Throughout all gaming, the 70’s era doesn’t get nearly enough love. But what happens when you take the groovy and make it glitchy? You get a fresh, funky, yet unexpected game experience in Yerba Buena.
Developers Mad About Pandas adapts the first-person puzzle-platformer formula by adding a copy-paste mechanic that can make or break the game world. Though only in its preview build, I’m already keen to see what messing with the fabric of time and space will do.
You take on the role of Barb: a young, unassuming protagonist. Let’s just say, she does not appear to have main character energy… yet. Yerba Buena rolls with a vibrant, stylised 70’s vibe, but it isn’t all peace and prosperity. There’s much more at play.
A mysterious biker gang runs amok, and the city faces a series of anomalies. These incidents send you jumping into more surreal subspaces. I had no idea what to expect next. That’s tough in this day and age, with so many games and ideas already explored.
What really stands out in Yerba Buena is an approach to physics-based puzzles focused on manipulating the environment to bend the rules.
Donning the Oscillator, a contraption that allows copying and pasting properties of objects onto other buildings, mechanisms and more, moving buildings, shifting objects out of the way or turning obstacles into vapours makes for some really interesting sandbox potential, and I’m sure I’ve only just seen the surface of what the Oscillator is capable of.
Yerba Buena is shaping up to be a groovy, meta-mayhem that looks to be a game-changer for the puzzle-platformer genre. I’m intrigued to see how Mad About Pandas develop Barb and her exploits when the full game hits the stands later this year.
Yerba Buena releases on 26th May 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
