(Review written by Scott Dirk.)
Yonder is an open world exploration game that really delivers on its premise. You begin your journey on a ship your parents have sent you away on in an attempt to keep you safe from danger. After talking to the crew, a storm rolls in and the ship is quickly struck by lightning. A Sprite then intercedes and makes a deal with you to help you if you help the spirit find its children. These Sprites help you to combat the Murk that is littered across the land in which you are now stranded.
The game has a relaxed atmosphere of letting you explore your surroundings with childlike wonder without fear of monsters or traps. The game has a lot to explore, from huge plains, forests, and towns for trading and quests. Once you obtain tools, you’ll be able to collect various resources which you can use for crafting. The main mission is to restore the land from the infection of the Murk, but you do so at your own pace. The game gives you a lot of side quests to do as well as having farms and ranching.
The graphics in the game are very lush, but are not too demanding. The landscape is very enjoyable to look at while traveling between locations, and you can get lost in simply exploring what is around you. The world music is relaxed, but cycles between varied motifs, so it’s not just one tune set repetitively. There is also a day-night cycle which seems to have little effect other than the wild animals sleeping; the NPCs seem to be night owls.
The mechanic I enjoyed most was fishing, where you cast your line and use WASD keys to move the bobber. Once a fish bites, you then pull in the opposite direction of the fish. There is an arrow to help you with the direction, which made me feel like I was pulling in the fish. The fishing mechanic does seem better suited to a controller with thumb sticks but combing WASD keys worked well; you can also customize the key bind commands.
This is one of those expansive games that may take players a while to complete depending on how they pace themselves during gameplay. I think it’s worth the time to explore Yonder in this world.
Yonder is available on PC and PlayStation 4.
Jonah,
I have to say I am a bit offended at your blanket statement about The Sims fans all being a bunch of 14 year old girl Bieber fans. I’ll have you know we are 30 something old bieber fans, j/k. There really are a wide age range of Sims fans. While the game as Paul said was made to be easier and accessible to a broader range of fans doesn’t mean the game is simple. People have made Machinama’s, Legacy families, build challenges, etc. Proof is also in some sites catering to the more Adult things you can do with the Sims, I won’t list the sites to keep this clean but Google around and I’m sure you’ll find what I mean.
I’d like to answer both this week’s question and last weeks since they both interest me:
This Weeks: I was going to first say Facebook Games but they seem to be dying nicely on their own. Instead I wouldn’t mind to see all FPS games die in a fire, I wouldn’t miss any of them. The last one I really played was Doom I. After that they all pretty much seem the same and very boring. Listening to you guys talk about Halo and MasterChef I couldn’t see what was the appeal about the game or MC as a Iconic character. When I play a game I want to be Indiana Jones or Bond, I don’t want to be me in the game.
Last Week’s: For me the golden age would be like Paul’s with the SNES and it’s plethora of RPG games. Jordan is in for a real treat playing CT for the first time, I wish I could do that as well. The SNES was a time when I felt that I belonged to the gaming community. I loved CT, FF4 and FF6 games. After release of N64 I felt like FPS was taking over and becoming the game genre to make. Adventure seemed to die after that era. I later felt solace with the PS1 and DS games for my adventure and RPG needs.
To sum up I feel like FPS has displaced me as market for games because I am too old and slow to “get” FPS games and Adventure/RPG doesn’t make enough money by comparison.
Re: Blizzard not rolling back Diablo III game data.
I like that they have chosen not to punish everyone who didn’t use the exploit. It makes me think that Blizzard actually cares about its customers.
Re: Obsidian desires to make Star Wars Rpg.
The question is will they be allowed to and can they afford the price that EA will probably charge for the rights to make it?
Hey guys,
I missed last week’s QOTW so maybe I’ll give my answer as Alphasard did.
Golden era of games: It’s so hard to choose. I’ve been playing games on and off for the most part of my life. I played a lot of Atari, C64, then (S)NES but I think I became aware of what I was really playing and I started actively looking for particular games in the late 90’s, earliy 2000’s. I already mentioned my love of adventure games and that’s when I found Broken Sword, the Monkey Island series, Jack Orlando, Syberia, etc. I also loved Heroes of Might and Magic III and I played a lot of NFS: Hot Pursuit. Somewhere around 2002 I stopped upgrading my PC and I didn’t really play any new stuff… Until I bought a PS3 3 years ago and I can play all the new releases without having to worry about hardware which is great. This is my gaming renaissance, so to speak.
Genre I’m burnt out on: I would have to say sports games. I’m an NHL fan and I played the EA Sports games since 1998. I bought NHL11 for my PS3, I played a while but I found many better games to play. I think I haven’t played a single game in over a year. I enjoyed FIFA and NBA games back in the day as well but I’m not drawn to them anymore.
Question from the reader: Do you think that the E3 this year is going to be a big event? Could it be too damn big with the new generation consoles playing a huge part in it? (Sorry Jonah, couldn’t resist 😉 )