Yonder was the first PS4 game I ever played that I actually loved. I was at PAX East back in April and I saw it being sold. I never heard of the game and I knew nothing about it but I chose to get it. It's still one of my most favorite games of all time. It's fun, cute, and very relaxing. It's a game about exploring, crafting, farming, and helping people, with no fighting at all.
GRAPHICS - 9/10
The graphics are so simple and cute yet at the same time they're really advanced and powerful. The lighting and shadows and colors make the game super vibrant and artsy. All of the characters and creatures have adorable designs. The landscape is also marvelous with its mountains, forests, plains, oceans, and more all on one map. The game is just so fun to look at.
SOUND - 9/10
The sound of the game is pretty good with most of the power coming from the score. There are no voices and most of the sounds are actually pretty realistic. The best part of the sound aspect though is the music because it's so calm and relaxing.
ADDICTIVENESS - 10/10
This is the kind of game that you want to 100%. And even after you beat the game you might find yourself coming back to fish or to expand your farm even more. Imagine playing Minecraft on peaceful mode but with a story and a much more beautiful world. You're going to keep playing.
STORY - 8/10
The story is very straight forward and simple. Fix a machine and save the world. I feel like the developers had a debate about whether or not to even have a story. It feels like the story only serves to get you to explore the world because that's what the core focus of the game is about. Most of The story and the hundreds of side quests are about exploring, farming, collecting, discovering, fishing, etc.
DEPTH - 10/10
The game actually has a lot going on. In addition to the story, farming, exploring, and chopping down trees, there's so many side quests. Quests to catch all the fish or to find 51 cats, or do do a bunch of other things. Once you think you did everything you could, you have to check again because there's always something new to do, even if it's do the same mission for someone else with a different reward. The map itself is pretty big as well and there's a lot to explore.
Difficulty - 0
There's no fighting, there's no conflict, there's no dying. The worst thing that's going to happen to you is you might respawn if you go in deep water and I might be wrong about that since I haven't tried that in a while. Heck, you can jump off the top of a mountain and you'll glide down holding onto an umbrella. Sure some people might really want the challenge and grind but then this wouldn't be the game for them because this is meant to be a peaceful and relaxing game. Kind of like games like Mincraft, Stardew Valley, and No Mans Sky if all the threats were taken out. The game is not difficult. All you do is walk around until you see something and then you interact with it. Plus you farm.
OVERALL
I love a good challenge. Give me Pokemon, Persona, Monster Hunter, and Skyrim any day, but this was the game I had no idea I needed. It might not be your kind of game, but who knows, maybe it is. It's fun and it's very relaxing. At the time it was a bit on the expensive side but it was definitely the best thing I bought at PAX and one of my smartest gaming desicions in a while. My overall grade for Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles will be a solid 9.4 out of 10. Yonder was the first PS4 game I ever played that I actually loved. I was at PAX East back in April and I saw it being sold. I never heard of the game and I knew nothing about it but I chose to get it. It's still one of my most favorite games of all time. It's fun, cute, and very relaxing. It's a game about exploring, crafting, farming, and helping people, with no fighting at all.
GRAPHICS - 9/10
The graphics are so simple and cute yet at the same time they're really advanced and powerful. The lighting and shadows and colors make the game super vibrant and artsy. All of the characters and creatures have adorable designs. The landscape is also marvelous with its mountains, forests, plains, oceans, and more all on one map. The game is just so fun to look at.
SOUND - 9/10
The sound of the game is pretty good with most of the power coming from the score. There are no voices and most of the sounds are actually pretty realistic. The best part of the sound aspect though is the music because it's so calm and relaxing.
ADDICTIVENESS - 10/10
This is the kind of game that you want to 100%. And even after you beat the game you might find yourself coming back to fish or to expand your farm even more. Imagine playing Minecraft on peaceful mode but with a story and a much more beautiful world. You're going to keep playing.
STORY - 8/10
The story is very straight forward and simple. Fix a machine and save the world. I feel like the developers had a debate about whether or not to even have a story. It feels like the story only serves to get you to explore the world because that's what the core focus of the game is about. Most of The story and the hundreds of side quests are about exploring, farming, collecting, discovering, fishing, etc.
DEPTH - 10/10
The game actually has a lot going on. In addition to the story, farming, exploring, and chopping down trees, there's so many side quests. Quests to catch all the fish or to find 51 cats, or do do a bunch of other things. Once you think you did everything you could, you have to check again because there's always something new to do, even if it's do the same mission for someone else with a different reward. The map itself is pretty big as well and there's a lot to explore.
Difficulty - 0
There's no fighting, there's no conflict, there's no dying. The worst thing that's going to happen to you is you might respawn if you go in deep water and I might be wrong about that since I haven't tried that in a while. Heck, you can jump off the top of a mountain and you'll glide down holding onto an umbrella. Sure some people might really want the challenge and grind but then this wouldn't be the game for them because this is meant to be a peaceful and relaxing game. Kind of like games like Mincraft, Stardew Valley, and No Mans Sky if all the threats were taken out. The game is not difficult. All you do is walk around until you see something and then you interact with it. Plus you farm.
OVERALL
I love a good challenge. Give me Pokemon, Persona, Monster Hunter, and Skyrim any day, but this was the game I had no idea I needed. It might not be your kind of game, but who knows, maybe it is. It's fun and it's very relaxing. At the time it was a bit on the expensive side but it was definitely the best thing I bought at PAX and one of my smartest gaming desicions in a while. My overall grade for Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles will be a solid 9.4 out of 10. |