Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles Reviews
One cannot comprehend who Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is meant to serve.
Without a way to fail, Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles just soldiers on like its fishing minigame.
It has admirable intentions, but this misguided role-player proves a quiet life is rarely an entertaining one when it comes to video games.
Due to some rather questionable gameplay decisions and a lack of variety in content, Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles ends up being a disproportionately beautiful slog to nowhere. The tank controls are outdated without any of the design elements necessary to make them engaging, while the story tries to be an intimate journey of self-discovery without anything to discover. Gemea's lush and vibrant landscape is the one saving grace, and peacefully walking through colourful forests and past bustling rivers almost makes the whole shipwreck worth it - but the world's lack of complete identity, both in gameplay and how it presents itself, is too glaring to ignore. The shame of it all is that Yonder isn't held back by time constraints or a tight budget; it's held back by design.
Yonder: the Cloud Catcher Chronicles gives us a break from all of the over the top violent gaming out there.
"There’s not enough farming for it to be a farming simulator, not enough danger to be an adventure game, and not enough story risks for a children’s game."
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles lacks in only one, but the most important thing – variety of quests. Repeatable objectives makes the game pretty dull.
Review in Polish | Read full review
"Wandering around in a world inspired by Breath of the Wild."
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Yonder had the potential for a lot, but ultimately disappointed in the key areas of farming and crafting. There needed to be more in this game. As it is, it's enjoyable as a casual resource/management adventure, but not much else.
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles was alright, nothing more though nothing less.
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.
If you enjoy stopping to smell the roses, the fields of Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles are awash with aroma. However, if you're looking for something with a little more kick, you may not get what you're looking for.
All told, Yonder is that kind of game that has value, but only a very specific kind of gamer will be able to find it. Yonder isn't a bad game by any means, but it's clear that it tries to do too much at once and doesn't stop to make sure that anything is that fun in practice. Mediocre gameplay mechanics aside, it's a relaxing game to play with your coffee in the morning, and the presentation value is a definite plus. We'd recommend this to anyone looking for a relatively shallow game that doesn't take a whole much of a time investment; for what it is, Yonder is a decent game, though it's hardly a must-play.
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles offers an amazing world to play in, but an underdeveloped story and menial side-quests offer little to keep players interested.
Even with its flaws, Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles manages to create a beautifully peaceful experience.
A pleasant experience from start to finish. But that conclusion comes rapidly, and the post-game crafting and farming activities are too light to be truly compelling.
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 meditative game about exploring and gathering that offers great beauty but not much else.
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is a mindless adventure game that's easy to lose yourself in. Story and character development are pretty light, but the main focus is atmosphere, which the game accomplishes beautifully.
A childlike and visual appealing adventure that fails to motivate in the long term
Review in German | Read full review