Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles

Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles shouting the word defining - ease. It gives you neither a large, nor a small sandbox where you can devote yourself to different professions, uncover the secrets of the island, help local people ... But you do not have to do anything of it. Do not try this if you need a guiding hand. Enter if you are looking for relaxation, beauty and the absence of any kind of violence.

A chilled action-RPG that ditches combat for crafting and exploration. [Issue#265, p.56]

A very cute game that sometimes can be a little boring.

Yonder isn’t inventive, exactly, as the multitude of ideas and cross-media inspirations converge somehow into something infinitely familiar. Missions are cut down to absolute basics to fulfill an open world quota, but it’s possible to forgive this when traipsing through this aesthetically pleasing land and helping these delighted folk. And as importantly, there’s bravery in eliminating things like combat and leveling, allowing Yonder a rare, distinctive brevity.

The story in Yonder isn’t in the same category of RPG such as The Witcher or The Elder Scrolls - even the inhabitants of Gemea seem generally disinterested in the Murk that has covered much of their lands. However, the game mechanics are generally fun, and one could argue that Yonder would be the perfect introductory RPG, especially for younger gamers. The cute, colourful characters, animals and locations make peaceful exploring rather enjoyable, and the fact that there is no combat and your character cannot really die, makes Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles an easy proposition for those unfamiliar to the more serious role playing games.

Yonder: The The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is a peaceful and relaxing game, where you have to help the citizens of Gemea about everything: good atmosphere but it is a fetch quest-festival.

A childlike and visual appealing adventure with gameplay that fails to motivate in the long term.

You run around for an hour or two, you mine stuff, you cut trees, you deliver packages from one person to another, and then you realize: that’s it. If you bring tavern keeper those flowers she asked for, you’ll get more tasks. You do them – you’ll get invited to a guild that will give you even more grab this, craft that jobs that somehow never start being fun – and Yonder has no combat to fall back to. [Issue#223, p.67]

Yonder’s world is an impressive and stylish creation. The variety of environments (both geological and natural) squeezed into its compact island make for an enjoyable, exploratory romp for as long as that novelty keeps its hold. But once the main 4-5 hour quest is done, you’ve seen the extend of what the game has to offer. That wouldn’t automatically be a problem, except the crafting and farm ownership aspects are too superficial to act as a compelling reason to return. As a result, this is a short and undeniably sweet title which lacks the depth of its contemporaries.