The First Tree is a 3rd person exploration game published by David Wehle in 2017 for PC, Playstation, Xbox and recently released for the Nintendo Switch. Wehle also voiced the narration of the main character and did all the coding in the Unity engine, with no previous knowledge of programming.
In the last few years, a genre of gameplay has begun to evolve that I like to refer to as “Emotional Adventure.” The First Tree, and other games like Gone Home, Tacoma, What Remains of Edith Finch and Firewatch, are examples of this genre. These games seek to create an engaging, emotional play experience that centers around three basic elements: A carefully crafted unfolding of a heartfelt, tragic or grave narrative, an antagonist-free gameplay model (nothing to defeat or be defeated by), and a breathtaking and immersive graphical environment.
It’s very interesting to note that David Wehle designed and created this game by himself, in 2 years, with no programming knowledge. He used the Unity engine, which allows a developer to create the game while the engine does all of the behind-the-scenes heavy programming work. Wehle also voiced the main narrator, which is fitting because, admittedly, the experiences of the main character are real events from the developer’s life. This is one reason the story and character expression in The First Tree are so relevant and poignantly easy to believe.
In The First Tree, the player takes on the role of a Mother fox searching for her 3 kits, who have been carried off by a wolf. The story progresses as the fox runs through vast and beautifully rendered seasonal landscapes and uncovers artifacts (literally by digging them up) and picks up star-like objects that lie along her path. There is absolutely no instruction or hand-holding as to what to do next, but the game is designed to help the player instinctively figure out simple puzzles to advance to the next level. The star objects you collect have no purpose of which you are made aware, but near the end of the story they become very important. More on that later.
Regarding gameplay, the fox’s movements are natural and beautiful, and the fox has a double-jump mechanic that allows her to jump to higher ledges to escape certain areas or reach stars. The puzzles are simple, such as touching lighted beacons before being allowed to pass an area, but the gameplay ensures that the player hears all of the narrative dialog that is so important to the experience. Other interesting variations, such as “collecting” swarms of butterflies that follow you and allow you to jump even higher to reach secret areas, were a nice departure from the normal “run and look” activities.
Graphically, since the game was made with Unity, which lends itself to more simplistic art styles, it doesn’t have the detail that you would experience in a AAA title made with another engine. But the vastness of the world and the brilliant use of color worked well with the simple surfaces of the fox and her world. The camera controls are all mouse-based, allowing the player to get a view of Mama Fox from virtually any angle.
The soundtrack (or actually, it more closely resembles a score) is haunting and orchestral, featuring music from Lowercase Noises and Message to Bears.
You soon discover, through voice-over narration that occurs while you run through the world of The First Tree, that the game you are playing is actually 2 parallel stories. The first is the story of the fox and 3 kits, which is revealed as the recounting of a dream experienced by the nameless narrator to his partner (wife / girlfriend). The second is the narrative being spun out by the main character as he tells his partner (and you) about his troubled parental relationships. Voiced by the game’s developer, Devid Wehle, the narrator carefully unfolds the trials and regrets of his rebellious relationship with his father. He is regretful of events in the past and longs to find a way to reconnect with his estranged Father before it is too late.
Progressing through levels reveals objects from the narrator’s childhood, marked by beacons of light, which the fox must locate and reach. The narrator then conveys a story about the object and how it relates to his life experience. I became immersed in the game as I ran through the landscape looking for my kits and feeling growing sadness and sympathy for the narrator. The mood of the story becomes more melancholy as the fox comes across the bodies of her dead kits one by one, passing from one season of the game to another.
Near the end, there are no foxes left but the mother, and you discover that the speaking narrator is on the way to his Father’s funeral and that the things he wished he could have done and said were never enacted. The fox makes her way to The First Tree, where life began, convinced that she will once again be with her kits and restore order to her world.
The ending of this game is truly inspired. Nothing specifically is resolved, but after a 2 hour experience of running through massive, gorgeous, colorful landscapes searching for life, and finding only death, finally … both the narrator and the fox find hope.
I don’t want to give anything away, but at the same time I want the reader to appreciate the depth of emotion that the game spans and how masterfully it caps a tragic story with a bright realization, so I will leave the spoiler below the rating. Honestly I would have rated this game about a 6 on our rating system UNTIL I experienced the ending. If you read other reviews you will see that the ending makes the 2 hour completion of The First Tree an exceptional experience!
Overall, I felt a sense of bittersweet tension while playing The First Tree, such as you might experience while reading a classic tragedy or experience a movie about true loss. The ending gave the game a sweet finish that was very welcome and satisfying and, for me, performed a complete u-turn from the grave and deep tone the player experiences up until the last 10th of the game.
The First Tree is relaxing, sad, inspiring and clever. It is definitely worth a playthrough by anyone interested in a good story.
The Numbers:
Gameplay: 9/10 — Simple and enjoyable. Nothing to learn or master. Intuitive
Graphics/Visual Style: 7/10 — The environments are not terribly detailed, and repetitive textures are used, but it’s simplicity and use of color appealed to me and went along well with the simple mechanics.
Learning Curve/Ease of Play: 8/10 — Because it is so simple, there is practically 0 learning curve. No instructions may make it a bit tougher for some to figure out how to pass certain areas.
The Final Verdict: 8/10 – Buy it and Play it! It’s short but cheap. Well worth the experience.
Written by DMikeyL
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***SPOILERS***
The First Tree ends with the fox disappearing into The First Tree, hoping that somehow she will be reunited with her kits in this world or another.
You are then given an opportunity to type a message related to your emotional experience in the game, or loss, or love, presumably something you would write to encourage someone who is experiencing the kind of loss and grief that both the fox and the narrator have endured.
The number of stars you collected throughout the game is the number of characters you can type. Pretty cool, huh? But wait . . .
The game then switches to first person view. Not that of the fox this time, but of the narrator, 6 months in the future. You wake and explore your house, walk out the front door . . . and see the ghostly figure of a fox. You begin to follow as the music builds. Running to catch the fox through a picturesque sierra landscape, I caught my breath when at the top of a hill I saw an enormous tree, much like The First Tree. The fox disappears, I approach the tree. Carved into the tree is a quote that another user has written when he finished the game. WOW! You are then asked permission to allow your quote to be used in the game for other players. You turn and the fox, with her 3 kits, walks away and disappears. Truly amazing!
