Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a narrative-driven adventure game.[2] Players explore a Great Depression-era United States, hearing and collecting oral stories and passing them along. Stories are used as a form of progression, with characters gradually opening up to the player in response to the provided stories, which in turn allows one to learn their true stories. The player may purchase goods to replenish their hunger or tiredness, with money being earned and then spent on the aforementioned goods, or in faster means of transportation. Several means of transport are available, including walking, hitchhiking and freighthopping.
Development and release
Where the Water Tastes Like Wine was developed by Dim Bulb Games and Serenity Forge.[3] "[Going] where the water tastes like wine" is an excerpt from the traditional Americanfolk song "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" (also known as the "Lonesome Road Blues"). The game was published by Good Shepherd Entertainment.[4] The game was released for Linux, macOS and Microsoft Windows on 28 February 2018.[5] According to the developer, the game's initial release was a commercial disaster.[6]
On November 8, Serenity Forge announced the game would be coming to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on November 29.[1]
Where the Water Tastes Like Wine received "mixed or average" reviews according to review aggregatorMetacritic with the Switch version receiving slightly worse reviews than the PC version.[7] It was awarded the Developers Choice Award along with Walden, a game at the 2017 Indiecade Festival.[17] However, in the months following release, creator Johnnemann Nordhagen wrote in his postmortem,[18] "I can’t discuss exact numbers, but in the first few weeks fewer people bought the game than I have Twitter followers, and I don’t have a lot of Twitter followers," and "At the end of the day it’s astounding that a game that got this much attention from the press, that won awards, that had an all-star cast of writers and performers, that had a bizarre celebrity guest appearance [by the musician Sting] failed this hard." Nordhagen writes, "Basically, I’m not sure that games like this one can continue to be made in the current market."[19]
Soundtrack
The soundtrack of Where the Water Tastes Like Wine gained praise as an authentic representation of Americana: The 30-track compilation spans folk, jazz, country, blues, bluegrass, and more.[20][21] The soundtrack was licensed and released by video game music label Materia Collective. A limited edition vinyl was pressed by Laced Records.
^"Nominee List for 2018". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. 11 February 2019. Archived from the original on 13 February 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
^Lagumbay, Emmanuel (14 February 2019). "2019 G.A.N.G. Awards Finalists". Game Audio Network Guild. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
