Herdling

The indie developer {Okomotive} has become well-known for its more atmospheric and simple adventures. Following two well-received chapters in the {FAR} series, the studio has had a change of heart and instead redirected its attention to something fresh, a game known as {Herdling}.

The premise of this project is actually rather straightforward. You take on the role of a young shepherd of sorts, where the ultimate goal is to lead a herd of fantastical beasts - regarded as {Calicorns} - through a world to complete their migration to the top of an enormous mountain. This begins in the grungy and dirty underpass of a dark city, but in time shifts to open prairies, stunning valleys, deep tunnels, and alpine-like mountain ranges, all where the player has to navigate minor environmental challenges to continue progressing forward and to expand the herd with additional {Calicorns} who have been adopted along the way.

Again, the premise is very simple and there's nothing wrong with that. {Herdling} is over as quickly as it starts, but it leaves an impression for the simple reason that it encourages the player to devote their complete focus to guiding the herd. Mechanically, it's a very basic experience, where you spend the majority of your time acting as a sheepdog of sorts, barking orders to drive the {Calicorn} herd forward in the correct direction. There's only a handful of inputs that ever require mastery, but they're designed and incorporated in such a way that you're always using them and finding interesting ways to improve your stewardship of the {Calicorns}. It works even if it lacks some of the mechanical depth of other games.

And this is also while {Herdling} lacks dialogue or any kind of spoken narrative. There's next to no audio of relevance, and all of the storytelling is done through the worldbuilding and the player actions, and {Okomotive} prove to be effective at delivering this. {Herdling} is emotional, and even though there's minimal interaction with the {Calicorns} themselves, you bond with them and develop a connection with the beasts under your protection, something that can be expanded upon by giving them nicknames and minor cosmetic accessories.

But it should be said that this all works for the simple reason that {Herdling} doesn't nearly overstay its welcome. It's a very brief and short game, lasting a few hours, depending on how effective you prove to be as a shepherd. Due to the short length, there's no room for bloat or unnecessary systems and mechanics, and the puzzles also prove to be quite straightforward and don't lead you to bashing your head against a wall, which is a benefit since the controls are often a point of frustration and make you tired from continued play.

Yep, {Herdling}, at least on {Switch}, is a bit of a nuisance to actually play. The game isn't a performance trainwreck in the sense of frame drops and choppy resolution (even if the resolution isn't great and there are noticeable texture pop in, especially when in very open environments), but it has its demons with bugs and issues without question.

For one, the camera is abhorrent to use. It barely functions properly and consistently goes off on its own, twisting the perspective and then stopping the player from being able to correct it. This could be clipping under the level or moving so the player is staring at the camera like {Crash Bandicoot} running from a boulder. It's immensely frustrating, especially when the movement looks to take control of its own volition and veer off in directions you don't expect... Matching this up with the actual game-breaking error that is being able to progress without your {Calicorn} herd, meaning you will eventually hit a puzzle you cannot solve since there's no {Calicorn} around and no way to retrace your steps due to the game imposing barriers... You ultimately get a game that proves to be too much of a nuisance to play at times than its short duration ever allows for.

It might sound like I'm bashing {Herdling}, but these are pretty basic things that the game should get right, and frankly if it did, {Okomotive} would have a rather lovely and charming indie game on its hands. As it stands, at least on {Switch}, it's hard to recommended {Herdling}, as the issues simply make some parts of the game actually unplayable, at least if you, like me, regard not having to restart a game from scratch to get past a bug as a fundamental ask from a video game. Still, if you're lucky enough to avoid these issues you will find that {Herdling} has charm and a simple premise that's ideal for those looking to fill a couple or a few nights with a new video game.