# Where the Water Tastes Like Wine

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is an adventure game developed by Dim Bulb Games and Serenity Forge, and published by Good Shepherd Entertainment. It was released for Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows in February 2018. In November 2019, Serenity Forge announced that Where the Water Tastes Like Wine would also be released on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

## Gameplay

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a narrative-driven adventure game. 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. "[Going] where the water tastes like wine" is an excerpt from the traditional American folk song "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" (also known as the "Lonesome Road Blues"). The game was published by Good Shepherd Entertainment. The game was released for Linux, macOS and Microsoft Windows on 28 February 2018. According to the developer, the game's initial release was a commercial disaster.
On November 8, Serenity Forge announced the game would be coming to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on November 29.

## Reception

Aggregate score :
| Aggregator | Score |
| Metacritic | PC: 74/100 NS: 69/100 |
Review scores :
| Publication | Score |
| Destructoid | 8.5/10 |
| Edge | 5/10 |
| Eurogamer | Recommended |
| Game Informer | 9/10 |
| GameSpot | 6/10 |
| Hardcore Gamer | 4.5/5 |
| PC Gamer (US) | 58/100 |
| Polygon | 7.5/10 |
| USgamer | 2.5/5 |
| VentureBeat | 75/100 |
Where the Water Tastes Like Wine received "mixed or average" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic with the Switch version receiving slightly worse reviews than the PC version. It was awarded the Developers Choice Award along with Walden, a game at the 2017 Indiecade Festival. However, in the months following release, creator Johnnemann Nordhagen wrote in his postmortem, "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."

### 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. The soundtrack was licensed and released by video game music label Materia Collective. A limited edition vinyl was pressed by Laced Records.

### Awards

| Year | Award | Category | Result |
| 2017 | SXSW Gamer's Voice Awards | Gamer's Voice (Single Player) | Nominated |
| 2018 | Independent Games Festival Awards | Excellence in Narrative | Nominated |
| 2019 | New York Game Awards | Herman Melville Award for Best Writing | Nominated |
| 2019 | National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards | Song, Original or Adapted ("White Rider") | Nominated |
| 2019 | National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards | Writing in a Drama | Nominated |
| 2019 | SXSW Gaming Awards | Matthew Crump Cultural Innovation Award | Nominated |
| 2019 | 2019 G.A.N.G. Awards | Best Original Soundtrack Album | Nominated |
| 2019 | 2019 G.A.N.G. Awards | Best Original Song ("Heavy Hands") | Nominated |