Herdling Review – Guiding Calicorns on a Painterly Alpine Adventure

Sometimes the most memorable adventures are the quiet ones. Herdling, a narrative‑driven pastoral journey from Swiss developer Okomotive (of FAR: Lone Sails fame) and publisher Panic, puts you in the boots of a gentle shepherd guiding a pack of shaggy, horned beasts up a sprawling mountain path.

Released on August 21, 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC, it trades combat and crafting for trust, patience and the satisfaction of keeping your woolly friends. The premise is simple: lead the “Calicorns” from the lowlands to the summit — no dialogue, no cut‑scenes, just you, your staff and a trail of hoofprints.

Herdling’s story is told entirely through movement and environment, but that doesn’t mean it’s lacking in emotion. As you coax your herd over precarious bridges, through ghost‑white forests and into wind‑blasted plateaus, each successful crossing feels like a triumph; each loss, a small tragedy.

The game bills itself as an emotional, wordless tale of trust, survival and friendship, and it delivers by making you care about every horned companion. There’s a mystery at the summit, but the journey there — and the bonds you form along the way — are the true destination.

Guiding Your Calicorns

Managing your Calicorns isn’t complicated, but it does demand attentiveness. Each animal has a distinct personality expressed through its horns, coat colours, and dangling charms. You’ll use a shepherd’s staff to issue gentle commands: sweep left to have the herd follow, tap right to call individuals back.

To build trust, feed them sweet blue fruits and take time to pet them — ignore their needs and they’ll become skittish and reluctant to follow. On the rare occasions when the trail widens, you can even let them run free in joyous stampede sequences, watching dust and petals swirl around them.

Gameplay: the boy shepherding Calicorns across windswept plains at sunset — *Early journey vibes: slow, scenic and a little bit eerie.*

Exploration & Puzzles

The hike up the mountain is linear, but Okomotive uses clever level design to make each zone feel expansive. You’ll traverse snowy ridges, lush forests, and crumbling plateaus, each with light environmental puzzles to solve: slide logs into place to form bridges, haul carts of rubble to create footholds, or time your crossings between gusts of biting wind.

There are no hostile enemies — the landscape itself is your antagonist. Hazardous scrap metal, sudden sinkholes and crevasses test your reading of the terrain, and misjudging a stampede can send your charges tumbling; success is about observation, not reflexes.

Art & Atmosphere

Herdling’s painterly art direction is as much a character as the Calicorns themselves. The world is rendered like a moving watercolour, with thick brushstrokes defining snowdrifts and warm sunsets bathing your herd in golden light. Audio design complements this serenity: wind whistles softly, bells jingle, and a minimalist score swells during ascents and stampedes.

These meditative stretches are punctuated by moments of awe — an avalanche collapsing in the distance, the sudden appearance of a towering ruin — but the game never loses its calm heart.

Gameplay: colourful Calicorns trekking through alpine meadows beneath huge cliffs — *Terrain tells the story: watch the wind, the snow and the herd’s body language.*

Length & Pacing

This isn’t a hundred‑hour epic. At around two and a half hours, Herdling respects your time and invites replay — perfect for a cosy weekend afternoon or a shared evening on the couch. The pacing alternates between slow, contemplative climbs and short bursts of adrenaline when the herd breaks into a run, making the finale feel earned without exhausting you.

Because the story is delivered through animation and environment rather than dialogue, it’s also highly accessible to younger players and anyone who prefers to read emotions rather than text.

Platforms, Price & Rating

Herdling is currently available on every major platform. Release data shows Panic launched the game simultaneously on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on August 21, 2025. It’s a single‑player‑only adventure with no online components. Most storefronts list the digital edition at around $24.99 / £19.99, making it an easy impulse buy for players looking for something heartfelt between bigger releases.

Gameplay: the herd squeezes along a narrow mountain shelf while petals swirl — *Not hard, but you’ll still sweat a little on those narrow ledges.*

Verdict

Platform	Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X\|S, PC (Steam & Epic)
Release	August 21 2025
Price (approx.)	$24.99 / £19.99
Rating	ESRB T (Teen) / PEGI 12
Players	Single‑player

Herdling surprised me with how attached I became to my fuzzy entourage. By the time the credits rolled, I knew each Calicorn’s gait and had quietly named them after friends. The journey’s simplicity is refreshing in an era of bloated open worlds; every step feels intentional, and there’s always a new vista to admire or a small crisis to manage.

This isn’t a game for those seeking deep systems or challenging combat. It is, however, a beautifully crafted slice of interactive storytelling that rewards empathy and attention. If you enjoy games like Journey, Abzû, or The Last Guardian, Herdling will feel right at home.

Play it if: you enjoy tranquil explorations, charming companions and polished art direction.
Skip it if: you crave complex mechanics, large open worlds or high‑stakes combat.