Among Controversy

What constitutes a finished game? Does it have a clear-cut beginning and end, and does there need to be chapters laid out in a clear progression? Is it something that should be built from a player's expectations or a developer's intent - hidden as they may well be?

These are all valid questions and arguments being had regarding Among Trees from developer FJRD Interactive.

From the offset, there's a clear indication and fuel for “gamer's rage” with "0.5.27" scrawled across the top of the player's hud. This is in the "full release" version of the game released in November of 2021, but a clear sign that this isn’t a 1.0 release. It's something that caused a small and vocal controversy, along with a grassroots attempt to review bomb the game.

With development underway since 2018, a trailer during 2020's PC Gaming Show brought in the most attention; both good and bad. Among Trees was one of the few games to be released exclusively for the Epic Games Store on PC, much to the chagrin of a vocal group of the PC community. It's here where you can start to outline where the controversy and rage regarding the game's content started. 

Without donning a tinfoil hat, I set out onto Twitter and asked why there were so many negative reviews with such short playtime. Players were touting that this was an abandoned and unfinished game, and that it’s not worth your money. All of this they gleaned from playing 20 minutes according to their steam playtime with the game. The response I received on Twitter was the same reasons that I found nearly copied and pasted within a few steam reviews; cut content, abandoned the game, etc.

I can’t speak to what this cut content was, or the developer’s truest intentions were with the game. As far as I could find, these weren’t noted anywhere.

With the truest intentions, I set out to play Among Trees with a published review set before release. As you're now reading this in April of 2022, this did not happen. Life, right? What I can give you today though are my honest thoughts on the matter. But most importantly, this piece contains my thoughts on the actual video game itself in its current state.

Lost Woods

Among Trees opens up with the avatar’s decision to leave civilization behind with all the needless frivolity and consumerism along with it. With the decision to live a simpler yet solitary life, the player will stumble upon an abandoned shack. The shack serves as your new shelter and home.

Among Trees is a survival game; one that is remarkably chill. That is, of course, unless you forget to save. There is no auto save here to save you hours of backtracking and headache. Something I learned the hard and unfortunate way. Aside from that minor misstep, Among Trees opens the entire forest to the player. In addition to upgrading your cabin, clothing, and backpack, creating new items will help you stay out longer and reach new areas only making the forest more expansive.

The cabin is expansive and customizable in its own ways - building new rooms including an attic, greenhouse, craft room, kitchen, and even brewery. While the main gameplay loop is the same as seeking out items to keep on going, these additions will shift daily goals from purely surviving to thriving. Cooking new meals that offer different benefits to staying alive, planting and growing fauna to avoid searching far and wide, and even brewing some beer, because why not?

Besides foraging, local wildlife is also ever present within the forest. Avoid, hunt to consume, or even fish - the choice is the players. I personally fell in love with how the game handles fishing. After an initial learning curve, I was able to relax and enjoy the sport of catching these fish either to keep or release.

The serene atmosphere and stunning scenery never failed to allure and allowed me to forget real life. Therapeutic gaming can be found in all shapes and sizes these days, and Among Trees is a prime example of the ‘genre’. Even if the game is not “finished”, it’s still worth a trip to the woods and taking in a deep breath.

Be Kind, Rewind

It’s worth briefly touching on the Epic Games Store portion of the original outrage. Personally, my use of the Epic Games Store is limited. I don’t agree with the company being alright with NFT and blockchain content. That being said, this does not give me the right to harass people. Developer harassment is horrific behavior - especially when the trigger is platform exclusivity. There are many reasons and benefits for developers to go exclusive (most of the time only being a year long exclusive period) with Epic. In a flooded market, especially if we’re talking Steam here, it’s all the more important to stand out.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. This much is true. However, gamer entitlement may be the issue at hand regarding these mixed opinions. I will be honest that it’s weird playing a game that was labeling itself as out of early access, yet had a build under 1.0. This is where my issue began and ended with Among Trees and its release. If you play the game, and I mean honestly play the game with the intent to give it a true chance, it’s a full game. Chastising developers for not meeting sky-high expectations (or for any reason) is unacceptable.

The point here is simple: Do not harass or bully people. Period.

Written by Matthew Wright