Wand & Order Review (PC)

While I was, and within reason, somewhat hesitant about slipping into the clutter and the endless leather-bound spines of a wizard’s emporium, I have to admit, Wand & Order was, despite having the same basic appearance of a Librarian clone, a great experience. An original, never-before-seen experience, no — but a well-rounded organizing affair, nonetheless.

Unlike a lot of the copycat games that had rolled onto the back burner after the global success of Librarian, Wand & Order had a little more going for it. The fact that it turned its nose up at the thought of fostering a cheap and safe AI-oriented world, and that it actively chose to implement a level of detail that only a dozen or more hours of grafting could accomplish said a lot about it. It was still hitting awfully close to home, but I could sense the difference—the heart and soul that went into its development.

The last thing I wanted was for Wand & Order to be “just another shameless imitation of Librarian.” I’d seen dozens of them, perhaps even hundreds. No, I wanted something that could bring a little more to the table than a mere handful of lost trinkets and a dull gameplay loop that could never find its rhythm. I wanted something with a little more pizzazz, or at the very least, something that would show me that there was more to organizing sims than senseless gameplay and predictable puzzles. I wanted magic, and I wanted Wand & Order to be a cut above the rest.

As it turned out, Wand & Order was everything that I needed it to be and more. While still a small cog on an enormous wheel, it gave me all that I needed from a game with such a simple setup. Rather than feeding me thousands of objects and a painfully barren world to fill, it handed me a few hundred tarot decks, wands and potions, and it slotted me into an enchanting place where I could experiment with spells, unlock effective abilities, and gradually thread the needle in a calm and peaceful manner without ever needing to fret about the next stack. It was never going to wow me, but it was going to provide me with all the tools of the trade to enjoy the experience.

The problem with most organizing sims is that, where studios often view a world that boasts more objects as a good thing, the process of filling out each nook and cranny can begin to feel a little overwhelming. Wand & Order, in an effort to alter the playbook, opts for an entirely different approach, with fewer objects, but with double the charm and enchanting qualities. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it keeps ahold of the usual bits and pieces—the stacking, the progression-based upgrades and the categorized zones and what have you. Though, it also makes more of an effort to flesh out its world and add a little extra flair to an otherwise mundane concept. Post Office: Tidy Up, in short, is the polar opposite of what you’re looking at here — and that’s a great thing, believe it or not.

Of course, the general setup remains untouched: the world as you know it has fallen to an incorrect spell, and as a result of that, you must rebuild and replenish the stock before your master returns home. To see to such a messy situation, you must sift through dozens of items across three unique zones, complete each of the sections, and unlock spells that will allow you to fluidly move and categorize your items. For example, you may wish to boost your movement speed, lower your inspection time, or simply highlight hidden tarot decks and potions to make the tidying up process a little easier. With each item that you successfully put back, a new opportunity falls into your lap. Again, it’s a simple setup that doesn’t push the usual narrative — but it works.

Unlike Post Office—a game in which you’re sadly confined to a depressing room without a soul—Wand & Order puts you in a warm and inviting location with a wide variety of magical infusions. Like a King Arthur storybook, it happily takes a classic medieval fantasy and summons its own unique characteristics and spell-binding elements to create a world that is, while awfully chaotic, an absolute delight to explore. It also adds a good deal of depth to the tidying up process, too, with a handful of different jobs that can keep you on your toes whilst you’re bulking out the emporium. As simple as sweeping the dirt from the floor may seem, it adds a nice touch to an otherwise A-to-B routine.

Needless to say that it’s the little things that make a game like Wand & Order a delight to play through. Although it quite clearly borrows a lot of the same bits and pieces from another, slightly more popular game, the fact that it adopts its own distinct artwork, objects and intricate details says a lot about it. Because let’s face it, if there’s a surplus of anything at the moment, it’s forgettable organizing sims that steal, but don’t necessarily expand on an existing formula. Wand & Order, while not one for bottling lightning, thankfully does a great deal more than what others have failed to achieve with their own incarnations. It just needed a bit of magic and that all-important chef’s kiss from a team that genuinely cared about their product.

Verdict

Wand & Order adds a special touch of enchantment to a familiar formula that, while evidently bursting at the mouth with cheap elixirs and forgettable flavors, continues to satisfy us in the simplest of ways. Unlike the common Librarian replica, Wand & Order gives us a little more personality, too, with a meticulously crafted world of magical wonders and a packed but not overly crowded emporium of trinkets and tarot decks, as well as all of the usual abilities, sections, and the occasional secret to unearth. The fact that it turns its nose up at AI to help embellish its world is the icing on the cake.