Where the Water Tastes Like Wine

A wonderful, strange, sad trek through the myth of America. [Issue#270, p.52]

If you enjoy tomes about the wonders of living on the road and meeting people who populate the fringes of society you’ll feel, as you indulge, that you’ve briefly stepped into the legendary shoes of Studs Terkel, John Steinbeck and Maya Angelou all rolled into one.

As a game devoted to the art of storytelling itself, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine shines with its powerful writing, exceptional voice-acting, and its visual and aural elements that bring players back into the time of tall tales and endless stretches of road to explore.

For those willing to take the chance, what awaits is a fantastic, mesmerizing trip across America and its parables and oddities throughout the ages, with a journey that’s easy to get lost in full of amazing writing, splendid characters and superb performances all around.

Where The Water Tastes Like Wine is a surprisingly beefy adventure game, offering over 20 hours of content and a treasure trove of stories that never cease to entertain.

Where the blood of Chicago’s murdered factory workers pours roaring into the Mississippi Delta and the Devil reverently sings the lowest blues, there beats the heart of a non-existent nation. A narrative tour-de-force through one hundred years of pain, blood, loss, struggle and unlikely triumph. Minor technical issues aside, this is the new high water mark for video games seamlessly crossing over into pure art.

There’s a lot to love about Where The Water Tastes Like Wine, from the beautiful and surreal 2D hand-drawn imagery that adds an air of eeriness. In combination with the blues and roots music, it makes for a perfectly atmospheric game with a ton of great catchy tunes.

Johnnemann Nordhagen created a truly compelling experience, an adventure that almost defies words. It has its flaws but once you are drawn into this rich world it is hard to get out.

If it were not for the abrupt, bad and intrusive interruptions of a really badly managed inventory and some forced dialogue in some phases of the adventure, we would then find ourselves in front of a real masterpiece.

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is an excellent exploration of stories and the meanings we place upon them. It's a road trip game through the American landscape that's punctuated by astounding writing and entertaining encounters. There's nothing quite like it, and it's doubtful that there ever will be.

An evocative exploration of the art of storytelling. [Issue#198, p.78]

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is an adventure game that perfectly encapsulates the spirit of adventure. Roam the United States countryside, meet interesting folks and swap tall tales until sunrise.

The aesthetics, soundtrack, and writing here are wonderful and more than reward the patience required to fully unravel the game’s mysteries. Playing it resulted in an immersion that went beyond my niggles with the gameplay. It is clear from my comments here that the game won’t have the universal appeal to match the political and social importance of its themes and message. It is a game that should be played by many, but that will probably frustrate as many as it ensnares. It more than lived up to my expectations and if you are interested in exploring the ways in which games can go beyond other media in their use of narrative then it is unmissable.

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine's slow pace may grate on some, but those who can acclimatize are in for a fascinating deconstruction of America, as seen through the myths, folklore, and scraps of history we tell each other.

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a fascinating study of a bygone era in America, though it clearly has roots in today’s world and modern urban legends It’s got so much personality, so much to offer and provides such an insight into how our culture developed over the course of its history. While featuring clunky controls, it’s well worth the price of admission.

Where The Water Tastes Like Wine gets to translate the oral narrative into a game mechanic. The way the game transforms and mutates the stories that we know and we tell makes the game a deep reflection about the most human act of all: telling our experiences to others so they can learn from us.

Where The Water Tastes Like Wine is a welcome addition to the adventure genre. While its minute-to-minute narrative lacks the complexity and pull of classic adventure games, its open-world design and unique approach to storytelling make it something unlike anything I've ever played before. For those looking to lose themselves in an atmospheric world with phenomenal music and voice acting, Where The Water Tastes Like Wine is worth experiencing. It's certainly an acquired taste, but the water tastes pretty good here.

A compelling anthology of Americana that shines, in spite of some rough edges. [Apr 2018, p.78]

Dim Bulb Games' debut is so close to being a truly great game. Where the Water Tastes Like Wine stands tall as a paragon of world-building and writing, and its unique approach to storytelling is something many developers should take note of. What's holding it back is its obsession with being a game as well as an interactive book, and it struggles to balance the two mechanics perfectly, so much so that many of the journeys, despite the rich writing, don't always feel worth it.

Atmospherically dense literature-like adventure with unusual game mechanics, casts a gloomy view of America.

Frankly speaking, it’s just a collection of short stories. But what it lacks in action department, it makes up for in atmosphere: if you’re longing for campfire tales, pour yourself a big mug of tea and launch this game. [Issue#228, p.45]

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine isn’t a visual novel, and considering how open-ended its journey is, throwing in some structured progression isn’t a bad idea. But the game’s best pleasures are derived from its best stories, and turning them into one-line memories robs them — and the art of storytelling — of what makes them special.

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. And most of all, I’m still very disappointed by how I wasn’t able to see the final chapter through to the end.

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.

Even though Where the Water Tastes Like Wine lacks in gaming mechanics, it definitely can tell a story. Imagine a long evening, crackling fire, and a slow, but unstoppable burst of beautiful words, and then ask yourself if you are willing to suffer occasional frustration for that. If so, do not hesitate and head to America.

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a game that is difficult to recommend for those who prefer their games to unfold at a pace faster than plodding. While much of the game excels in drawing you in, the deliberately slow pace works against it more often than not. But for those who are looking for a truly interesting adventure game that, for better or worse, takes its time to share its stories, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine makes for a captivating experience.

This is a unique game full of amazing stories, but it doesn’t make gameplay a priority, creating some dull mechanics and boring sequences.

The experience is heavily bogged down by a clunky overworld and purely disruptive gamification of an otherwise pleasant collection of stories.

A story packed adventure which spans across the USA, with some wonderfully written stories, a fantastic soundtrack, and some sublime voice acting. However, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is let down by a map that is too large often resulting in a lot of time spent walking, doing nothing.

As a whole product, Where The Water Tastes Like Wine can be a drag, but if you're in it for the story, bump up the score and have fun with a game that spins an excellent yarn.

The writing is exquisite and reflects the joyful diversity of both writers and characters, blending the lines of history and fable to great effect. But the technical framework supporting the discovery of these tales is shaky, with some mechanics simply frustrating and others downright broken. Keep a very, very close eye on this game to pick up after a patch.

Wandering round the United States, crowded with plenty of catchy stories accompanied with beautiful music. You will easily forgive this small artwork ‘s absence of some game elements. [Issue#284]

Kentucky Route Zero did it better.

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is an original narrative experience. He's got a lot of American stories to tell us, supported by a perfect dubbing and high-class illustrations. The problem is that the end result is harmed by a repetitive gameplay and extremely slow character movements, all that ending up causing a deep feeling of boredom after one hour or so.

If the basic premise of gathering folk stories across a version of 1930s America strongly appeals to you, then Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is worth a look, but it's probably not worth finishing.

There are beautiful and tragic scenes, songs, and passages to find in WTWTLW's journey, but they're spread far too thin.

It's a game whose very structure serves to undermine its often excellent writing; that, in the end, is what really stings. [May 2018, p.118]

On the surface, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine seems like it has a recipe for an incredible game. It stretches the lengths of what story-driven, Twine-like games can accomplish in scope—thematically, narratively, and in terms of the dozens of writers from different cultures and backgrounds behind them. And yet, the game's onerous pace and the way it relegates the stories you collect to flash cards ends up doing a disservice to the game's strengths.