The First Tree Switch Review – The Intertwined Tale of a Man and a Fox
The First Tree is an emotionally driven story following a fox looking for her three lost cubs. However, this is a story told in parallel with a man coming to terms with the tragic loss of his father. As he tells this dream about the fox to his wife, the fox digs up pieces of the man’s past.
Although the story of this game does have an emotional effect, the actual gameplay itself is uneventful and slow, leading it to overstay its welcome, even though it only takes an hour or so to complete. So let’s dive into the game, starting with the good parts.
The story of the The First Tree is, for the most part, well told, through good voice acting and items the fox finds linking to the man’s past. The graphics are also nice, and the colours worked gorgeously and the lighting was quite beautiful.
There aren’t any moments I would necessarily describe as stunning, but they were all right nonetheless. The music is also beautiful and relaxing and fits the feel of the game really well.
The First Tree is short, though, which in this case is good as it meant I was willing to go through with an hour or so of the bad stuff and still have enough energy to complete it.
The First Tree is a casual game, so it’s not about saving the world or defeating the bad guy. It’s just about unwinding and enjoying the experience. All games that fall under the casual genre have to grapple with the challenge of being relaxing while not be boring.
Some games absolutely excel at this and are a delight to play, think Cozy Grove, A Short Hike, or Abzu. Sadly this is where The First Tree falls flat on its face. The gameplay pretty much entirely revolves around walking in a straight line.
Occasionally you might need to chase some points of light or jump over some gaps, but really it is just walking. When you do encounter pieces of the the story, it is actually really lovely, hearing the emotional voice acting and empathising with the story is a lovely experience. It is just clouded by everything else about it.
In terms of performance, The First Tree on Switch is okay. Although it never crashed or noticeably glitched, it is very easy to get stuck to the side of rocks or to not be able to manoeuvre around a tree.
Your only two abilities, jump and double jump, feel clunky to use, and it’s very hard to redirect yourself in the air. A couple of areas towards the end of the game are also visually too dark, so it’s hard to tell where the edges of walls are or which direction you’re supposed to be going.
So although The First Tree does have some relaxing moments where the music is just right, the colours are beautiful, and you’re lost in the tale of this man’s childhood, this is all unfortunately clouded by the negatives.
The slow pacing, the clunky controls, the moments where all you get to do is walk. The money it asks for considering the length and quality of the game is pretty steep, but if you want to wait until the price comes down and get it then, well, I guess there’s no harm in that.
The First Tree Switch Review provided by Nintendo Link
Publisher: David Wehle
Developer: David Wehle
Release Date: November 30th, 2018
Price: $9.99, £8.99, €9.99
Game Size: 2.4 GB
Nice artwork
Great music
Emotional story with good voice acting
Slow pacing
Clunky movements and controls
Very little actually happens