honest review from 20+ hours on ps4.

[Its_Me_Pops]

I wanna review this game so as to help others understand what type of game their in for. That being said this is not about bashing the game against a rock and saying how great other games did things better or worse. this is a review of Yonder and what to expect.

Farming and ranching pretty much go hand in hand. you rebuild a farm in one of the many locations (often after clearing murk which requires having found x number of sprites). then you add animal sheds, feed troughs and watering holes. after that its tame a animal near by with its fav food and lure it to the farm. each animal produces a good daily. Farming is pretty much a mattee of locate a plot in the world or create one in your farm and grow a seed. no watering needed only time. The game allows you to recruit a helper for each farm that they will then care for. (keeping the farms condition at max without needing the player to lift a finger). That being said farming and ranching is a breeze. beautiful animals are plentiful and theres no real maintance on the players part with the hired helper. you can interact with the animals and get cute hearts as a reaction but otherwise non tedious work. So please dont go over thinking it like a harvest moon or stardew valley. no seasonal only crops, no feed the animals twice daily, milkers and sheers and brushes o my. So relax

Fishing is a little more complex with a fight bar that you simply keep green til you catch the fish. theres only one pole and unlimited bait simply get near the water to fish. tons of types each with varied weights and star rankings for those that light to set personal records. after you caught them you can cook some recipes up but theres no pond to store fish in, no breeding system or anything. just simply setting personal best records and trade/craft with them. what more do you need really.

Story/Questing .... well the story is a simple one. it carrys out through a series of quest that you can tackle while attempting a numerous amount of side quest from villager request, to repairing farms and bridges, to collecting hidden cats or sprites. the quest format is simple yet appealing for this easy going title. since theres no combat in the game, your mostly running fetch quest or craft the item quest. alot of foot work to get around the world but there are fast travel work arounds. i wont spoil anything but with time you can get to each region with a fast travel station. Most of the quest are pretty cute with a brief dialouge to read and off you go. with this being said dont over think the questing system. Your running simple errands, your not slaying dragons, your not fighing bandits. your simply collecting things or crafting items.

Crafting and Tools now this is another part of the game thats both simple and yet slightly challenging. Tools are given to you as they become needed and they never require upgrading and dont break. while crafting starts out slow, you joing guilds to unlock more recipes and things get more interesting or difficult depending on how you look at it. reciped become more elaborate requiring multiple items to make. this can lead to using the storage boxes at one of your farms to horde items for use later, or alot of foot travel (fast travle once you have some of the locations) to get the needed items. Crafting will open up the world to decorations for your farm, clothing, even fireworks and dyes. just try not to get over whelemed with the bridge repair request because of the tons of materials needed to finish them if you intend to craft all of it yourself.

Customizing yourself is also possible. once in the game there are shops that sell clothes, facial hair and hair styles for you to choose. mix and match as you like, find new options in quest rewards and boxes on occassion. some will require special currency but its readily available to all from certain npcs that offer quest and exchange rates. so dont worry if you dont like your starting options as you will unlock a lot of possible combinations in game to choose from

seasons will affect a few key spots in the game from a water level change in a pond during the summer to a specific questers request for fashionable clothes. but otherwise it will not impeded your ability to do anything. theres no need to sleep after the tutorial missions essentially you never sleep again. so the day and night cycle carrys on while you work and play without every feeling restraint to make a hard list of things to get done before the sun goes down. theres no stamina penalties either.

Lastly and this is just something worth mentioning the game runs great. no issues myself in the 20+ hours i played. Also theres literally no load screen times worth mentioning. other then using fast travel the game is literally open ended with no loading required. no doors to enter and wait for a load screen. no zone lines and yet there are distinct environments that form the world and blend together well. i just thought this deserved mentioning since it allows for framerates to stay perfectly high without sudden drops and spikes due to load screens.

