Developer: Creepy Jar, Forever Entertainment S. A., Incuvo SA
Publisher: Creepy Jar, Forever Entertainment S. A., Incuvo SA
Release Date: June 9, 2021
Platforms: Xbox, PS4 (review)
Some of my favorite games are survival games. Something about the punishing nature of trying to outsmart the rules is really intriguing for me. Whether it be 7 Days To Die or Subnautica, I just love scrounging up materials and food so that I can survive the night. Green Hell can be incredibly unforgiving at times but never to the point where I lost interest in the game. Unlike a game like Subnautica, you have to worry about more than eating when your meter gets low. You have to worry about jungle rashes and leaches too. Checking your arms and legs for injuries or water parasites is a common occurrence, and if you don’t, they will kill you.
Green Hell has a reasonably simple start to its story. You, a biologist, and your translator wife venture into the jungle to contact a local tribe who has refused outside interaction. The voice acting is okay. Sometimes, it can feel overly expository or just stilted, but it gets the point across well enough. Things quickly devolve, and you end up lost and on your own, having to fend for yourself. Not nearly as gory, but I got some real Cannibal Holocaust vibes early on. (Don’t Google It, Kids.) Like any of these Survival games, the rest of the story plays out by exploring the map and learning bits and pieces as you come across them. Rock paintings or a crashed plane add specific context or spark conversations with your wife over walkie-talkies. The walkie-talkie communication reminded me of Firewatch from a few years ago. The performances and as engaging, but It adds a lot to the game that could’ve otherwise just been filled with our protagonist talking to himself.
As previously mentioned, the moment-to-moment gameplay is a bit deeper than traditional survival games. Things like checking your limbs for scratches and wounds or making sure you eat various types of food to keep your energy up won’t be for everyone, but it adds a nice complexity to survival that is a little deeper than how many apples you have stored away. Things like crafting are usually left to your own devices. No tutorial told me how to build an ax; I just messed around with the crafting mechanic until I made one. You will find certain things in the world, and that will fill in your notebook, which then tells you what you’ll need to build it, but for important things, you have to make sure you’re ready to do a lot of scouring.
At one point, I wanted to build a small shelter to save my progress and had to find all the materials needed to build it, and I needed over 20 palm tree leaves. Since you can only carry six at a time, I had to make multiple trips back and forth to various trees around the area. Minecraft this is not. Let it be known that this is not a criticism of the game. Just context to inform you about what kind of game this is. Everything you carry has to fit in your backpack; otherwise, your hands will be occupied.
I understand at this point that it is a commonplace tactic to use a cursor in your video game menu, even if it’s on consoles. I’m not a fan of that, but It makes some sense in this case because it is a PC game with lots of systems and interactive UI that it is necessary. Unfortunately, the problem is that this particular cursor is terrible; I move too quickly, and it is very picky about what is and is not a clickable menu. Having to navigate my notebook is a bit of a chore when I keep overshooting the menu I want. This is honestly the biggest issue I have with the game. It may not sound like a massive issue, but you spend a lot of time dragging and dropping or cycling through menu tabs that it becomes annoying over time.
For the most part, the game looks excellent. The jungle is lush and vibrant and is crawling with a wide variety of flora. The character models don’t look great, which the game seems to realize because the game keeps obscuring your wife’s face in cut scenes. But you don’t see her all too often, and it’s cleverly hidden sometimes. The game runs okay on PS4. Lots of pop-in and clipping can occur with things in the distance, but I haven’t seen or felt any hitching of gameplay.
Ultimately I think Green Hell is a good survival game that takes no prisoners. It makes you work a little harder for your time spent in-game. Things like graphical hiccups or lackluster character models aren’t a significant gripe. The most notable fallback is the menu UI on consoles. And since you spend so much time in those menus, it, unfortunately, becomes the most persistent issue. Surrounding those few complaints, I enjoyed my time with Green Hell, and it always kept me coming back for more. This game was a real case of trial and error early on, especially without any way to save. Whether it was drinking the dirty water and ending up with water parasites all over my body the next day or getting attacked by a rattlesnake and dying of its poison the next day, there are lots of ways to die, and none of them are easy to prevent. But it is doable.
Score 7/10
Pros:
• Real Sense Of Dread
• In-depth Survival
Cons:
• Graphical Hiccups
