Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles

I had a situation where I bought several games in a row that were too difficult to finish. This frustrated the hell out of me. I was complaining to a friend that I just wanted to farm and walk around and not actively work at anything, and they were like, “Boy, do I have the game for you,” and they were right. Yonder is probably the most chill game experience possible where you still actually do things.

At first I was underwhelmed with the game because it seemed like a glorified fetch quest matrix with a weirdly stubby hero, but damned if the thing didn’t grow on me. I don’t know if it was feeding the cute animals or finding hidden kittens or my OCD coupled with the ability to pick up every stick and rock on the ground and somehow find a use for it.

I want to give them props for making a game with no violence whatsoever, except the catching and eating of fish. If you jump off a cliff, a little parachute opens and you gently land. If you jump in deep water, the screen fades and you respawn on the nearby bank. Hides and meat exist in-game, and to avoid actually killing animals you are given box traps which you set, and when you return you get a hide resource, or a piece of meat, or whatever.

There’s a story which I mostly ignored. There’s something called the Murk that often blocks your path and you can enlist sprites to help you clear it. The sprites tell bad puns. Fortunately you don’t have to talk to them much. You can explore the land and build farms, join guilds, collect stuff, do fetch quests, wear clothes, and craft. The farming is the exact level of non-complexity I needed at the time, and while I appreciate how the farms are set up and how resources are harvested I wish there were more crops. You can bribe wild animals with food to live on your farm. The fishing mechanics are solid and fun. There are a couple of surprise events I won’t mention here because it was fun to stumble onto these without any foreshadowing

At first the barter system annoyed me, but soon I started to get into it. I wanted to complete all the bridges, you see, and bartering was the best way to get those succulent stone arches and stone pillars. That system, and the way resources are tiered, ultimately worked for me.

One of my favorite things about the game is if you build two absurdly resource-costly rope bridges you can find an unmarked town called Troll Island or something to that effect. The island is filled with trolls sitting on piles of poo swirls. They are all complaining about the game. Now, this in and of itself is delightful, but on top of that, none of their criticism is actually wrong. Like, the protagonist DOES walk funny. The game IS a giant fetch quest. And so on. So I love that the devs made this place, and filled it with moderate, reasonable criticism alongside lovingly-crafted poo swirls. Shine on, friends.

So, Yonder: a decidedly chill wander-about experience, if you’re into that. I feel like it really encapsulates what indie games bring to the medium. It’s not perfect, but it provides a specific and fairly unique experience. It’s definitely not for everyone, but I’m glad games like this are out there.