Overall i think this is a fun little game. i would not recomend it to people seeking a deep rpg experience like dark cloud, or harvest moon. but i do recomend it to people seeking a relaxing experience that feels similar to those games but without the heavy burden of being taxed with so much micro managment and time restraint system. I rate the game 10/10 for its ease to pick up and play, simple story and adorable graphics and animals. keep in my everyone this aint suppose to be compared to other games this is a standalone project that simply mirrors up to other cult followings.

[CV_PS]

Originally posted by Doctor Who:

Crafting will open up the world to decorations for your farm, clothing, even fireworks and dyes. just try not to get over whelemed with the bridge repair request because of the tons of materials needed to finish them if you intend to craft all of it yourself.

I'd like to say thank you for the review. It's appreciated. I think there's some intereting mentions in there that we should consdier and mull over...

The one I did call out was the bridge repair quests... Did you find these too taxing or 'unfun'? I know that I want to make sure morter is more readily avaiable in the world to ease some of the friction. I'm in two minds about making it outright craftable, or just upping the numbers people can buy on these items.

[Its_Me_Pops]

I think the bridge repair quest were a bit taxing on the nerves. mostly for the reason you stated as well the morter just isnt available as often or as in high enough number give the amount needed for the respected items we need to make for the bridge. maybe a simple increase in number available per time of purchase would balance it out a bit. i dont wanna make it a 2 second quest either mind you. its fun to explore that next area and worth the experience to feel like we had importance in gathering the materials for the expansion. i just think i logged 1 to many back to back bridges. but id consider the morter to be the biggest culprit from my experience. i changed the my rating as well not that personal ratings matter. but looking at the game for what it is and not what it reminds me of its a 10/10 for the game itself. Heck i logged about 8 hours of game play with my 3 yr old playing with me, and he adores the bambex and other creatures. he loves the umbrella when he jumps off cliffs. its giving me a game me and my son share together. its the right amount of difficulty with no worry of perma death etc, he can play with me and its stress releasing because theres no reason he cant enjoy the game with me. no foul language, obscenitys or anything. so yea keep up the solid work. ill be keeping this one on the wishlist for a steam version for sure as well as i follow the updates for the game that way too. /follow gotta love steam

[Bellavate]

If you're crafting all of the items for the bridge quests forget it... I personally wouldn't have the patience (or I would, but I'd be annoyed the entire time). I still haven't gotten all the materials despite doing a lot of purchasing.

[Its_Me_Pops]

yea i crafted nearly all of them. mostly because my 3 yr old learned to run me around on the maps. so id wait til the morter was available again while showing him the animals. otherwise yea it is rough

[jistyles]

Happy to say (and sad because it's taken this long) Mortar balance is addressed and should go into the next beta build

[Its_Me_Pops]

alright way to go. thanks alot. dont be sorry, these things take time with players and devolpers working together to identify little hiccups. i think you all are doing fantastic

[FuzzyLogic]

If I might chime in on the bridge building quests: what bummed me out a bit was the bridge pair in Shivering Plains. Beyond the stone bridge I at least found a cat but after the second one, the suspension bridge, there was nothing to be found.

And about the material requirements: maybe consider just reducing the number of arches and columns required to complete each bridge. This would not only reduce the 'mortar hunting' but the need for material juggling overall these quests require.

[jistyles]

You're totally right, we missed a loot drop in that area -- I'll make sure to put in a reward for next beta branch shortly

[anonymous]

game need polished ,is boring

[Applesauce]

Imo (16 hrs, 95%), the bridge repair quests were definitely unfun, and it was predominantly due to the limited availability of mortar. By the time I made it to the constructor's guild for the first time, I had four stone bridge quests piled up, so the rest of my gameplay experience was punctuated by daily visits to the constructor's guild until I finished all the stone bridges. And it prevented me from building anything else out of stone/metal until after the bridges were finished.

[CV_PS]

I appreciate you've already taken the slog on it, but the feedback is appreciated. We've got a fix in next update.