Recent reviews by Beefsen

I recommend it, but I'll focus on the cons if you're uncertain:

Some of the puzzles are a bit oblique - there is a lot of extraneous information that makes the puzzles a lot harder than they actually need to be (because you're so focused on the other stuff that you think must fit in somehow). There could be a bit more clarity as to what is relevant and what is not - maybe I just love complicated puzzles so much that I was just expecting the puzzles to be more complicated than they were?

The store could have been expanded a bit more, and dragged the game out a lot longer with more cool tid bits of information. I feel like I am still missing a lot of information about the characters that would make me care a lot more.

However, it was fun, and the ending made me laugh

I do wish the snap tools were a little more finessed, but that was the same issue I had with Planet Coaster.

Overall it is good so far!

A lot of open space, not much in it.

I will say this: Yonder is very reminiscent of old PlayStation games back in the day, in terms of how things function, the collectibles, etc. But there isn't any substance here- the story is cliched, it wants you stop the dark clouds or whichever from taking over the land but I don't care enough about the world to want that. Farm customisation is limited, the characters are kind of irritating.. oh, the characters!

There's no characters in Yonder that make me want to be in the world at all. Animal companions are lifeless, and trail far too far behind you when you walk. The people- well, there isn't a single name I could recall from the game. They barely have any life to them, and don't move from their spots most of the time.

There is also a lot of open space between one area to the next- walking that lengthy distance is tedious, and there isn't much in the background by way of view to make the journey interesting.

Overall, for a game released in 2017... there are absolutely zero innovations or points that make me want to pick this up again. If you want to farm, you have Stardew, if you want to relive old PlayStation style fetch quests, go back and play Spyro or anything else. If you want great views, there's BOTW or Skyrim or... anything else.

While a decent game in itself, there are far too many oither options that do things better. I wouldn't reccomend picking this up for the price tag. You won't find anything new to offer from it. You should spend the $27 on something with a bit more substance to it.

Honestly:

Cons first:
I was a little disappointed in terms of how linear it was. I was hoping for more of an exploratory, multi-pathed thing with lots of places to explore but it's kind of straightforward, with really obvious goal markers, and single paths. This can, of course, all change when it moves form EA.

However the biggest issue is... the main character's voice-acting. Not the actor themselves exactly, but it seems really awkward and forced given the context- it's also slightly too loud cmpared to ambient sounds (haven't looked into adjusting the sound yet if I can change the different levels but at default) and sort of tears me away from the immersion at times. A few lines are really sort of unnerving:I mean, if the main character's lived in the world for however long he has (the main character is an adult); he obviously cannot be as ignorant of things as the tutorial-style intro makes it out to be. He gets confused about finding artifacts and is like ?!??!! WHAT ARE THOSE whenever he runs into a new enemy (which seem to be fairly widespread- really, he's never seen one of them before?). Also, some things are never even explained but he totes knows what's up with those guys. It's a bit contradictory. This is also coming from the fact that he is already on a 'journey' and probably has some goals in mind. Honestly, I feel like I'm playing an absolute idiot most of the time. I haven't gotten too far yet; but he seems really, really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ stupid. Not to mention that he talks about how rare people are; yet he can speak a language that everyone understands. Where did he learn it from? He had to have parents or an origin or something, they must have taught him some other things! Why is he so stupid when he's talking?

I'd highly suggest them re-writing and re-recording most of his dialogue, because it just seems really weird. I do really enjoy the lines he says when you find an artifact though- those are hilarious. Some folks here (after reading the other reviews and editing mine a bit) complain about his lack of emotion- hoenstly I find the deadpan execution quite funny. However, they are right- he should be a little more invested when it comes to the actual storyline. VERY IMPORTANT: The voice-actor himself is GOOD. It's not about him- it's just.. the dialogue lines themelves are really awakward and umeotional.

Also, for being a parkour game, the grab-edges are kinda.. awkward? and it's really easy to miss things for really stupid reasons. Maybe I am just bad at games, but it's hard to tell where the cut off point is. And, with it being first-person (and not third person like assasin's creed), it's hard to tell where your feet are when running - and you can't look down because you tend to move whereever youre looking towards).

Lastly, ****[early-game spoilers begin here], when finding the shrine for the first time, and the first door gets opened, I was really confused because of how far away it was in the end. It was really awkward to run all the way across the map and having to get down from up ther ewas really awkward (pipe-passage shortcut I did not go to, as I thought the door would be somewhere else so I went past it a little). Also, I was not too sure what exactly I accomplished going through that first area.

[spoiles are over]****



Pros:

This game actually reminds me quite a lot of old-school Playstation and Gamecube games- like Spyro. The nostalgia's really strong with the way it's been developed and played. Honestly, I'm really digging that. Modern games have gone in the wrong direction at times, and it's mnice to see a straight-forward, item-collecting-y type thing to play. It's something I just enjoy. I'm not very good at developing good battle strategies or complex fights- like Dark Souls at the worst. This is so simple and just has these really nice basic elements to it; but with the modern graphics. It's really nice for me to play it. It's just something I could pick up and gothrough. Maybe this is a con for some people, but I really like it. It gives me a break ffrom really hard-core RPGs and complex stuff. It's just nice to play, though I wish the storyline was a little darker.

The landscapes are also amazing! I actually find the world really beautiful, though some of the foliage could use an upgrade (specifically in the frozen area).

Lastly for pros, I really like how progress is saved. I really like finally getting to an object, and even if I die I still retain it. I'm not sure if it's intentional, but it takes off a lot of stress about falling. Losing SKypieces really isn't an issue, but it's nice to see that all my collectibles save regardless of where I go.

All in all, I'm actually enjoying it quite a bit, thouigh don't go into this expecting a really deep complex game juuust yet.

Absolutely fantastic. The first genuine review I could ever honestly write.

I was incredibly impressed with Obduction. To avoid spoilers, I'll keep it short and sweet, but when everything clicked together it all made perfect sense. Sometimes there are gardens you should just leave alone to grow.

You can sing to your snail. I can say no more.

Probably one of the more fantastic things the world has given us- even in early access, as long as you don't complain, there is a lot of fun to be had!