Tree of Life

In Brief

Before you decide to enter this competition giveaway for a chance to win one of 100 keys for the Steam game 'Tree of Life'; please do check out the in-game videos of gameplay HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. The game is an online massive multiplayer game (MMO), You can play solo, but to get the best out of this game it's better to join up with a small group of friends. You can see 90 images of the game HERE

Please only post comments about today's game giveaway; other comments either inappropriate, or comments with only one or a few words; for example vg, good, thank you, TY, bad, rubbish, this game is ****** etc , or if the comment has nothing to do with today's game or is complaining (send your complaints to the giveaway team via the contact form that I've linked to below), they may be deleted at the moderator or administrators discretion; however, a little light banter among community members/friends and with the moderator to keep this a friendly place to visit is acceptable and welcomed. All comments not specifically about today's game giveaway will be judged by the moderator and if deemed inappropriate, will be deleted and usually with no explanation. Please see the moderation policy HERE for details about posting comments.

Installation:

The installation is via the Steam client. If you are not familiar with activating a Steam game, go to the top menu and select Games. From the drop down menu select 'Activate a Product on Steam'. The game will then be available to inatall on any computer you install the Steam client on and sign in using your Steam account. If you're new to Steam, you can download the Steam client HERE and create a Steam account HERE. Once the key has been added to your account it will be permanantely tied to that account and cannot be changed.

Introduction:

Tree of Life is an indie Korean studio's take on the growing survival/sandbox trend in online gaming. Unlike many of its Western counterparts, Tree of Life boasts brightly animated graphics and an emphasis on cooperative gameplay. Players must work together to build settlements and protect them from raids by computer controlled monsters. Become a mayor or king and fortify your resources by building high walls and watchtowers. Prospering villages are attacked by hordes of monsters, hungry for resources. Defend against greedy players as well, eager to kill peaceful citizens. The game will include open PvP like Rust, DayZ, and H1Z1 but with harsher death penalties imposed on player-killers (PKs) than normal players.

Thinking of building your own village to show your workmanship? Oh no, you feel like that all buildings on the street are kind of grand castles? If so, it’s time to play Tree of Life. You can make your own village anytime, anywhere. You can also be anyone. You can be a lord who rules a huge grand territory or makes a knight guild to protect the ToL world. What about a village for wanderers? Whatever you want!

Edited reference accessed HERE and HERE. 27th November 2017

The Game:

From the moment I saw the trailer, I looked forward to playing Tree of Life. As a longtime fan of the survival genre, I was excited to play a game that emphasizes communal defense over ruthless PvP. Too many survival games—whether it be Rust, DayZ, or H1Z1—are plagued by griefing. But Tree of Life’s trailer depicts players frolicking across deserts and gathering around campfires to sing Kumbaya. Is it the game it claims to be? Not exactly. But Tree of Life deserves to be praised for what it delivers.

As with any MMO, we begin with character creation. It’s simple, with a small selection of hairstyles and skin tones to choose from. But this is a simple game, running on a lightweight client. Your character model is detailed enough to make it feel individualized. Actual customization comes later, through your choice of profession and crafted gear. My own character was as Vin Diesel-esque as I could make him. Dubbing him gUMBLE I was ready.

I entered the world greeted by charming, upbeat music. During the day, a happy beat skips along, perfect for an elevator in some upper-class neighborhood. When dusk arrives, a xylophone kicks in to see you through the perils of darkness. The inviting sounds parallel the game’s childish graphics and deliver an overall tone that—personally—recalls the first time I launched Runescape. It’s a presentation that should work on most modern computers and allows for the innumerable structures that pockmark the vast landscape to be rendered without much slow-down.

Like any survival game, the first check on the itinerary is made after you smash your face against interactable objects, whether it be a rock, a tree, or water. In Tree of Life, I ran up to a Wetland tree and unleashed my fists of fury. My knuckles bloodied, the tree imploded into twigs, apples, and one oversized log. Tree of Life is a game where everything can be decimated with a well-placed hit. So I smashed the log as well, turning it into a firework of firewood and more apples. Pressing “F,” I collected each item, one at a time.

Four meters must be monitored to continue existing: Health, Soul, Stamina, and Hunger. The least obvious is Soul, a timer dictating respawn when you die. The most pressing meter is hunger. Spawning hungry, I collected as many apples as I could to feast like an inebriated Johnny Appleseed. Opening your inventory with “E,” you can drag the Apple onto your toolbar—if it’s not already hotkeyed. Selecting the Apple hotkey will call up a Honeycrisp icon in the center-left of your screen. Right-clicking, you drag your cursor over the icon to begin munching away. As with many survival games, your character burns calories like a marathon runner—you’ll spend time building your pantry before exploring the world.

