Early on in my first playthrough of Among Trees, the new survival game from FJRD Interactive (currently in Early Access), I found myself wondering, as I often do when playing a new survival game, just what level of depth this particular game might reach on the survival spectrum.
Will this just be more of a walking simulator with light or even no consequential survival elements? Something closer to a Kôna, say? Or will this game be that as-of-yet-undiscovered mythical gem of a survival game, something more akin to The Long Dark (my personal survival benchmark)?
Just when I felt about ready to write this off as another Kôna (which, by the way, is no slight against Kôna), I found myself emerging from the forest and into a clearing and having an “aha!” moment. There is indeed perhaps a decent level of depth here. In fact, Among Trees might just be the spiritual successor to The Long Dark that I have been searching high and low for, albeit the springtime or summertime equivalent.
Of course, it is still incredibly early — Among Trees is still in Early Access, after all –and I’ve barely scratched the surface of it. I could be jumping the gun here. But the signs are there, and they are kind of pointing to a yes.
From the dreamy, meandering gameplay to the ominous presence of danger lingering in the background (via bears) to the scavenging and neverending need to see what is over the next ridge or in the next clearing, Among Trees has some promise. Additionally, even this early build of the game has some really cool features and quality-of-life options, such as the cabin home base (which has upgrade options), the blueprints and crafting selection, and the “I’m stuck” menu option that resets your game to where you were 20 minutes ago.
There is currently no controller support and you can’t remap the keyboard buttons, but those are the only noticeable drawbacks thus far. Otherwise, by and large, the game is stable and looks gorgeous with its dreamy, hazy aesthetic and vibrant-yet-muted color scheme.
Needless to say, I look forward to spending a lot more time playing Among Trees, while also learning how to use a mouse and keyboard for gaming. I’m new to this whole PC gaming thing after all.
In case you want to see a beautiful trailer for Among Trees, I’ve posted one below.
