Alright. The Dead Tree of Ranchiuna is done and dusted. I actually thought I'd played this before, but turns out I hadn't, so no better time than now to remedy that. And it was another stellar walking simulator by Tonguç Bodur, who has more or less mastered the genre. This is, as is the case with his other games, very story-centric, set alongside the backdrop of a lush outdoors and mountain setting. This is also one of his lengthier walking sims, weighing in at about two hours plus another half hour or so to wrap up postgame content (which helps fill out some story points). The remaining hour of my time is me forgetting to close the game, lol.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3271655558

The story was interesting IMO. Well written as always, and with an interesting dynamic where the main story is more of a set dressing used to convey a sub story. Both focused on envy and betrayal ultimately. By my mind, the only sympathetic character in the game was Danielle, who was basically treated as a possession or distraction by literally all the other characters. Who were, by and large unlikable, and IMO, intentionally written that way. You have the presumed protagonist (Andrei) who leaves Danielle and his friends behind to pursue his life in the big city, never calls or checks up on anybody, then just shows up out of the blue years later expecting to continue his relationship with Danielle and resume the friendships he had abandoned. However, his friends all resent Andrei due to a childhood incident with one of them, but more realistically, also because they too covet Danielle. Such a twisted web.

In contrast, the narration is more about reflecting on the nature of society as it pertains to trust, empathy, the nature of perceived strength and weakness, bullying, and so on. And while that does tie into the main story, it also creates a more introspective focus on what it means to simply be alive and interacting with society in our world.

The voice acting was hit or miss. The characters were all done pretty well. The narrator OTOH had times where he was in the flow of the story and other moments where you could tell he didn't really know what emotion to convey. The soundtrack was all excellent, and it's always impressive how the songs are appropriate to the circumstances you hear them in. About to enter a dark cave. Enter a whimsically foreboding piece. About to enter a more mysterious place. Have some kind of ethereal tunes to accompany you. Very nicely done.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3271655641

The graphics lean in the grittier side of natural surroundings. You get the sense that this is an area that sees a lot of rain, and that the protagonist's mindset while viewing this is also somewhat darker. It's definitely a beautiful game, but don't expect huge splashes of color everywhere. They exist. They just aren't the focus here. Also, I thought some of the portraits and pictures hanging in a few places were very nice touches.

Gameplay-wise, this is classic walking simulator with a couple lever puzzles and a few objects that need to be found. However, a new entry to Tonguc's game is a simplified version of a lockpicking mini game. That was cool. I also think it's noteworthy that Tonguc takes a more direct hand in deciding how fast your character can move. There is of course walking and fast walking, but there are sequences where he ramps up your speed to reflect the urgency of the moment in the story. Now, I think we all know the slow walking is something nobody is doing when they play the game, so it doesn't really need to be there, but the attention to your actual walking speed as a pacing device within the game is pretty cool.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3271655420

I thought this was a fun game and certainly one to look at if you enjoy walking simulators in general.