Wander No More

Being a warrior was an honorable occupation a few centuries ago, and there was rarely a moment of peace anyway, which means that there was more than enough room for everyone who wanted to wield a sword. On the other hand, being a raider or a bandit was a valid choice as well, because it was pretty easy to get away with it back when there was no such thing as law enforcement.

Wander No More is a visual novel that takes place in an alternate universe, which means that many of the concepts are made up, while others are inspired by various events from history. Hence, the main character is a warrior in a place inspired by feudal Japan, and the whole plot revolves around honor, murder and war.

Thus, you play the role of a warrior by the name of Kouichirou Nabatame. He worked very hard to become a Kodokushi, which is an elite band of samurais, but it turns out that all they do is pillage villages and commit awful atrocities. Hence, Kouichirou decides to leave the job and run away from the kingdom, because giving his notice was not an acceptable practice for the Kodokushi.

However, trouble catches up with him after a while, and it all culminates when he stumbles into a helpless little girl somewhere in a raided village. Instead of putting her out of her misery, Kouichirou decides to take her as a surrogate daughter, which is how the real story starts. It’s not a very complex plot, but it should be good enough to keep most people entertained for a while.

There are no decisions to be made, given the fact that this is a kinetic visual novel. What this means is that you can only read the text and watch the story unfold in front of your eyes, which practically eliminates replayability entirely. However, you at least get to admire some pretty nice artwork along the way, and the writing is not that bad either, even if it’s slightly pretentious and exaggerated sometimes.

In the end, Wander No More is not exactly a masterpiece of the genre, but it has enough heart to keep you listening until the end. In addition it’s the perfect way to take a break from everything else and just listen to a short story.