Survival games have become extremely popular over the last few years, which has led to an influx of titles that attempt to offer something new and challenging. Unfortunately most fail, which has led to suspicion of "cashing in" when new titles arrive on the market.

Green Hell has attempted a slightly different and much more realistic take on the genre, where micro-management is key to your success. And it's not bad, really!

You see, most survival games balance their challenge with food, water and odd dangers, such as mutant babies or zombies. They scale your consumption to ridiculous levels (gallons of fluids and kilos of food every day) to supposedly balance their gameplay. By doing so, they reduce the realism of the players adventure and inject frustration in how much of a need there is to gather nourishment over all else. It seems to be the 'go to' formula for the generic survival game... Not so in Green Hell.

There's pretty much everything you could want here. A large, sprawling rain forest that's been lovingly crafted in stunning detail (imagine Crysis on steroids). There's danger everywhere, from small parasites and insects to dangerous animals. The locals are also not happy you are in their territory, so inevitably they want to disrupt your progress (in small ways) and will even attempt to engage you in combat. Not enough to make it an irritation, but enough to have you on your toes and to raise your pulse. Even simple sounds can have you imagining the worst and set you on edge.

Sustenance is very well integrated, with not just water or food, but a complex mixture of hydration, protein, fats and carbohydrates that all need attention if you don't want to suffer exhaustion, starvation, or even go mad and start hearing voices. Eating some foods can directly affect your sanity, such as eating human flesh or creepy crawlies. Cooking homely foods can soothe your woes and restore your sanity. All of this adds a complex and rewarding mini-game in itself. Although it can make the early days very demanding, it is a refreshing take on human needs in this genre of game.

Crafting is also a real treat here. It's complex and hard work. There's no cutting down trees for 500 wood and spamming walls and items everywhere. Gathering is its own challenge, with weight issues and item availability being a core element to expansion of your home base should you decide to make one.

The list of craftables starts small, meaning you ideally need to explore to discover how to make something. You can, however, experiment with smaller recipes and stumble into their various schematics (which unlock once crafted). So common sense is also your friend here! A nice little touch (similar to Minecraft) that makes the game feel more like a simulator than a game.

Illness, injuries, parasites and other disabilities are also micro managed, with a knowledge of local herbs and plants essential to a speedy recovery. You need to consider your own hygiene. Being dirty makes a difference when eating or applying medicine. The consequence of which can be gross.

TLDR:
I'm still discovering many things as I play and am amazed at the love that's been put into the development of this game. It's truly a fantastic experience for anyone that's looking for a serious survival adventure that pushes your abilities of thought and reason. It's not for the feint of heart or the impatient. I'm not even sure it can be classed as a game. Simulator is a far more accurate description, but there is a story included (EA Tutorial, with the main story being added in v1.0 Official Release), which adds purpose.

Extremely well executed and highly recommended!

As of writing, It's the end of September 2021 and they finally dropped a huge content dump.

People can remove the tin hats and ease off talk of the game being a scam, which should be a relief to everyone.

As far as content goes, it's changed significantly and has not only redeemed itself for the 2 year silence, but has surpassed expectations. Looking at the discussion forums and news threads, it appears the latest update has pleased many of the original backers. If you were unsure of the game's development, worry no more. Clearly HandyGames has been working extremely hard over the last few years and is developing a real gem. It's still in Early Access and hopefully that means there's even more room for growth but, in all honesty, even if they only squash bugs and polish things between now and full release, what's on offer now is well worth the money.

Townsmen VR scratches that 'Settlers/Townsmen' itch very nicely for a VR game. It's obviously a little smaller in scope, most likely because of the constraints of VR itself, but what they have done here is extremely enjoyable, easy to play and beautiful to look at, VR really adds a remarkable feel to this type of game and I'm very grateful that HandyGames has brought something like this to the VR space. It's hugely refreshing, great fun and surprisingly well polished! I've encountered only one bug (not being able to pick up items from storage), which was corrected when reloading the game.

I will hold off on a full review until it's released as 1.0, but am confident that the final product will provide hours of entertainment for anyone that enjoys simplified resource management in the style of The Settlers.

Most importantly; try to disregard negative reviews from before 22nd September 2021, as they are focused on the initial release (tech demo) version that upset a lot of people due to the lack of content and transparency from the developers, causing some (understandably) significant worries about the game being abandoned... It has proven itself to most definitely NOT be abandoned, or a scam!

I wholeheartedly recommend this in its new state and look forward to seeing how much more will be added.