Green Hell, like most survival games, can be pretty punishing. The default stat depletion rate is rapid enough that it requires most of your time to be spent babysitting your thirst, hunger, and exhaustion meters with little leisure time to explore the lush environment. And that’s saying nothing of the annoying sanity meter and those pesky local tribes.
When I play a survival game, I like a good challenge, but I also want to feel a sense of accomplishment as I edge nearer and nearer to self-sufficiency. Eventually, I want to untether myself from my base and see what the game world at large has to offer.
Green Hell‘s Tourist mode lets me revel in being stranded alone on a tropical island instead of being distracted by survival needs. Tourist mode gets rid of sanity and nutrition drain, while also removing hostile tribes and predators from the game. This gives me some leisure and exploration time, which I don’t have much of when I play Green Hell on harder difficulties.
Tourist mode means I don’t have to struggle with Green Hell’s flimsy combat or worry about slowly losing my mind because I didn’t notice a leach that had attached itself to my succulent skin.
Some challenges still remain. I still have to find a source of water. I need a place to sleep and a roof over my campfire. I need to avoid snakes and spiders and scorpions and poison frogs. I can still fall victim to food poisoning, and I can still pass out in the wild, waking up with gross boils on my arms or legs. For me, all of this still carries with it a solid sense of risk versus reward.
Mostly, this more relaxed mode allows me the opportunity to tinker with the crafting system that can mostly go overlooked when you’re focused on crafting bandages or tools. Now I can take the time to build, say, a bamboo shed or elaborate fire pit. Plus, I now have more opportunities to simply stare at the game’s beautiful mud.
So if you too are looking for a more relaxed, isolated jungle survival experience, maybe give Green Hell‘s Tourist mode a try. You might just end up turning into a local.
