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Herder

Defend your flock of sheep and goats as you traverse colorful procedural alpine meadows in the sky.

Steam Page
Release
July 26, 2021
5 years and 8 days ago
Steam Reviews
Positive14 reviews92.9%

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Updated: Jul 11, 2026Developer scaleThe operating scale of the game's developer.
Updated: Jul 11, 2026Publisher scaleThe operating scale of the game's publisher.
Updated: Jul 11, 2026Publisher statusHow the game's publishing relationship is classified.
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Updated: Jul 11, 2026Release statusWhether and how the game has been released.

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About the Game


Herder is a third-person action-tower-defense-herding-sim. Defend your flock of sheep and goats from wild animals using a variety of items and weapons. Migrate through beautiful procedurally generated pastures, selling livestock, milk, and wool to passing trade caravans. Keep your flock happy and healthy to continue breeding, milking, and shearing. Cash out at any time and take home your earnings, or continue the nomadic lifestyle until you're so far into the wild that your flock succumbs to predators, starvation, or disease.

Keep in mind this is a simple game by a tiny studio. You can expect a fun engaging experience that you can play for a couple of hours each session, or simply pick up and play casually.

This game offers:

  • Beautiful procedural alpine landscapes, the sounds of sheep on pasture, and wind in the meadows.
  • Action packed gameplay, or the alternative relaxing casual mode.
  • A unique mix of resource management strategy and third-person action-tower-defense.
  • A friendly herding dog companion.

Starting out:

You begin the game with enough cash to start a small flock. Your sheep and goats will happily graze on grass and wildflowers until they've eaten everything in the area, at which point you'll need to move to the next pasture. At the start of each new pasture, you'll have time to set up your map with defensive items before you open the gate and let your livestock out. Each successive pasture moves further into the wild, increasing your encounters with wild animals, and decreasing the frequency at which trade caravans arrive. Caravans are your place to sell the wool, milk, or livestock you've grown over the seasons, as well as buy new items or animals to continue your herding adventure. You'll see your flock grow as the seasons change, watching for bears in the autumn, taking care to feed your flock hay in the winter, and birthing new lambs in the springtime. When you sell off your whole flock, or if your flock is wiped out by wild animals or disease, your final cash is saved as your high score. At this point you can start again in a fresh new meadow with a new flock and a new strategy.


Alternatively, play the relaxing casual mode where your flock can graze peacefully, and you can sit back and just enjoy the serenity of taking your sheep out to pasture.