Daniel (@dungeondive) opens a long-form Let’s Play-slash-review of Wander: The Cult of Barnacle Bay (Panda Cult Games), a game he keeps thinking about when he isn’t playing it. The setting hooks him: a quaint fishing village whose critters — otters, bears, rabbits — are being warped into grotesque Deep One-worshipping horrors by the Cthulhu-esque preacher Elder Bane and his cult.
Before diving in he lays out what sets the game apart from the Zombicide comparisons it always draws: a branching narrative campaign book (each scenario opens three more), a big deck of non-combat encounters found in “darkness” spaces, and a clever advanced initiative track where board position grants attack or defence bonuses. The result, he argues, strikes a rare balance between exploding-dice fun and genuine tactical positioning — nothing as heavy as Mage Knight, but far from a brainless dice-chucker.
He fields two defensive heroes, Tank the Guardian and Ross the King, and begins scenario 1c: an underground chamber of four waterfalls where the party must find three keys to unlock a gate. He’s candid that the game’s concise rulebook breeds ambiguities (there’s a hefty FAQ), then plays a first combat turn to show the flow.
Daniel argues Wander only superficially resembles Zombicide — the branching campaign and exploration decks make it something else. When a game gets pigeonholed by a lazy comparison, does it change how you approach it?