Survival games are a dime a dozen and come in many flavors, from the fantastical prehistoric world of Studio Wildcard's ARK: Survival Evolved to the waterlogged alien planet of Unknown Worlds' Subnautica, or even the Tim Burton nightmare wilderness of Klei Entertainment's Don't Starve. With all these choices, any newcomer in the genre needs something to stand out. For Swedish indie studio FJRD Interactive's Among Trees, that X factor is a simple, relaxing vibe.

Among Trees is a first-person game described as a "small, vibrant sandbox adventure."  No doubt the defining aspect of Among Trees that anyone will immediately notice and be drawn to is its watercolor art style, reminiscent of Campo Santo's Firewatch (2016).

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The pastel pinks and blues that pervade the storybook woods are captivating from every sunrise to misty night, presenting an implicit goal to explore as the game's intentional aimlessness provides agency. There is no story; players simply awake in the woods and are tasked with rebuilding a cabin. Finding materials to accomplish this task pushes them into the woods, and once that base is established every day thereafter is an excuse to go further and discover more beautiful set pieces hidden away. This naturally expanding scope is also a selling point in other games like Dean Hall's upcoming title Icarus.

What makes Among Trees a genius execution of its simple premise is how the developers reward players for the exploring they already want to do. One area type all across the map are remnants of civilization marked by decaying transmission towers. In every new site players find crafting blueprints or a map marker for precious resources like limestone. These discoveries gives players more reason to push back out in a cycle of crafting tools like compasses and tree-felling axes, then using them to unlock more crafting options.

epic games store survival early access game review

The major limiting factor is a strict resource management system that rewards players for early frugality by offering a richer experience over time. Between the player's backpack and first storage chest, there are a couple dozen item slots for a healthy amount of crafting materials, foodstuffs, and tools that stack in small numbers. One driving force to explore is cabin upgrades that add rooms for extra storage, crafting, farming ala Stardew Valley, and more. A subtle highlight of the game's design is the ability to pin a recipe's ingredient, even for room expansions, as a reminder of what players need to find.

After a few hours that fly by in what feels like minutes, the player will have room for items such as sticks that previously seemed useless, but now have a purpose as firewood for the kitchen's stove. Even areas like those abandoned sites become fleshed out when the player crafts items like lock picks that allow them to find more goods each visit. It's a gratifying system of frequent, small accomplishments that creates a drive to play just one more day, which makes it a great first survival game experience.

That being said, while Among Trees has a lot to unlock, do, and see during its early hours, there's an obvious plateau when the early access content dries up. Small bugs are annoying but not game-breaking, such as getting caught in rocks. The game's future content roadmap outlines bug fixes and additions such as brewing, pets, and story elements coming through winter 2021. But as is common in an intentionally secluded single-player title, most players will hit a wall that doesn't exist in games with more open-ended crafting or dangers to encounter like Minecraft.

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In Among Trees there are three forms of danger to encounter: Starving to death, freezing to death, and being mauled by grizzly bears. The daily counter makes it feel like the game is building up to something, as if one night the player will look out their window to find some eldritch horror staring at them from the treeline. But this feeling is baseless and clearly conditioned by titles like Slender: The Arrival. In lieu of that perceived danger, starving as a consequence is easily mitigated by gathering mushrooms or berries, and freezing is uncommon so long as players don't linger in bodies of water and stay close to home. There is always a marker for the cabin making it easy to return and duck inside.

epic games store survival early access game review

Bears are the stand-out danger, and a player's first encounter with one is terrifying. These throw in new mechanics and UI elements before the threat has been seen. The music becomes creepy and tense, a far departure from the wistful, relaxing vibes throughout the forest. However, bears mostly become a good example of why saving is important. Saving is a manual action from the cabin, and it's easy to forget with how casually the player can push out into the woods. Bears kill unprepared players in about two hits, and going after the items they guard may not even feel worth potentially losing progress. Luckily the developers know that many will play the game to explore, so "Zen Mode" does away with dangerous animals.

The main issue with this is that it removes another element in what is already a relatively barebones experience. There is a lot to love about Among Trees as it is now, from art direction and world design that demand attention even on the lowest graphical settings to a deeply intertwined progression and crafting system with fun discoveries for a good couple of hours.

Yet this simplicity may also be Among Trees' downfall, particularly with other games like Minecraft on the market that offer most of this through years of pre-established, evolving content and a more consistent danger to keep those who want it hooked. The Epic Games Store's early access game may not be for everyone, but fans of the survival genre with machines to handle the graphical fidelity will fall in love and long to go for new content.

Among Trees is available now in early access on PC. Game Rant was provided an Epic Games Store code for this preview.

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