Herdling is an odd little game. How do you begin to sell the idea that a (presumably emotional) herding simulator might be quite interesting? Yes, people love their farming sims as a band aid form of escapism, but a lot of those games are in the first instance much more about farming and not farm animals, nor the way you interact with said animals. Herdling is all about that, as the whole goal is to guide a group of strange horned beasties up a mountain.
The demo, which just launched this weekend on Steam after a recent trailer at the Future Games Show, certainly left me a lot to think about. In the first instance, I feel that it’s a game that could quite easily fit into the PS3 era of indie games quite specifically – think something along the lines of Journey, or Limbo, games where you’re just kind of heading forward because that’s the thing you’re doing. What you make of it along the way is therefore up to you. What do I make of the little bit I’ve played of Herdling?
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Well, for starters, it’s a little bit janky. To start with, anyway, guiding the actually quite sweet Calicorns is a bit awkward, at least up until the breadth of the game’s controls are properly explained to you. After spending a short stint in a city, Herdling quite literally opens up into massive, sweeping fields, giving you a much freer reign to roam with your newfound herd. Just simply making a turn offers a challenge due to its slowness, but I got the hang of it quite quickly.
You have to be thoughtful in doing so, though. There are dangers to be met with that can hurt your Calicorns (and I believe in kill them, if the game’s immortality setting means what I think it does), so you can’t just wave them around willy nilly. The slow moving nature of the beasts then means you have to keep yourself on your toes to avoid any morbid fates. To add on to the weight of being responsible for their lives, you can name each Calicorn too. You are the one guiding them, so you must get to know them, and look after them.
I admit there is the possibility that Herdling could end up falling into the trope of overly emotional indie game. Still, I find the idea of having such a leadership role over animals that don’t quite have as much autonomy and safety as its world might allow to be an interesting one, so consider this a demo that has successfully caught my intrigue. There’s no exact release date just yet, but it is expected to release this summer.