Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles Reviews
An open world adventure that does away with combat, Yonder's beauty is ultimately undone by its mundanity.
It has admirable intentions, but this misguided role-player proves a quiet life is rarely an entertaining one when it comes to video games.
A meditative game about exploring and gathering that offers great beauty but not much else.
In the end, 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.
Sometimes, you really do just need a laid-back game that drops any semblance of agency or emergency and instead allows you to simply explore everything that it has to offer at your own leisure — something that you can easily unwind with, or a title that's just relaxing and inviting. Yonder fulfills this purpose wonderfully, and I can see myself revisiting it time and time again just so I can get lost in its world once more.
Yonder lacks combats, but that it's not a problem when you have a world as beatifully crafted as this is. Match it with addictive (although simple) crafting mechanics, and you have a unique adventure, where joy is found behind every new landscape.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Prideful Sloth has created a well balanced game with a great artistic style and an amazing OST. Great game for the players that enjoy exploration and adventure.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is that it is a beautiful canvas that needs more detail to make it a masterpiece. Gemea is an enchanting location and the majority of systems in the game function well, but the magic hook is missing. The story isn't engrossing and the quests just blend into each other for the most part, as do the characters that give them. Gemea is magical, the content not so much.
A perfect approach to introduce kids in RPGs and a good choice for those who wish to enjoy a friendly and peaceful game.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is a lovely, sedate open world adventure game that inexplicably gates its crafting mechanic behind an obtuse, tiered system that renders it moot.
Yonder is obviously a fantastic game for adults to play with their children, and for slightly older children to be allowed to play unsupervised. Even for adults it's surprisingly beautiful, and a soothing breath of anxiety-calming non-violence. But the older you get, the less mileage you might receive from Gemea.
I've had such a splendid time just mellowing and wallowing in Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles, not needing to care why it has such a terrible name, not being rushed along, or nagged to do anything. Sure, I now want to also play a game that rushes me along and nags me to do things, ideally with a sword to swing around, but what a wonderful piece of balance Yonder offers.
There are enough small grievances I have with the game that hold it back from being truly great, but the tone and setting are so charming that it's hard to be too mad at it. If you want to do some peaceful meandering during your commute, the Switch version is easy to recommend.
Yonder is the type of game I wish we had a lot more of on Xbox.
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles does its best to present you with a steady stream of breathtaking vistas, serene escapes and idyllic moments that snap to a picture frame with flawless ease. The core game has all of its slight flaws that came with the other versions, but I found that taking time to frame and save some of what I saw gave me a deeper appreciation of Yonder's many high points.
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is a very cute adventure that lacks a slightly deeper story, a variety of side quests and a simpler crafting system. The guilds idea is good, but confusing, and hiring employees is too expensive. Problems with the interface, as well as other flaws, spoil the initial exceptionally positive impression, but not so much as to drop the game before finishing.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Ranging from icy mountaintops to arid deserts, each area had trees, land structures and animals unique to that portion of the map.
Yonder has some interesting aspects to it, and while they really tried to throw in everything and the kitchen sink into it minus combat, many of them fall flat or shallow. The exploration is the best part of the game by far, and while the other parts of the game may be to shallow for me, others may find enjoyment out of them. Even then, the pacing is well done and players will have a pretty view the entire time. I'd say wait for price drop, but when that happens check it out.
Despite a few minor hiccups, Yonder offers a beautiful world to explore at your pace. You won't be fighting legions of demons to save the island, but you do collect cats and the likes.
Yonder Chronicles brings to the industry a game focused more on exploring, developing, and interactions over violence and leveling, and the end product is refreshing. A few things hold it back, but the heart and soul of the entire package is not to be denied on its way to success.