Upon further reflection, there's not much that The First Tree really has to its name other than the anecdote narration playing in the background. You get lost in a giant forest as a deer and dig up a few patches of dirt every now and then. One of the more reductive and misguided iterations on the formula unfortunately.
The First Tree es esa clase de juegos independientes que se notan las buenas intenciones del desarrollador, pero por su propia experiencia amateur hace que no pueda destacar como se lo merece. Ese juego que sirve para llenar curriculum pero no mucho más. Lo cual es una lástima, porque se nota mucho lo personal que llega a ser su mensaje.
Es un juego de exploración en donde eres el guía onírico de un señor (presuntamente el creador del juego) que le cuenta lo que soñó a su mujer, y tu objetivo es excavar en su subconsciente para recordar y relatar tu sueño pesado.
Inteligentemente, y gracias al contexto dado, los mapas del juego contienen varios puntos de interés que te relatan la historia e indagan en la psique del protagonista, cosas como sus juguetes, casas destrozadas, un tanque gigante hundido, maderas talladas con nombres y dibujos, ilustraciones rotas y sucias, entre muchas otras cosas. Todo esto tiene que ver con la infancia del protagonista, qué es lo que le preocupa y añora, o lo que desea olvidar, destacando la pérdida de su padre y con ello el surgimiento de su temor a la muerte y pérdida, dando paralelismos con la historia de tu guía, el zorro, que pierde a sus crías por un acontecimiento que no podía de ninguna forma arreglar.
El gran problema de esto es que todo este planteamiento de diseño es arruinado por dos cosas: el movimiento del personaje y la narración.
El zorro corre muy, muuuuuuuuuuy lento, y no es proporcional al tamaño de los mundos que debe recorrer. Va a llegar un punto donde, no importa que tan interesante sea la historia, será tedioso investigarla, porque el mundo es inmenso para soportarlo con unos trotes lentos del animal.
Sobre la narrativa, no sé si es porque el creador sintió que nadie entendería su obra o qué, pero cada que excavas un recuerdo, te tiran parrafotes de texto explicándote todo lo que puedes discernir en el escenario, matando totalmente el aura de exploración. Quizás no sería tan doloroso si no fuera porque el narrador habla de una forma muy aburrida, un poco más y parece el textaloud.
Ya al terminar el juego, se agrega una mecánica algo interesante: cuando te encuentres con el "primer árbol", te dejarán escribir un mensaje en su tronco, y la cantidad de caracteres es igual a la cantidad de luces que recolectaste durante el juego. La idea de esto, es que cuando consigas el final normal, veas el mensaje dado por otro jugador, volviendo así que cada que termines el juego tengas un nuevo mensaje motivador en caso de que te sientas triste. Si bien es un detalle bastante bonito, la verdad aún sigo sin entender cómo funciona esto dentro del mundo establecido en el juego, y la verdad, por como se desarrolla este, es mucho más adecuado conseguir el final alternativo (que es pasándose todos los mundos al 100%) que tiene incluso un mensaje muchísimo más alentador que todos los cuadros que llegué a ver de jugadores, y da mejor sentido a todo lo que relata el protagonista (algo irónico sabiendo que la narración es algo que choca fuerte con la exploración). Además que llega a romper mucho la intención del juego pidiendo una confirmación de que si quieres que el mensaje sea mostrado por otras partidas, aunque bueno, supongo que esto lo hicieron para evitar el spam de mensajes como ocurrió con Moirai.
En cuanto a los visuales, también surge otro problema, ya que si bien no hay dudas de que se ve precioso, errores tan tontos como una pobre distancia de dibujado, npcs clipeandose entre ellos, una horrenda programación en las colisiones, entre otras cosas feas que no quiero mencionar, hace que toda la atmosfera se pierda por completo.
