Buy Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles

Video games don't need to be violent or combat-heavy. They don't need to be overly exciting and convoluted concepts with bullets, explosions or swords. Games like Harvest Moon or its recent fan-made incarnation, Stardew Valley, prove that there is a market and demand for more grounded and relaxing, yet still rewarding, game concepts that provide the time and space to enjoy yourself however you please.

Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles tries to go in a similar yet distinctly different direction, providing time and space to craft and farm to your heart's delight but makes open-world exploration a key aspect of its design. Nothing is ever in your way in Yonder, and while that may sound liberating at first, it's also the biggest drawback that you may encounter on your trip to this mystical island.

The game doesn't waste time in creating an immersive story but throws you into the world as quickly as possible to start the journey. We're on a boat in search for a mystical island, guided by a weird floating compass stone that was a gift from our parents after they sent us away to heal the world. Once in proximity of the island, our boat sinks, we wake up in a cave (sound familiar?) and make our way into the lush and green world of this peculiar chunk of land in the middle of the ocean.

If pushed to identify Yonder's inspirations, one only has to reference several fairly recent games. The start of the game and subsequent exploration feel similar to Breath of the Wild. The crafting, farming and quests were reminiscent of the Zelda-Minecraft mix that Dragon Quest Builders masterfully emulated. Although there are many similarities to other games, Yonder doesn't really feel like a clone but has a distinct identity. Unfortunately, the design choices that make Yonder different are also those that hurt the overall experience — so much that a majority of gamers probably won't enjoy the title beyond the two- or three-hour mark.

So what is Yonder? It's an explorative, open-world game that's full of resources to collect, items to craft, quests to complete, collectibles to find, and regions to free from a murky substance (adequately named "murk") with the help of up to 28 sprites. As for when, where, how, and in what order to tackle all of those quests — that's entirely up to us. We're sent into the world with literally no tools or knowledge of what we have to do. That quickly changes when we find the first sprite that helps us clear a patch of murk that's blocking a path, and we're off to the first village.

From there, we receive quests. There is a very short main quest line that eventually guides us to the conclusion, but there are even more side-quests to complete. These are important, as they flesh out the game significantly.

We had mentioned earlier that Yonder doesn't place any restrictions on players. There are no roadblocks or level caps or anything else that halts progression. It does not push you down a road you don't want to go, and completing quests in a certain order won't make the experience better or worse. Completing quests can teach you new blueprints or give you tools or items, but they can be found and traded. It's an interesting and liberating concept, but the freedom has a significant downside: Nothing really matters because there is no fail state. It's basically an exploration-based collect-a-thon because you're walking, gathering resources, and running errands, and you don't encounter combat, enemies or threats. The only satisfaction that Yonder will eventually provide is a relaxing atmosphere and the ability to complete the game to the 100% mark.

Yonder actually does a few things quite well. The exploration is fun, and collecting stuff can be hypnotizing. I enjoyed Yonder the most when I played it in small chunks, so it wasn't long enough to miss the challenge and I still felt motivated to work on my quests. Your enjoyment of the game will ultimately be decided by whether you enjoy lots of mindless tasks in a beautiful location with fantastical but peaceful creatures. If so, Yonder might be right up your alley. Otherwise, there's not much to sink your teeth into.

Didn't I mention farming and removing murk? How can that be a mindless activity? Once we've collected enough sprites to clear the area and enough resources, we can build one farm in every distinct area of the island. Once that's done, we can build little farm buildings and areas to grow plants and keep animals. Then we can leave it alone, and the farm will automatically produce a certain amount of resources that  we have to collect from the farm chest. We need to clean the animal waste from the farm once in a while, and we can interact with our animals, but otherwise, there isn't much to farming.

All Yonder does is keep you busy. Resources are collected by either picking them up or using one of many tools to produce them. There's no stamina or anything else; it's just standing next to an object and pressing a button. That simplicity was chosen to make Yonder a relaxing and calm experience, but many will get tired of performing the same actions over and over again to eventually complete a voluntary quest or craft a useless item. It all quickly swings from one extreme to another, from being calm and relaxing to being a chore. It frequently shows promise but often kills it by not providing any challenges or measurable incentives beyond its completion rate.

Where Yonder succeeds is in its visual style and surroundings. This low-poly island is a wonderful place. Some areas aren't memorable, mostly because they lack defining landmarks or innovative scenery, but they're always colorful and presented in the right light. Lighting is just downright beautiful and mesmerizing in its detail, especially in contrast to the lower-polygon surroundings. The decent audio and music help to create a world that's more immersive than it has any right to be for a small-scale indie title. Unfortunately, as soon as you look at the ugly and limited CPU characters, you realize that not everything received quite as much attention.

The whole game runs on the Switch, but it doesn't run well. Yonder is plagued by recent frame rate drops that make it unpleasant to take prolonged journeys across the land with several changes of scenery. It's not unplayable, and it does have its smooth moments, but overall, it's still a rough experience.

All in all, Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is an exploration-based, open-world collect-a-thon with crafting and quests that are both beautiful and fun when played in small bursts. Ultimately, it doesn't provide any substantial challenges and doesn't run too well on the Switch's hardware. Unless you're a die-hard fan of relaxing games that you can play for the sake of playing, Yonder may not be your cup of tea.

Score: 6.0/10