Hand-drawn games have a certain je ne sais quoi about them. There’s something about the artist’s hand that makes them seem especially charming. Whateverland falls into that category: it’s a hand-drawn point-and-click adventure about a skilled thief who gets caught stealing from a powerful witch. Stealing is bad on a good day, but stealing from someone who can send you to an alternate universe is an especially bad idea. The game first launched for PC last year, and today it was announced that it will be ported to consoles.
Vincent is a very naughty boy indeed, and a talented thief. When trying to steal a precious necklace, its owner catches him. Beatrice is an ancient, powerful witch, and she sentences him to wander a parallel world as punishment. Everything there is just so different from normality. Vincent needs to escape this world and return to his own, but whether or not he does so morally is up to the player.
Described as a not-so-classic point-and-click, the game also mixes in features of a turn-based board game.
The entire way, Vincent has an annoying ghost named Nick at his side. He’ll meet charismatic locals along the way; these people have been banished to the world known as Whateverland as Beatrice considers them to be her enemies. Each level can be completed in at least two ways: he can choose to steal and deceive, or be a good boy and help others. The game features rich branching dialogues and multiple endings.
Related reading: For another supernatural point-and-click adventure, check out An English Haunting.
The chapters can be played in any order. If you get stuck, drop the one you’re on and move on to another one. There are 19 mini-games in total, though it will take multiple playthroughs to get to them all. They include challenges like giving a tattoo to a merman, making top-notch ramen, or cracking locks.
Developed by Caligari Games and ported/published by Drageus Games S.A., Whateverland will be released for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series, and Xbox One. A self-published PC version was launched last September.