As you perform a task you level up its corresponding Mastery—or skill. Punching away at wood like Beatrix Kiddo I leveled up Martial Arts, ready to take the next boat to Han’s island. If your preferred weapon is sharp, then use a Crude Knife to increase your proficiency with daggers. When you level you increase your stats as well. Smashing at some bark with my mace bestowed me with Hammer, increasing my Strength and Constitution by one in each stat respectively. Even Logging rewards points in strength as you level. It’s RPG leveling at its most basic: the more you do something the better you become. But, not every skill can be leveled by hitting objects.

Crafting in Tree of Life is extensive. Of the 24 occupations, 8 are devoted to sweating behind a bench of one kind or another—with some occupations requiring level 50 to create their final item. It is undoubtedly a grind to max out a craft. And starting off, you will be stuck creating rudimentary materials, you may or may not need, to level up. But it's a simple system. Pressing “E” reveals the crafting menu; simply drag and drop items and click on a corresponding icon to create. First off, you’ll make a bonfire to cook the Venison you barbarically acquired, and a workbench to begin leveling skills, such as Tinkering. Some required resources can be difficult to discover, as they are limited to areas on the map. So, typically specialization is you best bet—setting up camp near the resources you need to level. And working with other players to create a community where each player asserts a role for the greater good.

Watching some of the videos for Tree of Life, it's evident that it’s a game that wants you to engage with other players. But finding a newb friendly guild can be pretty tough. I met players on my travels, but many of them were wanderers or noobs like myself. I headed inland from my starting island in the South-East portion of the map, hoping to find an active base I could contribute to. But all I found were decrepit forts, rotting away. Standing atop a hill I looked out and gazed at their scattered husks. It gives the world a lived-in feel, albeit a desolate one but captivating. As I scavenged the ruins, I found only a Cow that I amusingly lifted with ease, before slaughtering it for meat.

And then, when I did discover bases they were occupied by solo-players, walling off their own small chunk of land—many of whom wanted nothing to do with me. It was a bit disappointing. Is this the mentality of my fellow players? Most players I met would ignore me once I broached the subject of teaming up. Luckily, I did eventually find a helpful player who directed me to noober territory, in the South West of the map—and he gave me a VooDoo mask.

Just as I was about to give up, I ran into two players rebuilding their base. Every night monsters spawn and attack structures. The more prodigious the the base, the more monsters that spawn to hack away. Vigilance is necessary to maintain your work. The two I ran into were rebuilding after zombies had eaten away their barrier like termites. I asked if I could help them out, and to my delight they accepted. I joined their guild and set about building a base.

Base building is easy, so long as you pay attention to the UI. You place structures after gathering the necessary resources and then proceed to add additional resources in a series of steps. Once you’ve dragged over two logs, thrown some sticks and firewood, you have yourself a cabin where items can be stored. It’s paramount that you lock your stuff up. Locks can’t be built until Tinkering is at level 4, and it's highly recommended you grind up tinkering before logging off. Otherwise, other players will mosey up to your house and steal from you without remorse. Or, you can stay online and fend them off with a swing of your club.

Tree of Life is an MMORPG that utilizes an active combat system. As long as an enemy's HP bar is present on the top of your screen you’ll be able to make contact. I learned the hard way which monsters will decimate me and which ones I could square off against. Stick to deer and wildlife, animals that don't fight back. Bears, Angry Tree Spirits, and Cursed Zombies are formidable opponents that will send you scattering. I did not find combat to be immersive. It’s far from the focal point of the game. You hold down left-click and swing, or shoot, away—whoever has more health wins. It’s not a complaint. Many survival games have rather weak combat systems. Its the experience of building a base and forming a community that provides an engaging experience.

During my playthrough I never suffered any griefing or harassment from other players. My interactions tended to be one-sided snoodiness. However, there have been numerous complaints in reviews about merciless homewreckers. PvP-focused players are flagged red after attacking a player or their base, flagging themselves to be killed without consequence. When an aggressor is killed they lose all of their items; it's a fair incentive to prevent players from wildly swinging at each other, such as in Rust. And non-flagged players who are killed only drop 1 item, so the loss is more of an inconvenience than a terrible tragedy, such as in Ultima Online.