La verdad que no lo puedo recomendar porque los errores que tiene son super garrafales para algo disfrutable, pero he de decir que el mensaje que quiso dar fue uno agradable y se nota que el desarrollador tiene futuro. Solo necesita aprender aún más y conseguir un equipo mejor. Valoro mucho este intento más allá del resultado dado.
Es un juego de exploración en donde eres el guía onírico de un señor (presuntamente el creador del juego) que le cuenta lo que soñó a su mujer, y tu objetivo es excavar en su subconsciente para recordar y relatar tu sueño pesado.
Inteligentemente, y gracias al contexto dado, los mapas del juego contienen varios puntos de interés que te relatan la historia e indagan en la psique del protagonista, cosas como sus juguetes, casas destrozadas, un tanque gigante hundido, maderas talladas con nombres y dibujos, ilustraciones rotas y sucias, entre muchas otras cosas. Todo esto tiene que ver con la infancia del protagonista, qué es lo que le preocupa y añora, o lo que desea olvidar, destacando la pérdida de su padre y con ello el surgimiento de su temor a la muerte y pérdida, dando paralelismos con la historia de tu guía, el zorro, que pierde a sus crías por un acontecimiento que no podía de ninguna forma arreglar.
El gran problema de esto es que todo este planteamiento de diseño es arruinado por dos cosas: el movimiento del personaje y la narración.
El zorro corre muy, muuuuuuuuuuy lento, y no es proporcional al tamaño de los mundos que debe recorrer. Va a llegar un punto donde, no importa que tan interesante sea la historia, será tedioso investigarla, porque el mundo es inmenso para soportarlo con unos trotes lentos del animal.
Sobre la narrativa, no sé si es porque el creador sintió que nadie entendería su obra o qué, pero cada que excavas un recuerdo, te tiran parrafotes de texto explicándote todo lo que puedes discernir en el escenario, matando totalmente el aura de exploración. Quizás no sería tan doloroso si no fuera porque el narrador habla de una forma muy aburrida, un poco más y parece el textaloud.
Ya al terminar el juego, se agrega una mecánica algo interesante: cuando te encuentres con el "primer árbol", te dejarán escribir un mensaje en su tronco, y la cantidad de caracteres es igual a la cantidad de luces que recolectaste durante el juego. La idea de esto, es que cuando consigas el final normal, veas el mensaje dado por otro jugador, volviendo así que cada que termines el juego tengas un nuevo mensaje motivador en caso de que te sientas triste. Si bien es un detalle bastante bonito, la verdad aún sigo sin entender cómo funciona esto dentro del mundo establecido en el juego, y la verdad, por como se desarrolla este, es mucho más adecuado conseguir el final alternativo (que es pasándose todos los mundos al 100%) que tiene incluso un mensaje muchísimo más alentador que todos los cuadros que llegué a ver de jugadores, y da mejor sentido a todo lo que relata el protagonista (algo irónico sabiendo que la narración es algo que choca fuerte con la exploración). Además que llega a romper mucho la intención del juego pidiendo una confirmación de que si quieres que el mensaje sea mostrado por otras partidas, aunque bueno, supongo que esto lo hicieron para evitar el spam de mensajes como ocurrió con Moirai.
En cuanto a los visuales, también surge otro problema, ya que si bien no hay dudas de que se ve precioso, errores tan tontos como una pobre distancia de dibujado, npcs clipeandose entre ellos, una horrenda programación en las colisiones, entre otras cosas feas que no quiero mencionar, hace que toda la atmosfera se pierda por completo.
La verdad que no lo puedo recomendar porque los errores que tiene son super garrafales para algo disfrutable, pero he de decir que el mensaje que quiso dar fue uno agradable y se nota que el desarrollador tiene futuro. Solo necesita aprender aún más y conseguir un equipo mejor. Valoro mucho este intento más allá del resultado dado.
Obviously some guys first game. Very boring with a mildly touching narrative. But the narrative didn't map onto gameplay well.
Not a lot to say on that.
