and that the Bard is not "The Hero" of prophecy. However, they may be able to save the world by learning the "Earthsong". Each of the world's seven "Overseers" knows a piece of the Earthsong, and so the Bard is tasked with learning the songs corresponding to the Overseers. Each Overseer's song allows the Bard to travel to their domain in the spirit world and ask for their piece of the Earthsong.

The Bard travels around the world with a witch named Miriam, and they make friends in each location they visit as they search for the Overseers' songs. However, the third Overseer they meet is abruptly killed by a stranger before the Bard can learn the piece of the Earthsong. Eya's messenger reveals that the stranger, Audrey Redheart, is the prophesied Hero, chosen to bring about the end of the world by killing the Overseers. The Bard is able to learn the piece of the Earthsong from the dead Overseer, having gained the ability to speak to ghosts from the first Overseer.

Wandersong was developed in GameMaker Studio by Greg Lobanov, who had also built a custom level editor and audio editor to create the game. It marks Lobanov's return to story-driven games, a milestone that had been a goal of his after years of learning game design skills developing games such as Perfection and Coin Crypt. Development on the game started in October 2015, and was inspired by a cross-country bike trip Lobanov took across the United States from October 2014 to March 2015. Lobanov wanted to translate the "feel of that journey", where he had met various people and felt overwhelmed by their perceived kindness and generosity.

Lobanov originally went for a more literal interpretation of the cross-country bike trip that inspired him, developing games about biking. He was ultimately dissatisfied with these early concepts, feeling that they were "missing the spirit of the trip", and opted to create a game with a "really hippy, dopey, joyful rainbow message" that resembled his experiences on the trip. Lobanov's tenure in the "Indie House" in Vancouver, British Columbia early in development had an influence on the game's direction, as Lobanov shared his ideas with, and received feedback from, fellow game developers. Wandersong was funded through a Kickstarter campaign that successfully raised US$21,936 from 989 contributors in February 2016.

Wandersong received "generally favorable reviews" according to review aggregator Metacritic. Reviewers praised the game's story, music, visuals, and attention to detail, but found the gameplay lackluster by comparison.

Writing for Destructoid, CJ Andriessen gave the game a score of 9/10, calling it "a rollercoaster ride through the spectrum of feelings, all wrapped up in a lovingly crafted construction paper world". Giada Zavarise of Rock, Paper, Shotgun wrote that Wandersong "wants to make you smile" and noted its accessibility for players who are colorblind or deaf, but remarked that the puzzles and platforming make it "less instantly accessible than, say, [...] Night in the Woods". Phil Savage of PC Gamer praised the characters, saying that "it's the smaller character details—the people you meet along your journey—that ultimately resonate". Javy Gwaltney's review for Game Informer criticized Wandersong's platforming and rhythm segments, stating that the gameplay "isn't much fun" and lacks depth or challenge, though the characters are "charming enough to keep things engaging".