Ready to live one of the most fulfilling survival experiences ever? Then Green Hell is here for you!

If they asked me in which place I would never want to find myself in a dangerous situation, where I have to rely on my strength alone to survive, I would have no doubts about the answer: Venice during the Carnival. You have no idea what tourists are willing to do to get on a vaporetto already at its maximum capacity. Stuff to make Bear Grylls crawl.

The other place I fear most of all is the Amazon rainforest. We're talking about a place where practically anything can kill you and there are spiders the size of a hand by Shaquille O'Neal. Things born directly from Satan's nightmares.

Oh, I'm not saying I wouldn't go, huh. I would certainly be curious to take a picnic in the midst of lianas, palms and fruit trees, risking to get killed by a scolopendra (I like strong experiences), but I would get angry here and probably wouldn't come back alive. To reinforce this belief of mine, we thought of Green Hell: a game developed by the independent team Creepy Jar, which gives us city animals the opportunity to partially experience what it means to survive in a hostile environment like that of the Amazon rainforest. I only tell you this: playing Green Hell I died because I touched a frog. I'm not proud of it.

Survival? Yes, but with a plot

Before delving into the game mechanics, I specify that Green Hell has a plot, and a very interesting one. The story is about Jake Higgins, anthropologist, and his wife Mia, interpreter and polyglot. The two, during one of their travels, manage to be accepted and live in close contact with the Yabahuaca tribe, an indigenous people of the Amazon, which has never had contact with modern civilization. Back home, Jake, thanks to their research on the Yabahuacas, even manages to publish a book, which however ends up attracting media attention to the tribe. Because of this, the Yabahuacas end up becoming the new interest of scientists and other researchers, more interested in their research than in safeguarding the way of life of the tribe.

Feeling guilty, Jake and Mia decide to travel to the Amazon again, to make sure no one is harming the Yabahuacas and to apologize to the tribe. Unfortunately, however, things are not going the right way. An internal faction of the tribe has become openly hostile to outsiders, and the couple's journey soon turns into hell. Mia is kidnapped and Jake hunted down by hostile natives, he finds himself alone, lost in the middle of the rainforest, having to survive the thousand pitfalls of his ecosystem. Jake and the player's goal will be to be able to find Mia, keeping the leather intact using every possible expedient.

Despite the inspiration that certainly comes from cannibal films (also evident in the title that refers to Eli Roth's recent Green Inferno), I assure you that the plot of Green Hell is much more than a jumble of stereotypes. There are many twists and turns and a not just moral message. Moreover, the guys of Creepy Jar have managed, thanks to the right narrative devices, to perfectly marry the game's survival open world structure with a linear plot. And this is no small thing.

1001 ways to die in the forest

We said that there is a story in Green Hell, but so how much do you have to worry about surviving? If there is a plot with objectives to follow, there is a risk that survival at some point will take a back seat to give more room to the narrative. Sometimes it is even enough to quickly learn certain mechanisms or locations of the game to ensure survival without even wasting time collecting resources. This is the case, for example, of The Forest where, after the initial phase of impact with the game, we realize that the question of survival can be easily circumvented thanks to the presence of the caves and how they are connected to the progress of the plot. In Green Hell, this does not happen: the sense of danger is always constant and survival is always first, except in the very advanced stages of the game.

Every time you move away from your small refuge in the middle of the forest, despite all the equipment, despite the food in your backpack, you are aware that a wrong encounter, a small oversight, and pam! Death will be there, ready to welcome you in its skeletal arms. And this for me, who am a cursed masochist, is a huge plus. In Green Hell, nothing is easy. Even just starting a fire requires:

• Have the materials to prepare the firebox and place it

• Find other materials and use them to build a tool to light the fire

• Obtain additional material that acts as a bait for the fire

• Produce an ember using the tool and the bait together (action that requires stamina)

• Place the embers on the firebox before it goes out

I forgot: the fireplace must be placed in a sheltered place otherwise the fire will go out at the first rain.

All this must be done through a crafting system that requires you to manually place each single object in a tab that is used to create the desired object. And the game of course doesn't pause. But this is nothing. You have to take into account where and how you sleep, where you walk, the state of your equipment, boiling water before drinking it, cooking meat before eating it and so on. Neglecting even one of these details can lead to death due to a whole host of statuses that can plague Jake: poisoning, food poisoning, parasite infestations, skin rashes, infections and, last but not least, sanity. Certain actions will cause Jake to slide more or less quickly towards the abyss of insanity, resulting in both auditory and visual hallucinations. This particular aspect of surviving in Green Hell is also exploited precisely to make certain points of the plot proceed.

In summary, this game is punitive, especially in the early hours. You have to learn how to juggle various different elements to stay alive and do not fool yourself: you will not make it. At least not immediately, but with efforts and sacrifices. It goes without saying that this high difficulty is only an advantage, given that the goal of the game is to provide a survival experience as realistic as possible. And I'll tell you more: it's precisely his difficulty that makes Green Hell's single player experience so rewarding. Every milestone reached in the plot is the result of effort and if you manage to reach it it will be only because your survival skills have improved.

Explorers

Just two weeks ago, Creepy Jar released a co-op mode for up to 4 players to play and thanks to the fact that they provided us with more than one game code, we were able to test it. This is the Survival mode where the aim is to explore the map and stay alive for as long as possible. Of course, since there are no real objectives, you have to create the objectives yourself, and this pushes the game to become similar to a pure sandbox. The engine of the game becomes to build a base as efficient as possible, optimize the methods of food collection and prepare as best as possible by obtaining the best tools to deal with the natives.

My opinion is that this is a great addition, but that it is not enough to make it the main reason that should push someone to buy the game. Why am I saying this? Because while it is a lot of fun to be able to survive with friends, it is also much easier and less immersive. You don't feel the same anxiety as the campaign, precisely because you know you can count on someone else. Once you have established a base and understand the mechanics of the game well, creating a safe zone becomes relatively easy, leaving the only other "motivation" to continue playing to explore the map in search of unique pieces of equipment scattered here and there. borrowed from the campaign. Of course, if you are mega fans of the genre and have friends ready to follow you in the enterprise, playing Green Hell can be a valid alternative to try something slightly more challenging and more realistic than the usual sandbox.

Pristine beauty

Graphically Green Hell works. We are not faced with a scary graphic artist, especially if we look at the polygonal models of animals and characters, but it must be said that there is something really, really well done that raises the bar of the beauty: the making of the forest. The setting of Green Hell is one of the most accurate in terms of detail I have ever seen.

The map is a real ocean of green, where flowers and lianas decorate the painstakingly crafted trees and shrubs. You can see the care and research that the developers have put into wanting to reproduce the ecosystem of the Amazon as faithfully as possible. The map is also full of locations and glimpses capable of stealing some exclamations of wonder. Also noteworthy is the physics that has been implemented very well since it allows you to stack objects without almost ever seeing absurd interpenetrations. Objects have better collisions with each other than in Fallout 4, I guarantee you. The audio is also excellent, helping to immerse the player in the game environment, with its abundance of rustles, clicks, patters, and the characteristic sound of rattlesnakes. Those damn bastards...

Green Hell is not a game for everyone. Many could be easily discouraged given the high level of difficulty given by its extreme realism, but those who know how to arm themselves with will and concentration will be able to live one of the most satisfying survival experiences on the market. It also has a good story, what more could you want?

Vote 8/10