An overall disappointing game. Non existent art direction. Boring talking stuff. Lame plateforming gameplay.
An overall disappointing game. Non existent art direction. Boring talking stuff. Lame plateforming gameplay.
Short and sweet. 2 hours for $2. Nice story but the gameplay is pretty lame because there's not much to it. Basically a walking sim.
Nice visuals but the gameplay is clunky and the level design is lacking. The voice over took me out of the game before it even started.
Many games followed Journey but most didn't make it.
Many games followed Journey but most didn't make it.
The First Tree is a game where a man is telling about a dream he had to his wife, of a mother fox who lost her cubs and went looking for them. He explains how along her journey, the fox passed by trinkets from the man's past. And he starts reminiscing about his deceased father. While you, the fox, walk along the land of memories looking for your cubs
Although there isn't much of replayability value other than for gathering achievements, I could see someone play it to just relax and walk around the beautiful environment. Though if you wanted to play a walking simulator, I would probably pick something else.
Anyway, it's alright I guess. Its story isn't particularly revolutionary in any way and the gameplay isn't that interesting, but it's still nice to walk along the pretty landscapes and listen to the main character talking about his childhood memories. I would recommend to buy it from a good sale, if you really want to
Although there isn't much of replayability value other than for gathering achievements, I could see someone play it to just relax and walk around the beautiful environment. Though if you wanted to play a walking simulator, I would probably pick something else.
Anyway, it's alright I guess. Its story isn't particularly revolutionary in any way and the gameplay isn't that interesting, but it's still nice to walk along the pretty landscapes and listen to the main character talking about his childhood memories. I would recommend to buy it from a good sale, if you really want to
The later-game environments are kinda pretty. That's about the only good thing I have to say.
Joseph has been dreaming about a wandering fox, which prompts a late night, deep discussion with his girlfriend, Rachel. Joseph recounts his childhood with his father and how that makes him feel now, while also wondering why he’s constantly dreaming about this fox.
Meanwhile, the fox is out searching for her missing cubs. The ending broke me.
Visuals
The First Tree is a beautiful game. The environments look amazing, even if they are quite samey making it easy to get turned around. It’s a 3D low-poly style, which I am a fan of. The colors are natural and muted. The lighting is amazing.
The fox and other animals are very simple looking, and the animations aren’t great. Mama fox does have some moments where she looks quite silly.
Sound Effects + Music
I absolutely love the soundtrack for The First Tree. It’s one of those games I wouldn’t mind leaving running just so I can listen to it. The ambient noises are also great. I’m a sucker for crickets and owls.
The voice acting is also really good. Joseph and Rachel are talking throughout the game, although not constantly. Their voices are calming, yet emotional. Perfect for the conversation they’re having.
Gameplay + Controls
The First Tree has very simple gameplay and controls You just control Mama Fox through the landscape. She can walk or run, jump, double jump, and dig. Your goal is get her through each area and into the next one. There will be memories to dig up along the way, along with stars to collect. At first I wasn’t sure what the point of the stars were, except as occasional waypoints. But once you reach the end, their purpose becomes clear, and I completely lost it. I was already crying at finding her third cub, but that? Too much.
The epilogue of the game switches to a first person perspective as Joseph, which I hate. I find first person navigation nauseating. I gave it a try, hoping I would quickly find where I was suppose to be going, but I didn’t and just closed the game.
Replayability
The First Tree is pretty short, so it would be easy to replay in order to grab missed achievements. I only got 4 of the 14, but I also wasn’t taking time to explore every inch of the world. I mostly focused on not getting lost, since there isn’t too much direction. I may go through it again to find all of the secrets.
Overall
I really liked The First Tree. While I wasn’t completely invested in Joseph’s story, I was all in with Mama fox.
Meanwhile, the fox is out searching for her missing cubs. The ending broke me.
