Last week a friend of mine came by offering to sell me some of his games before he traded them in. There were a couple that caught my eye right away that I bought off him but a few of them I wasn’t sure about. This is one of those games and I bring it to you in a “quick blip” because I found myself getting so sucked into the game that I knew was going to be spending a lot of time on it. So here is my initial thoughts on the game, there will be a full review to come in the future.
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles
Initially this game had me questioning it right off the bat. You start off on a boat that doesn’t give you a lot of room to move and even less to do. Quickly though you “crash” on an island opening up a free range world and a ton of things to take care of in it!
The land is covered in a blight (called Murk) that has been making life very tough for the citizens living there. From small house holds to large sections of the map the island has been suffering greatly. You’re goal is to find the sprites around the map, either hidden in easy to find areas or in places that require you to complete quests, they help you defeat the Murk where you find it. Once you have enough sprites to knock down the Murk that’s simply all you have to do, there isn’t a battle or anything but I’m glad for that. It would become rather tedious to have a battle at every location.
Speaking of battles I have yet to encounter one. There hasn’t been anything reminiscent of a “monster” for me to attack but that hasn’t meant that I’ve been running out of things to do.
From carpentry to cooking, fishing to farming, and any other number of various things that you can do you’ll find yourself entertained the whole way through. Fairly early on I unlocked a farm so I was able to get myself some animals and crops resulting in a continuous “income” in terms of items. From there you can learn to build more stables or gadgets to collect more items or turn the items you are collecting into things with more value. For example you can turn the milk you’ve been collecting into cheese.
This really works out in your favor because not only are the items you collect and craft through the game used to make better and better things, they are also your currency. In this game there isn’t a form of currency other than the good old bartering system. I always like the ability to just sell off as much as I can to load up my wallet and clear out my backpack but this is even nicer in some ways. Since you might as well hold onto everything until you need to trade things you’re a lot more likely to have the crafting items on hand that you need when something comes up. Also so far the backpack seems unlimited so overstocking really isn’t an issue.
I guess I should also mention that this game did a wonderful job of walking me through how to do everything. I don’t know if I would have even realized this if it wasn’t for the next borrowed game that I tried which was horrible in that regard. Yonder answered all my questions before I even thought to ask them letting me adventure the lands as much as I wanted without question.
With so much to do in the game it is reminding me of a lot of the things I like in other games all rolled into one. The farming aspect of games like Stardew Valley, and learning to upgrade your skills in different areas like I used to in World of Warcraft. I can see myself spending a lot of hours on this game so keep your eyes open for more indepth reviews coming soon.
