When I clasped eyes on the rising sun over the staggering mountaintops far off into the distance, a trio of floppy-eared, red-eyed goats at my side, I knew that Herdling was going to be something special.
Developer Okomotive is well-known for evoking emotions from the way they immerse player through both open and closed spaces; it’s what made games Far: Lone Sails and Far: Changing Tides so memorable. So it was no surprise that you start Herdling by waking up below an underpass in a deserted city. As protagonist Via, you make your way to the source of the noise that woke you up: a car alarm going off because of a giant, horned and red-eyed creature. This is a Calicorn, a goat-like animal that will, inevitably, become your greatest companion throughout this short tale. You’re able to name them whatever you wish, but if you’re like me, someone who sucks with giving things a name, you can ask Herdling to provide one for you.
One randomized name later, me and my new friend Isa venture deeper into the city. Along the way, we pick up Szu and Calico, two other Calicorns, and this is where I get really stuck in on the main gameplay mechanic of Herdling: herding. In this game, you not only move Via, but the herd that you slowly amass over time. I was playing on a Steam Deck with controller controls, so I knew from the get-go that this would be a tricky experience for me and, uh, let’s just say that I managed to crush MANY cars with my trusty herd before we eventually left the city. The trouble comes from needing to be behind the herd in order to usher them forward, which doesn’t sound hard at first, but it inevitably becomes a handful when you’re trying to avoid bumping into fences, traffic cones and abandoned cars. You can decide to go as slow as possible, helpful for trophy hunting (I tried to get the one where you don’t knock over any cones, and failed miserably), but even that can become tedious.
And yet my early frustrations fell away the first time I turned the corner of the city’s littered streets and saw the aforementioned sun. The starting city is shrouded in darkness and shadow, with dumpsters on fire being the only light source. It’s a claustrophobically forsaken place, which makes your connection to the Calicorns, the only other living thing in the city outside yourself, all the more meaningful.
As I drew closer to the exit, the sunlight lit up the Calicorns’ fur from dark brown into an astonishing auburn. It was as if, stepping away from the lonely city, we were being reborn. Sparing a glance behind me, the music swelled into a deep, longing tune, and I ascended into the valley with my new friends in search of something. Only, it wasn’t until much later that I realized what we were searching in the first place.
One of my favorite words in the world is Hiraeth. It’s a Welsh word with no direct English translation, but can be summarily described as a “homesickness that’s tinged with grief and sadness, a yearning for something of the past.” It has far deeper roots in Welsh culture, particularly with the context of the Welsh language slowly being chipped away due to English assimilation. But for me, the word remained stuck in the front of my mind as I played Herdling. The world of before is gone, and the only way is forward — all in search of a new home.
Forward leads players to a lot of different locations: meadows, forests, glades and even cavernous landmarks. Unlike the city, the meadows and glades allow you to run free, herding your newfound friends with speed and grace. The more Calicorns you have, the longer you can encourage your herd to stampede on, with the amount of “runs” you have left signaled by a small gauge at the bottom of your screen. What’s interesting about this gauge is that the only way to fill it is by leaning into the themes of Herdling and reaching out for connection. For example, running through fields and fields of blue flowers together, an already heightened, beautiful moment with the array of soft glow and colors in the setting around you. Another option is to find blue fruit and feed it to your Calicorns, which not only fills up the gauge but builds your relationship and lets you find out more about them. I was delighted to find that Bix, a Calicorn I found under an overturned truck bed later on in the game, was given the ‘rascal’ title when I checked the herd’s status page. The more you connect, the more you learn: not just about the Calicorns, but the world around you.
And the world of Herdling is undeniably gorgeous – from the speckles of light to the snowy caps of the mountain that beckons to you in the distance. While there is no dialogue and no other humans around, the journey, and not the destination, has its own otherworldly beauty about it. This is further enhanced in the quieter moments of Herdling, where you and your herd are able to sit at a checkpoint – inside an abandoned garage, a cavern with multi-colored wall art splattered everywhere, sometimes even an open, snowy field – and simply be. Here, you’re able to collect sticks and start a fire and sit with your new companions. You can also go over and decorate their horns with the trinkets you’ve found throughout the journey, as well as pet and clean their fur. As hushed as these moments may be, they are overwhelmingly loud with how much they encourage bonding between you and the Calicorns.
But just because Herdling is enthralling and quiet, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t dangerous. As you continue to trek on through the different locations, you soon realize that for as much as the world has changed, so much of it has remained the same. Obstacles and enemies, from mountain paths crumbling underfoot to gigantic owls hungry for Calicorn meat, threaten to throw your journey into disarray. And even with such a short amount of time with my fuzzy friends, there were several occasions that had me near tears, desperately clinging to the horns of the Calicorns as I pulled them away from danger, their cries of fear ringing in my ears. Made up of pixels they may be, the attachment you feel for them is undeniably real.
And yet for all the dangers present in Herdling’s broken world, the sentiment that remains with me even long after playing is that the pain and the grief aren’t insurmountable. Home, hiraeth, may be gone, and things may never be the same – but there’s always goodness to be found: You just have to be brave enough to reach out for that bond, and hope that it reaches right back.
Herdling is available to play now on Windows PC.