Visuals
The First Tree is a beautiful game. The environments look amazing, even if they are quite samey making it easy to get turned around. It’s a 3D low-poly style, which I am a fan of. The colors are natural and muted. The lighting is amazing.
The fox and other animals are very simple looking, and the animations aren’t great. Mama fox does have some moments where she looks quite silly.
Sound Effects + Music
I absolutely love the soundtrack for The First Tree. It’s one of those games I wouldn’t mind leaving running just so I can listen to it. The ambient noises are also great. I’m a sucker for crickets and owls.
The voice acting is also really good. Joseph and Rachel are talking throughout the game, although not constantly. Their voices are calming, yet emotional. Perfect for the conversation they’re having.
Gameplay + Controls
The First Tree has very simple gameplay and controls You just control Mama Fox through the landscape. She can walk or run, jump, double jump, and dig. Your goal is get her through each area and into the next one. There will be memories to dig up along the way, along with stars to collect. At first I wasn’t sure what the point of the stars were, except as occasional waypoints. But once you reach the end, their purpose becomes clear, and I completely lost it. I was already crying at finding her third cub, but that? Too much.
The epilogue of the game switches to a first person perspective as Joseph, which I hate. I find first person navigation nauseating. I gave it a try, hoping I would quickly find where I was suppose to be going, but I didn’t and just closed the game.
Replayability
The First Tree is pretty short, so it would be easy to replay in order to grab missed achievements. I only got 4 of the 14, but I also wasn’t taking time to explore every inch of the world. I mostly focused on not getting lost, since there isn’t too much direction. I may go through it again to find all of the secrets.
Overall
I really liked The First Tree. While I wasn’t completely invested in Joseph’s story, I was all in with Mama fox.
I know it's hard to justify the connection of gameplay with story. It's supposed to be a dream that the protagonist, but the collectibles kinda ruin that premise. Even though, there's something in its story and its sincerity that I can't look past to.
This game was fine enough until I got stuck for more than a minute or two and then the desire to play it left me, never to return. I liked the narration stuff, but didn't want to wander around in the woods to get to hear more of it.
[Main Story]
**
A small game with a strong message where throughout the game it makes itself known to the player, leaving a tear in the corner of the eye.
**
A small game with a strong message where throughout the game it makes itself known to the player, leaving a tear in the corner of the eye.
Se me dissessem que um jogo aparentemente simples como The First Tree, desenvolvido totalmente por uma única pessoa com base na sua história pessoal, seria capaz de me marcar tão profundamente, teria duvidado do que me estavam a dizer. No entanto, foi exatamente isso que aconteceu, e logo no primeiro jogo que passei este ano.
Em The First Tree não existem inimigos, não há game overs, e as mecânicas não são super complexas.
O jogo atira-nos diretamente para a sua aventura, dá-nos controlo de uma raposa e permite-nos explorar o seu belo mundo livremente. A jogabilidade pode parecer um pouco desajeitada por vezes, principalmente devido aos movimentos que nem sempre respondem da melhor forma. No entanto, isso contribui para a simplicidade do jogo, que não tenta ser mais do que realmente é. Aqui, o foco está na narrativa, não necessariamente numa jogabilidade perfeita e isenta de bugs.
É uma experiência que desafia as preconceções sobre o que um jogo feito por uma "One Man Team" pode alcançar. A narrativa comovente e a atmosfera envolvente criada pela banda sonora e pelos visuais combinam-se para formar algo único.
A jornada da raposa e a história de vida do narrador estão entrelaçadas, abordando temas como a perda e o arrependimento, mas de uma maneira leve.
The First Tree é uma aventura memorável e altamente recomendável para todos os que procuram algo deste género.
Em The First Tree não existem inimigos, não há game overs, e as mecânicas não são super complexas.
