Green Hell "leafs" early access and sprouts a story mode
Welcome to the jungle
"Welcome to the Jungle", Axl Rose once penned. A habitual liar and scoundrel, when Mr Rose was asked what sort of thing one would find in the jungle, did a diverse ecosystem come to mind? Natural wonders both deadly and delightful? No, dear reader. Take my advice and ignore what stadium rock bands tell you - there are no "fun and games" in the jungle. These are very serious biomes that demand our attention and care.
There's plenty of fun and games in pretend jungles, mind. Like this one, Green Hell. The survival game just left Steam Early Access with a brand-spankin' new story mode.
John took a look at Green Hell back when it crashed into early access last. While it sure did look like every other survival game, he felt it was an awfully pretty one, with an interesting story that could probably be worth taking a look at on release.
Hey, that's today!
Let's get this clear: there's something real rough about a game portraying the Amazon as a nightmarish hellscape populated by violent savages at the best of times. At a time when very real native populations are being displaced by very real firestorms and government negligence in the Brazillian rainforest? Bad look, guys.
The story mode also seems to be playing with some iffy mental health tropes, with flashbacks and hallucinations that have visual spectacle but sure are playing with some touchy material. You've lost your wife/girlfriend/tomb raiding sidekick, see, and you're slowly losing your mind as you go looking for her.
On a lighter note, 1.0 adds massive new map areas, dozens of new plants, and frogs. I'd like more updates to add frogs. Developer Creepy Jar have also plugged in more difficulty options to help tune in or out of some of the more punishing mechanics. You can also adjust the speed of depletion for things like hunger and thirst. There's a jungle's worth of new content listed over in the patch notes.
Green Hell is available over on Steam for £15/€17/$20.