Sophia the Traveler: Everything We Know

If you just so happened to think that the picture book phenomenon “Where’s Wally” would make for a surprisingly good visual novel, then you’re in luck. As it turns out, developer Memo Gogo is rustling up exactly that, which means, if you’re the eagle-eyed type who’d gladly bend over backward to spot the red and white-sporting, turtleneck-loving spectator, then you’re about to have a whole new book opened up for you. That’s right, Sophia the Traveler is on the horizon — and she’s bringing the beating heart of Venice with her.

While Sophia the Traveler isn’t due out for several months or so yet, both Memo Gogo and publisher Thermite Games have gone as far as to post several juicy details outlining the upcoming project. Care to join us as we peel away a few layers and iron out the creases? Then let’s dive right in.

What Is Sophia the Traveler?

Sophia the Traveler is an upcoming point-and-click game inspired by “Where’s Wally”—a hide-and-seek type book series that tasks its readers with locating a character, along with a series of objects, over a collection of hand-drawn locations. Similar in concept, Sophia the Traveler will instruct its players to not only locate Sophia, but a variation of items, all of which will root themselves to the beating heart of Venice, otherwise known as The City of Water.

“I believe that you all have read “Where’s Wally?” before,” Memo Gogo asks in its elevator pitch. “Does playing our game bring back your childhood memories? Here in “Sophia the Traveler”, we strive to make sure that every frame is a painting. You will never be short of wallpapers anymore!” Truer words have never been spoken from the looks of it.

Story

So, there’s a bubbly girl named Sophia, who’s recently turned up out of the blue to explore the watery corridors of Venice. As Sophia, players will need to work their way through several prominent locations dotted around the Venetian plateau and locate several artifacts, or even public figures, from the looks of it. Going by that, we can’t say for certain whether there’ll be any plot points, as such, but rather short episodic tales in which the characters pretty much speak for themselves. Either way, it’ll be relatively easy to digest, all things considered.

Gameplay

It’ll be a point-and-click game at heart, so you can definitely expect to see your fair share of static and shiftable environments. Similar to “Where’s Wally”, the goal of each chapter will be to locate certain objects on the page, as well as explore prominent areas in the beloved City of Water.

“This version contains 10 different scenes,” the developer explains. “More than 1800 character assets, over 300 sets of character animation, more than 100 sequence animation & SFX, exceeding 100 European buildings (including 8 iconic buildings of Venice), and nearly 300 sound effects have been integrated into the game, just to create the complete and lifelike Venice in our dreams.”

Development

Sophia the Traveler is being developed by Memo Gogo, a China-based two-piece team who, although never having visited Venice, managed to conceive the idea through the use of copious amounts of travel books and Google Maps’ geographical and mapping technology.

“I really wanted to make a cozy game full of love and joy,” said Memo Gogo. “To me, Venice on the water is one of the most romantic cities in the world. I still remember seeing the romance movie “Everyone says I love you” that happens in Venice when I was very young. From then on, I have always wanted to see Venice, but sadly the trip never happened for various reasons. Someone might wonder how I can make this game without actually having been there. For three years Google Maps and piles of travel books have helped me see every corner of Venice. And now, we’ve created a girl named Sophia, who loves life, music and good food. And hope that she will take us all to Venice through this game.”

It doesn’t end in Venice, either, apparently; Memo Gogo has also stated that they’re currently drawing up ideas for a sequel, which could take players to the likes of the Netherlands, France, or even China. If that’s the sort of thing that you wouldn’t mind tucking into, then be sure to cast your vote over on the team’s official Discord channel here.

Trailer

Thanks to Thermite Games’ streaming handle, we do have a bit of footage to comb over whilst we wait for the full release. Need we say more? You can catch a brief glimpse of the upcoming point-and-click adventure IP in the trailer embedded above.

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

Sophia the Traveler will be heading to PC via Steam at some stage in 2024. Does this technically mean there won’t be any console ports to add to the basket? From the sounds of it, yes. Having said that, as it’s still early days, we can only really speculate and take things at face value for the time being.

As Sophia the Traveler will be exclusive to Steam, there won’t be any special editions to get ahold of on launch. If you don’t mind keeping to that particular copy, however, then you can go ahead and add it to your wishlist here.

Interested in staying up to date with Memo Gogo’s upcoming visual novel? If so, then be sure to check in with the team over on their official social handle here. If anything changes ahead of its global debut, we’ll be sure to fill you in on all the key details right here on gaming.net

So, what’s your take? Will you be picking up a copy of Sophia the Traveler when it arrives on PC? Let us know your thoughts over on our socials here.