O jogo atira-nos diretamente para a sua aventura, dá-nos controlo de uma raposa e permite-nos explorar o seu belo mundo livremente. A jogabilidade pode parecer um pouco desajeitada por vezes, principalmente devido aos movimentos que nem sempre respondem da melhor forma. No entanto, isso contribui para a simplicidade do jogo, que não tenta ser mais do que realmente é. Aqui, o foco está na narrativa, não necessariamente numa jogabilidade perfeita e isenta de bugs.
É uma experiência que desafia as preconceções sobre o que um jogo feito por uma "One Man Team" pode alcançar. A narrativa comovente e a atmosfera envolvente criada pela banda sonora e pelos visuais combinam-se para formar algo único.
A jornada da raposa e a história de vida do narrador estão entrelaçadas, abordando temas como a perda e o arrependimento, mas de uma maneira leve.
The First Tree é uma aventura memorável e altamente recomendável para todos os que procuram algo deste género.
This one is hard to review. I tried to start this game 3 times, but I always got bored in the first 20 minutes. But finally it clicked with me. On one hand, the world is empty and not that pretty, the controls suck and the gameplay is bad. On the other hand, the story really hit me and made me emotional. And I like the community around the game, so that's nice. It's good for less than 2 hours, but buy it when it's on sale, for under 5 dollars.
L’ambiance était sympa mais un game play chiant à mourir est une histoire qu’on arrive pas à suivre
Tricked into playing a game about Mormonism by cute fox.
My endless love for this game 💗 All the disadvantages of the gameplay for me are covered by the story told by the main character, it is touching and very sincere. It's hard not to be attracted to her.
Wank ass narrative. Middle class white guy talks about how hard his life was and no one understood him growing up. Total wank.
Oh god, this looks so harsh; it kinda is. This is the quintessential gamedev marketing tutorial game, and I don't think this is a good direction at all. I remember seeing footage of it in various subreddits, either for gifs or games or gamedev. It had a certain recognizability, mostly by having polished visuals and having some form of art direction which the usual in-progress video typically lack in these communities (which isn't a bad thing!). This has since been covered by the author in talks involving the marketing, and it really feels mostly like an assembly of trailer material.
Despite the serious topic, it doesn't manage to translate it to its visuals or gameplay at all and remains utterly unmemorable and shallow. I don't remember the dialogue being particularly bad, but I barely remember that it had any dialogue and I'm not even sure why - it mostly stems from the blandness of the gameplay that you're trying to push through while a podcast-like narrative is happening. While the stylized visuals lend themselves to social media marketing content, they're oversaturated in practice, until you don't even notice them and everything feels same-y. This is actually visible in many indie games, where you pick a color theme and run with it.
Even the overall theme doesn't evoke anything interesting or great or new. Nature is a metaphor, you gotta collect nature things and reach a nature goal and at some points, the reality bleeds through. But having experienced many adventures, in comparison I'd say that running through stylized environments collecting things doesn't suddenly translate into dealing with death or any of the supposed darker themes.
Especially considering its release date, it doesn't try anything new and barely tries to venture outside the established playing field. I should probably play the author's first game to see if it's better and maybe see where they went wrong. Because unfortunately, this game remains uninteresting and unmemorable in its entirety. Play RiME instead.
Despite the serious topic, it doesn't manage to translate it to its visuals or gameplay at all and remains utterly unmemorable and shallow. I don't remember the dialogue being particularly bad, but I barely remember that it had any dialogue and I'm not even sure why - it mostly stems from the blandness of the gameplay that you're trying to push through while a podcast-like narrative is happening. While the stylized visuals lend themselves to social media marketing content, they're oversaturated in practice, until you don't even notice them and everything feels same-y. This is actually visible in many indie games, where you pick a color theme and run with it.
Even the overall theme doesn't evoke anything interesting or great or new. Nature is a metaphor, you gotta collect nature things and reach a nature goal and at some points, the reality bleeds through. But having experienced many adventures, in comparison I'd say that running through stylized environments collecting things doesn't suddenly translate into dealing with death or any of the supposed darker themes.
