i never played a game where you just walk and discover things, but there is no combat involved. what purely drove this game forward was its plot and a sense of mystery. you are the sherlock holmes of the forest.
the graphics of this game is above average. i liked how the sun's rays peeked through the trees as you look up. i like how the game takes you through many different times of day. morning, afternoon, night, and extremely smoky. it's interesting to trek through the same areas as you did earlier but in a different time of day. the game looks like a cartoon. like you were put into a team fortress cartoon but set into the forest. good art direction.
i really liked the background sounds. when you walk through the forest, there will be leaves rustling, animals squeaking, and wind. it's pretty relaxing. sometimes there would be acoustic guitar music playing the background that shows really how calming this game can be.
i love the simplicity of the game. you got one button for your compass. one button for your map. one for your walkie talkie. and one button to interact with the environment depending on the context. like a rope off a cliff.
is it fun? if you enjoy the mystery, the yes. the only character you interact with is your female boss over the walkie talkie. you get to pick what you'll respond on a set of choice phrases. it's fun how she responds back depending on your choice of phrase. you can be a total jerk, you can be funny, you can be kind. she will give you tidbits of her personal life throughout the game and you give her yours. what i really like about this game is there are a few twists and turns in the plot that leaves you guessing what will happen next.
there are some light puzzles in this game. you are given tools, slowly over the course of the game, that will need to unlock pathways in the forest later in the game. what you need to do is walk to the destination. see a forest fire? check it out. as you walk, your boss will talk to you over the walkie talkie. sometimes the conversations are funny. most of time they make you scratch your head about what your bosses REAL intentions are. what does she REALLY think?
what i didn't like so much was how the ending didnt really tie up any loose ends of the plot. it might have been intentional by the developers of this game. but i was unsatisfied.
this game is worth a couple playthroughs. there are small details in the game i might have missed. like an old sign or a raccoon or an opld building. they are off the beaten path of the forest. also, if you were a jerk to your boss when you picked your lines in the first walkthrough, what if you talked differently in second playthrouig? the things you will learn about the story and trhe characters will be different. i'll be playing this game again in a few weeks, that's for sure. Also you get a camera in the game. after the end credits you can actually order prints in real life to be sent to your home. the pictures are the in game screenshots you took from the in game camera. pretty cool!
this game is short! you can beat it in less that 6 or 7 hours. but because this game is all about solving a mystery, discovering a forest, and with no combat. it makes sense.
it's worth picking up. i had fun with it because i was intrigued by the characters complicated backgrounds, the mysteries of the forest that you'll soon discover, and the plot twists. it has a well-written story direction where you'll uncover what dirty secrets occured in the forest.
the story was well written and with each level something more sinister is added. it's built up and up and up but i wish the ending was more interesting. on the other hand, I haven't played this game for a week and the story, characters, and the mysteries are still fresh in my mind. not many games these days are like that.