An atmospheric survival game among trolls set in Finland

ok, success survival It cannot be denied, but it must be admitted that the number of announcements about this species recently has become almost alarming. Most likely, it was the massive amount of sales that was the driving force of Rust and Valheim, as once again large segments of the public are seeing something new but still available outside of the overwhelming power of sandboxes like Minecraft. It’s almost alarming that an alternative appears every few months.

If nothing else, the high advertising rate has prompted many developers to try different and experimental avenues, and some new inputs have been able to subvert the classic formula in a truly seductive way. And recently added to this little train as well. 505 Gamesdecided to join the conflict with a game that was not actually aggressive. It’s called Among the Trolls, we saw it presented at an event dedicated to the company’s staff a few days ago, and it seriously felt like one of the most relaxing and atmospheric games of the genre. Will it be enough?

Well, this is very fresh. Forbidden Studios however, not without interesting ideas … let’s see what we discoveredAmong the Trolls preview.

hungry in nature

There Premise Among the Trolls is a bit more structured than many survival modes that throw the player into the middle of the action, but the intent is almost the same: to justify your alter ego’s arrival in pristine nature and its raids in a complete absence of resources.

Basically, you take on the role Alex or AnnaReturning to Finland from the United States to reconnect with her grandparents after the death of her parents. Arriving at your northern relatives’ cabin, you’ll find it abandoned, and after a very close encounter with a giant sea creature, you’ll be lost in a mysterious forest controlled by forces that aren’t really “human”.

Explained in this way, the concept may seem like the usual justification for survival full of dangers and fights, but in reality it is approach The book Among Trolls seems to aim at the exact opposite of this philosophy.

The Trolls of the Title are actually present in the campaign – and other fairy creatures of various types taken from Norse mythology – and we haven’t even seen them yet. game scenes show … not to mention the fact that the developers are not enemies, but rather a kind of positive force controlling the game world, where cooperation will often be necessary in order to move forward.

L’discovery It seems to be the focus of experience, with a certain emphasis on runes and the possibility of using resources of various types. Three of the main ones are: Sisu (sand), Vaki (spell), and Lykky (luck), and in addition to being dependent on multiple factors, they seem to be quite influential on game mechanics. It’s unclear what magic powers magic can regenerate, but the director has stated that this is in mana practice, and one of the game’s footage clearly shows a song that can make it rain, so it’s fair to expect strength. can directly mutate natural phenomena during progression.

Sisu, for his part, must allow himself to survive in difficult situations (for example, various bad weather conditions that can put the player’s life at risk). The only resource that is marginally displayed during the game is luck, which is increased by sacrifices that can be applied through special rune stones. For now we only know that this will be a central feature of interacting with fairy creatures in some well-defined areas, unfortunately the details are still eluding us.

If the hut doesn’t come to you, build the hut yourself.

If nothing else, we were able to observe two things in the few minutes played: overall graphic detail and management to produce. From a technical standpoint, Trolls stands out dearly, thanks to a dense and realistic vegetation and a level of detail superior to most of the genre (especially when it comes to objects and interiors). However, this geometric complexity of the environments seemed to us a fair amount of trouble in placing some tools (including a simple bonfire) on the ground and we wouldn’t want it to cause problems during the construction phases, it seems like these are something else. basis.

If we move on to the description of the latter, in fact, everything is based on the gods. three dimensional projects It’s a system where you can start slowly building everything from the entire cabin to the smallest decorations. The system appears to be elaborate and intuitive (although it’s impossible to tell how far one can go at the moment), but the dependency on stationary projects seems precisely designed to circumvent its limitations, and we wouldn’t want that. Compared to handling other similar headers, it’s pretty simple now.

Bandaging your head is useless anyway: very little we see seems like fine craftsmanship, and the title’s desire to offer a mystical forest to explore with calm and awareness could actually set it apart from the crowd. Of course, there are health indicators (classics, hunger, thirst, etc.) that need to be kept under control and some dangerous animals spoiled by a vague threat, but the overall approach seemed much more thoughtful and calm than usual. Who knows, this isn’t exactly the keystone for many players who are tired of surviving too chaotic and violent.