Wish Upon Wander Stars in New Anime Inspired RPG

Wander Stars, developed by Paper Castle and published by indie label Fellow Traveller, debuted its Story Reveal Trailer during this weekend’s PC Gaming Show. No release date was announced, but both a PC and NIntendo Switch version are in development, with a demo currently available on Steam.

Wander Stars is a turn-based RPG inspired by iconic anime such as Dragon Ball Z and One Piece. Players work to combine their words to create powerful moves and eventually become a “Kiai master.” The game takes place over the course of ten roughly hour-long “episodes,” and lead protagonist Ringo does their best to befriend rivals, uncover dark mysteries, and seek out the pieces of the Wanderstar map.

Check out the trailer from this weekends showcase below, as well as overview details from the game’s Steam summary, and the latest Wander Stars screenshots!

Unleash custom attacks by combining words in a Super! Anime! Turn-Based! RPG!

Trained in the ways of Kiai, a magical form of martial art and also the universe’s most exciting form of televised entertainment, Ringo can combine words to create customized attacks in intense turn-based battles. During her race across the universe you’ll expand Ringo’s vocabulary, equip Pep Up bonuses earned through honorable victories and level up her spirit power. Defeat or befriend a cast of fearsome space pirates, mysterious scoundrels, cute witches, high school delinquents, talking crows, and skilled martial artists on your way to becoming a Kiai master.

Use Your Words

SUPER SPECIAL FIRE KICK! Battles in Wander Stars are settled through a unique combat system that combines the structure of turn-based JRPGs, the strategic layer of deckbuilders and the spectacle of animes like Dragon Ball Z.

Create custom attacks by combining words up to the limit of your spirit level. The more spirit you have, the more slots you have to place words into and the more powerful and complex actions you can take.

ACTION WORDS do something e.g. KICK, BLOCK or ITEM.

MODIFIER WORDS modify actions e.g. SUPER (+1 damage), FAST (reduces cooldown) or HUGE (attacks all opponents).

ELEMENTAL WORDS add an elemental impact and status effects e.g. FIRE (burn) or WATER (wet).

All words have cool downs and opponents might be weak or strong against specific attacks or specific elements. You won’t know which until you engage them in battle so you need to be prepared to improvise.

Collect Them All

With over 200 words to collect across the game there is a near infinite number of possible unique attacks to make. Things start off easy but as you expand Ringo’s vocabulary you’ll need to carefully select which words you take into battle, building strategies around your mix of categories, blend of offensive and defensive words, giving yourself options to manage your opponents weaknesses and strengths, consider optimizing the juggling of cool downs and, of course, which attacks sound the coolest.

The result is an accessible, immediately fun but deep combat system.

Step Up With Pep Ups

The core ethos of the Kiai martial art is to fight with honor. Defeating an opponent with honor can turn the most heated of rivals into the fastest of friends! Befriend your rivals to earn their words of encouragement in the form of useful Pep Ups which can be equipped to give you special bonuses in combat.

Fighting honorably can turn the most heated rivals into the fastest of friends! Befriend your rivals to earn their words of encouragement in the form of useful Pep Ups which can be equipped to bolster your spirit and power you up on your adventure!

The Stars Call

Travel the universe on a rollercoaster adventure as you seek the pieces of the Wanderstar map, Ringo’s lost brother and the answers to Wolfe’s mysterious past.

This is a tale of mystery, adventure, betrayal, redemption, unlikely allies, twists, turns, surfing capybaras, health-restoring empanadas, forgotten shopping lists, rifts in space AND rifts between lovers.

Unlikely Allies

Along the way you’ll build a found family of colorful characters, each with their own thing going on. They might not all get along at first, but that’s nothing a thrilling space adventure can’t fix! And even with the trail gone cold, take heart, for these wandering stars are bound to find each other…

An Anime You Can Play

Wander Stars is inspired by the anime the developers grew up watching in 1990’s Venezuela and shows like Dragon Ball Z, Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, One Piece and more.

It plays out across 10 “episodes”, each of which takes between 60-90 minutes to complete. Each episode features a map to explore with procedurally generated battles, special events and other secrets to find along with the main story events.

Tackle your playthrough an episode at a time or binge the whole thing in one go – the choice is yours.

You can even replay episodes to find all the side adventures, NPCs, and party member banter you might have missed! Try new paths as you explore ever-changing maps with randomized special events, lurking rivals, and tantalizing treasures. The experience is never quite the same!

Wander Stars Screenshots

Wander Stars is currently in development for both Nintendo Switch and PC. No release date has been announced yet, but those curious can check out the above-mentioned demo on Steam.

You know who else uses powerful word combinations? Our freaking awesome news team! Kamea-make your way over to the RPGFan main page and get all the low down on the biggest news from the most recent showcases!