Overall, the game is very focused on PvE, as far as I can tell, over PvP. I’ve heard of roaming bands of criminals slaying innocent players like Genghis Khan. But all of the sociopaths must have been committed because my experience was benign. If players are likely to attack, it will be in a raid when you’re offline. They’ll break down your walls, sneak into your property, take your loot, trample your crops, and steal your daughters.

I did not walk away with the sense of community and comradery I came to expect from the trailer. Perhaps I didn't find the right players. So, to really enjoy the game you’re going to need to pick it up with a few friends. Or, be social enough to find affable players. The infusing RPG elements adds a new level of grind with persistent rewards in the form of new skills, giving the game value even after you’ve been killed and raided. Tree of Life's emphasis on community building creates an immersive world where player interactions have a tangible impact. It's a game that blooms the more time you invest into it.

Edited reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by Sean Sullivan. Reposted by Whiterabbit-uk 27th November2017

Other Reviews and Videos of Tree of Life:

You can see around 4700 comments/reviews from the Steam community for Tree of Life HERE and HERE. There are several in-game videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Conclusion:

To follow later.

Suggestions:

If you win a key and once you've had an opportunity to play Tree of Life ‘PLEASE’ take a few moments to give some positive or negative feedback; for example, what you liked or disliked about the game, or how it could be improved. If you don't like the genre at all, please explain why and if any, what improvements would change your mind? Once the competition is over, you can access the comments section by going to the game giveaways home page, then scroll to the bottom of the page where it says Archives and select the date the giveaway was live (giveaway days are in bold type). This will open up the appropriate page for you to post your comment or review (Nov 30th). Alternatively, you can Google the name of the game and include Gamegiveawayoftheday in the search. This should give you a list of links to when this game was given away.

There are thousands of subscribers to the game giveaway of the day every weekend which makes this an ideal forum for giving developers new or fresh ideas as to what their consumers (i.e you) would like to see in a game. For example, you could suggest extra content such as better or more original mini-games, or a level editor that you would like to see that would make it more appealing to you. Maybe you think the graphics are a little dated and are in need of re-skinning, or maybe you've just had enough of the genre and want to see something different or something with more originality? Giving such feedback instead of saying nothing or just saying this game is rubbish or good may bring more developers to the site, which could mean more and better games. Would 'you' give away thousands of copies of a game (or extra content for a game) away to a community that complains all the time instead of giving useful feedback? It only needs a few moments of your time. I believe this site could be transformed into a hub for developers to visit and take away useful information on what you the consumer wants in their games; if only the community would be more forthcoming in their opinions of the games they are getting for free. If the giveaway doesn't grab you, then please move on to the next giveaway, or check out the forums HERE, HERE and HERE, where a few members of the community post details of various free games and free game sites as well as links to various indie bundle sites etc; you never know, you may find something that really interests you.

If you miss the competition or fail to win a key for ’Tree of Life’ you can always get the game via Steam HERE. It’s usually £14.99/$19.99, but it’s on sale at the moment with 33% off (£10.04/$13.39)

Problems getting the game to work:

If you're having problems installing or activating or getting ’Tree of Life’ to work please visit the FAQ's Thread HERE and read through the communities comments in case someone has already posted a fix, or alternatively visit the Steam forums.

If, for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, you have a game to offer the community, or are unable to complete all the competition requirements that the FAQ's thread or these comments don't cover or solve you can do so HERE

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the developers ‘Konstructors’ for giving away their game, and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

If ’Tree of Life’ doesn't interest you, but you still hanker for something new to play, you'll find details of some game deals whether they be sale items, indie bundles or games being given away for free HERE (I've not updated the thread in a while, but most of the links still take you to the latest deals).

The rest of the information that used to be posted in the game review can be found in the forums HERE. Finally, check out Delenns threads for details of other free games and offers HERE and eslewhere in the game discussion forums HERE, (usually on the first page of the game discussion forums).

The latest Origin giveaway is Plants vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition. which you can find HERE. If you love Tower Defense, or arcade games in general, this is a fabulous game. It's not like your typical TD game. It's easy to pick up, but hard to stop playing. A fantastic and well balanced arcade game, with brilliant game play and in my opinion one of the best of its kind. You can see a couple of game play videos HERE and HERE. You can also get the excellent strategy game World in Conflict (Complete with the Soviet expansion) for free HERE until the 11th Dec (10am UTC). You'll need a Ubisoft account and the UPlay client installed to get the game free. (If you followed Ubisofts 30 year anniversary giveaways last year (several AAA games given away over several months), you should already have these).


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