Windy Meadow spins off of Roadwarden this year

Coziness and melancholy

Assemble Entertainment has announced Windy Meadow – A Roadwarden Tale, a follow-up to solo-dev Moral Anxiety Studio’s 2022 narrative adventure, Roadwarden. Windy Meadow bills itself as a “counterpart” to Roadwarden rather than a sequel or spin-off.

Did you play Roadwarden? I completely missed it. Looking at it now, I think I’m going to need to make time for it. The publisher calls it as a “slice of life” narrative where you immerse yourself in the goings-on of a small community where decisions matter.

What interests me about Windy Meadow is that, although it’s considered a visual novel, “99%” of the text is dialogue. The visuals instead do the heavy lifting of communicating what’s happening. While I understand why developers use static images to communicate their stories since video games are a visual medium, that tends to go unutilized by the genre. So, that’s something I’d like to see experimented with.

The publisher says the narrative “seamlessly weaves coziness and melancholy,” which is also how I’d describe eating a sandwich from Arby’s in bed. The story puts you in the footwear of three separate protagonists, with different paths for each.

Sound fantastic. I’m probably going to pick up Roadwarden soon, but if you’re more interested in what you’re hearing here, there’s a demo available starting today.

Windy Meadow – A Roadwarden Tale will release for PC sometime this year.