A new survival simulator game has arrived on PS4 and Xbox. Green Hell originally made its debut on Steam back in 2019 and then Nintendo Switch in 2020. New developers Creepy Jar are determined to bring their gamers a smart and clever simulator of the thrills and horrors of surviving in the chaotic jungle. I generally don’t have much patience for survival games myself, I think the last survival game I played was Don’t Starve – a game I didn’t necessarily love. But Creepy Jar did something pretty special here. Wrapping in a very interesting narrative about a couple going to a jungle in the Amazon River and attempt to create first contact with an indigenous tribe called the Yabahuca. The story unravels to be very intense and underneath it all you are left in the jungle doing your best to do what you can to stay alive.
I thought it was very cool that the developers incorporated the story in the tutorial, it’s a section of a game you can skip, but you miss a great foundation, and for me, someone who doesn’t play this genre much, I needed all the tips I could get. Constantly, I was impressed with myself how easily I caught on to the controls, which is something I give kudos to the developers for making the mechanics very easy to understand and actually make sense. When learning to build a fire, obviously you need sticks. When hunting for food, you need to build weapons. All basic, common sense things that you would need to do in the real world, not just this simulator.
Having said all this though, the difficulty is still relatively high. Newb gamers to the genre may struggle a decent amount. I died fairly often, but the content was rich enough where it kept me hooked and made me acknowledge the amount of patience I had. Being attacked by wild animals or local tribesmen had me extremely tense, but the satisfaction of overcoming these obstacles and finding ways to heal yourself to stay alive ended up giving me a huge sense of relief and gratification.
Gameplay aside, Id like to take a moment and talk about how beautiful this game is, yet also a bit on the buggy side. This is a relatively small game, so it’s no surprise that while it still looks great, there are sacrifices all over the place if you look close enough. But this is a game that doesn’t need a triple-A level treatment to execute on what it’s trying to achieve. It does bum me out though that some of the movements and animations just kind of seem a bit clunky. That is a small nitpick though, because all I have to do is look at a sunset or look at a beach and be impressed with the beautiful views and sceneries this game creates. With such a small file size and for a first game from these developers, I can’t help but be very impressed with how much game and style they were able to pack in. I didn’t even mention that there is a rather cool co-op multiplayer that can be really fun when playing with the right people.
Closing thoughts – while I very much enjoyed Green Hell and its tense story, it may still not be for everyone. Green Hell can get rather difficult. But for gamers who love the survival genre, I can’t imagine this would be one to miss. Creepy Jar has created a nice little piece of lightning in a bottle with this experience. I very much look forward to what their follow up game will be.
8/10
Check Out the Green Hell Console Trailer:
Green Hell is available for Nintendo Switch, PC via Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation. For more information, visit: https://greenhell-game.com/
PlayStation Review
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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