Written By: Patrick Orquia
Title: Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles
Developer: Prideful Sloth
Publisher: Prideful Sloth
Genre: Adventure, Simulation, Lifestyle, RPG
Number of Players: 1
Release Date: 17th May 2018
Price: $29.99
At first glance, it would be fair to assume that this game would be another Zelda-like game, where the protagonist would embark on a massive adventure across a wide map, slaying foes and gathering weapons along the way. This game is NOT like that, at all. Actually it resembles Animal Crossing more, with a whole lot of Harvest Moon thrown in, but framed in a Zelda-like environment. Minus the monsters, that is.
The game is about a protagonist that got cast away to a magical island of Gamea. This island is threatened by Murks that cover villages and other areas that could be only be freed by Sprites. These Sprites are magical being and are scattered across the land. You as the protagonist start with one and as you progress in the game, you find more of them. The areas covered by Murk also require a certain number of Sprites for them to be freed, so you will be required to find these little creatures often hidden away from plain sight. While you try to do this, you encounter different individuals, some of whom would require you to do certain tasks, like gathering materials, repairing farms, seeking lost animals, and the like. This is one facet of the game that could make you rack hours upon hours of gameplay. I remember starting the game Stardew Valley. I didn’t think that I would play it for a long time, as by that time, I haven’t really played any farm simulation games, but lo and behold, I ended up having more than 60 hours of gameplay out of it. Yonder is not quite like Stardew Valley, as it lacks one key element that that game has: combat.
Yes, there are no enemies on this game. None. Even if you try to like hit animals with your axe to satisfy your lust for blood, the game will not allow you to. Even if you try to annoy them and provoke them to maul you to death, no, that just doesn’t happen. I was a bit disappointed by that, but as I played the game more, I realized that the game doesn’t really need it. I did enjoy the gathering of materials, crafting them, trading them for other stuff like gardening tools, farming, taking care of animals, doing fetch quests, finding lost people or animals, and all that jazz. Of course, aside from that, I still had to find the Sprites for me to progress in the game, and that one is also enjoyable. The game features an open-world map that could be quite fun to explore, as there is a very noticeable absence of Lynels and other terrifying monsters. Unlike Breath of the Wild, though, mountain cliffs could not be climbed, but almost all areas can be easily accessed on foot. There is also no risk of falling to your death, as the protagonist would automatically open his magical umbrella that slows down his descent. It’s quite cute.
And cute is the main aesthetic of the game. The character design of people and other creatures are good, and they look really, well, cute. And this contributes a lot to the game being so relaxing to play, along with the lack of any risk of dying. Even if the world doesn’t have a fast travel system, walking from one point of the map to another is not much of a chore. You can also thank the soothing music that quite resembles of the music from Wind Waker. The music also cuts off after sometime (usually when it turns dark) and you are only left with the ambient sounds of nature. Sounds of crickets, wind blowing through leaves, and meowing of small kittens (also part of the collectibles) can be heard. They sound especially good using headphones.
Overall, this game is really good, if you don’t expect much. Battling against enemies shouldn’t be present in all games. I personally would prefer the game to have a combat system, but other elements in the game made me enjoy it. It’s a very good game to escape from the likes of Doom or Fortnite, or even Zelda. If you like farming simulations and crafting stuff out of other stuff, this game is for you. But even you are not a fan of such game genre, this game could still be that one game to just put your mind at ease, and make you realize that there is still good left in the world.
REPLAY VALUE: high
PROS
- Excellent cel-shaded graphical style, character design, level design, and musical score
- Relaxing gameplay
- Map shows points of interest and allows you to set a path to a destination of your choice
- Very intuitive controls
- Interesting trading system
- Ambient sounds sound really good especially when using earphones
- Traversing the open-world map from one point to another is not much of a chore
- Gathering and crafting materials are easy to do
- Farming is quite enjoyable
CONS
- Fetch quests can become too repetitive
- Most quests don’t provide enough details, which could become tedious due to the large open-world map that has no fast travel system
- NO COMBAT SYSTEM WHATSOEVER
- So-so story
- Everything is brightly illuminated during daytime, making some quests that require you to find certain characters hard to do because it’s hard to see them against a brightly-lit background
- The Murk, which is the main threat in the game, is not really threatening at all
- The game would occasionally trigger auto-saving while your character is walking, resulting to some framerate issues
- Quite pricey
RATING: 4/5 Sage Stones and Sprites
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