Review: Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is a charming game focused on exploration

Platform: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), PC

Developer: Prideful Sloth

MSRP: $19.99

Introduction

I have a bit of an addictive personality. Naturally, that attracts me to games that facilitate that addiction. Whether it's the addiction to find that perfect character build and armor in Diablo 3 or Destiny, or on the opposite spectrum, cultivate and nurture my own farm by collecting items and upgrading my land in smaller games like Stardew Valley. Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles, which is a name entirely too long, provided me with the satisfaction to appease my addictive personality with loads of collectibles to pick up, items to craft, landmarks to restore and folks to help out. In fact, after playing this game for a bit, I thought this game could have been my Stardew Valley with a Wind Waker aesthetic. So does it end up feeding into my addictive personality? Let's find out!

A farmer's life

Yonder starts out deceptively on a boat, as you're set on an adventure to a new land. Knowing very little about Yonder, I didn't even realize this was a game focused on farming, crafting and exploring before this, so once the game started to teach me various mechanics such as gathering materials and crafting items, I was pleasantly surprised.

After you wash ashore, you get acquainted with the townsfolk, who help you get your bearings, and teach you how to live and survive off the land, and help them out in the process. In no time, you'll be smashing rocks, cutting down tall grass and mining precious ore in order to craft new items and even landmarks. It's a satisfying gameplay loop that never feels complicated and is always relatively easy to follow.

Not too long after, you're also given your farmland, which you can customize with various buildings and then even animals. Once that's all set up, you simply wait for it to start producing materials and you're good to go!

Exploration sensation

Another very big part of Yonder is its focus on exploration. You're constantly encouraged to go further, see what's beyond the mountain, visit a neighboring village, or even pass through a portal. It's hard to get lost thanks to the game's compass system which will always point you in the direction of your next objective, and the ever expanding map which you can bring up with a push of a button.

You're also rewarded with various hidden resources, chests filled with items that can either be useful or sometimes less so but let you alter your look. And, of course, there are loads of quests to partake in, that you'll gradually discover as you uncover the map.

Exploring will also yield you more Sprites, little flying critters that help you remove a substance called Murk, which in turn unlocks new activities to partake in or even new areas to explore.

No swashbuckling adventures for you!

The devs decision to make this game entirely combat free is commendable. I don't need combat in a game with solid mechanics and a decent progression system that makes me feel accomplished. Granted, I do enjoy raiding the mines in Stardew Valley and smash up some slimes from time to time, but if that part was taken out of the game, I think I'd still fundamentally enjoy what Stardew has to offer given its crazy amount of other mechanics and progression systems.

The problem with Yonder is that those other mechanics aren't as deep, and the progression isn't that tangible here. Sure, you can always add more animals to your farm or improve it in many ways, but the sense of progression isn't felt here.

So charming!

If Yonder has anything going for it, it's its presentation, which is filled to the brim with charming characters, cute and strange animals roaming the land, and a stylized aesthetic that's close to Wind Waker. The game is absolutely gorgeous despite its simplistic art style. It works within the context of Yonder.

There are small details that further enhance the charm, such as when caring for your animal, you perform an adorable animation where you touch noses, or when jumping from a high ledge, instead of falling and taking damage, your character whips out an umbrella and slowly descends down. It's touches like these that will undoubtedly make you smile each time you see them happen.

The music and sound effects lend themselves to the charm as well. Whenever you accomplish something within the game, an orchestral tune lets you know what a good job you did, and you'll undoubtedly feel great each time you hear it. If there's only one grating sound effect that I wish the devs would do away with, it's a type of bird sound effect (I think?) There are certain areas where the sound effects almost sound like high pitched beeps, almost like an alarm, and when I first heard them, I thought it was coming from somewhere in my apartment, because it didn't sound like it fits in the game, but alas, those were definitely the most jarring and out-of-place.

Conclusion

When this game was first revealed and many sites compared it to Zelda mixed with Stardew Valley, I think it got a particular subset of gamers interested for no reason. Describing it as such gives the impression that the gameplay will mix both of those franchises. Aesthetically it bears some semblance to perhaps Wind Waker, but gameplay wise this game couldn't be further from a Zelda game.

While it certainly tries to emulate the passive gameplay that focuses crafting and exploration and completely does away with combat, ultimately, there isn't enough to hold my attention, nor my addiction. It's still a fun game but sadly doesn't have that lasting appeal that Stardew has. On its own, it's certainly worth the asking price, and anyone looking for a game that doesn't put combat front and center, Yonder does a pretty great job at distracting you with its many mechanics. However, once you've done them all for a while you'll find that they lack the staying power.