Game review - The Old Tree
- Karl Smith
- May 9, 2017
- 2 min read
[Red Dwarf Games]
Developer: Red Dwarf Games
Publisher: Red Dwarf Games
Genre: Puzzle
Original release date:
Platform(s): Windows, macOS (powered by Adobe Flash)
Played on: macOS
Developed by Red Dwarf Games, The Old Tree is a puzzle game that can be played on Steam for free. It is be very short in length, yet big in atmosphere, and it's limited interactivity still makes it enjoyable to experience with the nice point-and-click puzzles and creative art style.
In The Old Tree, you help guide a microscopic alien through a number of obstacles in order to reach it's destination. That's pretty much the whole story game in a nutshell, but the interesting aspect of the gameplay is that you don't actually control the alien character. Instead, it relies on point-and-click environment interaction in order to progress such as pressing a button or removing an object.
[Red Dwarf Games]
As simple as the puzzles are, they do provide a bit of a challenge due to the lack of hints displayed, and the darkness of the environments which makes objects difficult to spot. Sometimes its easy to know what to click, while other times you'd have to repeatedly click around the environment to find a clickable area. I was successfully able to solve the obstacles by myself, except for one which I had to refer to a walkthrough. There is no time limit or consequence, so you can progress through the game at your own pace and admire the game's look and atmosphere.
While the gameplay lacks variety, the presentation helps to compensate. It's easy to get immersed into the world that The Old Tree presents. The empathises on dark areas and dull colours gives the world a dark and creepy feeling. Same can be said with the overall design of the game, with unique-looking creature designs that fit in nicely with the tone. The atmosphere is also enhanced thanks to it's dark ambient soundtrack, which is nicely composed, and it's too distracting.
Sure the game is very short with only about 10-20 minutes of gameplay, but thanks to it's clever environment puzzles and darkly creative look, The Old Tree is a fine piece of artistry. With the way it's paced and presented, this be considered an interactive animated short since it shares the quantity and quality similarities; short, but immersive at the same time. If you have some time you need to kill, you should assign that time to give this a shot.
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