Review | Wayward Strand - A Strand Short
In Wayward Strand mystery surrounds an airship specifically built for elderly passengers; you are tasked with learning all about the residents, staff and even the main character themselves; each playthrough shall lead to new and exciting discoveries.
*Disclaimer: If you have recently lost an elderly loved one, this game may provide some comfort; nevertheless, for others, it may trigger feelings of grief.
You play Casey Beaumaris, a typical lovable 1970s Australian teen (that is if 1970s Australian teens spent time on airships specifically designed to care for the elderly). She is a girl that would much rather spend time with her journalism novels, but due to short staffing, she has been called in for three days to help her mother (the head nurse) keep the elderly patients company.
What struck me most about this indie narrative adventure is how well it was voice acted; the performances give another level to your connection with these characters, some of whom you are speaking to nearing their last moments. Wayward Strand's gameplay ties directly into this as it sees Casey engaged in the everyday work on this airship which requires a lot of errands running and sporadic small talk.
Seeing as you play as a budding young journalist filled with curiosity, you will often go beyond just running odd jobs and idle conversation. Casey will spend a lot of time asking patients and staff alike some very intimate questions about their families and illnesses while also researching the history of this place. You will have to be selective about how you spend your time, though, as hanging out with one person can cause you to miss something happening with another on a different part of this flying hospital.
One person many players may find themselves drawn to is Dr. Bouchard. This is a fascinating portrait of a person suffering from a terminal illness, feeling resentful as they are now on the other side of medicine bearing any solutions, and they now have to rely on others. Bouchard, along with the other patients all feel like honest depictions of those you may see in a nursing home. Having someone non-verbal who still delights in being engaged in conversation despite not being able to respond is a refreshingly honest and human take on characters in their palliative time. One patient on the airship has trouble recalling conversations that have taken place only moments earlier and as a result, they are very dubious of the caregivers. However, all these patients are portrayed with respect beyond their symptoms. The small team at ghost pattern did a respectable job of capturing the atmosphere of an assisted living/nursing facility in despite the fantastical setting.
You can keep track of the staggering amount of information you uncover by reading Casey's notes in her notebook at any moment, in which she keeps a record of everything she learns or overhears from patients and employees. The notebook is handy for quickly keeping track of time-sensitive information, as the game’s day/night cycle does not stop even if you aren’t interacting with someone or something.
Unfortunately, depending on how you have spent your time, this is where the wind may start to leave your sails a little— I found myself constantly worrying that the path I had pursued had kept me from uncovering other important information elsewhere. However, this is a core part of the game's design and thus you have to closely pursue the stories you are most interested in. This will be a challenging task, as the game weaves multiple threads all of which feel like they are worth investigating but you have to force yourself to ignore some of them so you don’t finish the game having only half pursued several stories.
Another problem with focusing so intensely on one plot is that it can result in a situation where the third day rolls around, and the characters you focused on may spend a sizeable portion of the day indisposed. This will then leave you in an awkward predicament where you haven’t enough of a relationship with anyone else to have any meaningful interaction. With this, the game’s pacing can be shattered, so it is a delicate balancing act. Speaking of the three days the game takes place during, this is how the chapters are created throughout the game, not by hitting certain story beats. This means the worst thing to do is run around fretting over every minute that ticks by wanting to experience everything you can on the airship. The constantly running clock is a vital part of Wayward Strand but the way it is handled makes it feel less like you are choosing what to see and more like you trying to judge what is ok to miss.
Wayward Strand was a pleasant experience that hints at deeper ideas of growing older, illness, and passing away. However, it feels like there was a lot of room to properly emphasise these ideas rather than skirting around them. Casey spends all her time taking notes for an article and ruminating on their time with these people but we never get to assist her in writing it or really seeing what all of these conversations resulted in. The entire thing may have flopped if it were not for the strength of the main plot of a mother and daughter trying to navigate their relationship as Casey reaches adulthood.
Wayward Strand's eccentric patients, cartoonish visuals, and meditative guitar-heavy score evoke something calm and yet, at times, deeply sad. The settings and characters have a very intentional hand-drawn style but are made charming by the warmth of the colour scheme. As a result, it is pretty immersive and often creates a sense of nostalgia for a place you have never seen.
While this game is overflowing with charm and a unique tone, in the end, each day has a finite amount of time, and choosing whom you spend time with is much more critical in Wayward Strand than any other aspect of the game. It is a thoughtful game that tackles humanity in a way that few others have, unfortunately, the game is hampered by mechanical resistants and the pressures it puts on the player. This paired with the lack of in-depth conversation as the weekend goes on, means even when touching on broad topics such as World War Two, sometimes conversations just end before you can really have a proper discussion and you feel like you have to rush on to the next conversation as the clock ticks by. Overall, Wayward Strand is still a good game for those who enjoy playing something a little more cerebral, but some of its design decisions make it more stressful than meditative.