Especially considering its release date, it doesn't try anything new and barely tries to venture outside the established playing field. I should probably play the author's first game to see if it's better and maybe see where they went wrong. Because unfortunately, this game remains uninteresting and unmemorable in its entirety. Play RiME instead.
Atmospheric, emotional storytelling with plenty of fun easter eggs to search for. The clunky gameplay and punishing chapter switches ultimately ended up removing me from the game too often.
The story is pretty great but it would probably work better as a short story or a film. It is told purely through voice-over, and so doesn't really benefit much from being a videogame. The ending was quite poignant and well-crafted though.
The gameplay on the other hand feels like a early tech-demo for Annapurna's Journey, where you explore some admittedly quite beautiful landscapes, while the voice-over tries really hard to tie it into the almost unrelated story.
Overall, it's okay but only really starts to reach it's full potential at the very end. A hesitant Yes from me, but there really are much better games also available for this price-point. Loved the soundtrack though.
The gameplay on the other hand feels like a early tech-demo for Annapurna's Journey, where you explore some admittedly quite beautiful landscapes, while the voice-over tries really hard to tie it into the almost unrelated story.
Overall, it's okay but only really starts to reach it's full potential at the very end. A hesitant Yes from me, but there really are much better games also available for this price-point. Loved the soundtrack though.
Slow fox running simulator wherein you seek out glowing objects while listening to a couple's childhood stories.
+ nice music that gives the game a meditative nature if nothing else
+ decent voice acting (excluding the recording quality)
+ very short playtime (1-2 hours for non-completionists)
+ neat ending sequence due to a vocal song and slight community involvement
- useless collectibles strewn about
- bothersome pop-in of trees and grass
- boring environments in terms of design (needlessly large and arbitrarily filled with generic assets)
- trite narrative that is told in an awkward dialogue format
- incredibly simplistic gameplay with floaty movement — the only thing you'll be doing
+ nice music that gives the game a meditative nature if nothing else
+ decent voice acting (excluding the recording quality)
+ very short playtime (1-2 hours for non-completionists)
+ neat ending sequence due to a vocal song and slight community involvement
- useless collectibles strewn about
- bothersome pop-in of trees and grass
- boring environments in terms of design (needlessly large and arbitrarily filled with generic assets)
- trite narrative that is told in an awkward dialogue format
- incredibly simplistic gameplay with floaty movement — the only thing you'll be doing
Diminuiu um pouco meu medo da morte
The First Tree was a remarkable short journey to experience.
The soundtrack was particularly good, the narration was an interesting touch and the I thought the gameplay was fairly decent. Graphics and atmosphere were also done superbly.
I enjoyed my time with this game overall, and I may or may not have shed a tear (Nah, I admit I did at the end.)
Worth checking out if you can.
The soundtrack was particularly good, the narration was an interesting touch and the I thought the gameplay was fairly decent. Graphics and atmosphere were also done superbly.
I enjoyed my time with this game overall, and I may or may not have shed a tear (Nah, I admit I did at the end.)
Worth checking out if you can.
visuals were nice, but i got lost in the game for like an hour and decided to stop playing
I love the conceit of this game: traversing a beautiful dreamscape while listening to a compelling story. But for a game like this to work it needs to be well written and well acted, and this is neither. The writing is cumbersome and the acting is weirdly directed, creating an awkwardness that is matched by unnatural movement in the dreamscape. The audio and visuals are great, but the game just doesn't deliver narratively or mechanically.
Bonito final, mas meio repetitivo até chegar lá
Definitivamente um dos jogos já feitos.
It's an interesting game, mostly a walking simulator, gameplay wise is kinda boring, story telling is good tho, I would only play it once, but it's an interesting game that its not bad to tackle if you want to finish a quick indie storytelling game.
Horrible buggy experience. Story couldn't get me invested and at a certain point it feels like entirely a different game, equally as bad. Waste of time.