GREEN HELL
Creepy Jar tells us it’s dangerous to go alone
Who’d want to experience the majesty of the Amazon rainforest while inspecting a funky rash on their arm and plucking leeches from their legs? Survival fans, that’s who.
We’re not even going to consider what they eat. Happily for them, Creepy Jar’s Green Hell is picking its way from PC to PS4 later this year, and the best part is you won’t have to go it alone as PS4 players will be able to buddy up from launch.
Up to four players can take on everything the Amazon has to throw at them in Survival mode. If you don’t want to venture into the jungle alone, you’ll be pleased to hear the team intend to add co-op to the story and challenge modes down the line too. “Co-operation mode [has been] long awaited by our community […]” CEO and art director of Creepy Jar Krzysztof Kwiatek tells us. He later adds, “We have prepared new voiceovers and [player] appearance randomisation. In-game mechanics and balance systems were adjusted [too].”
Survival mode on your tod feels far from a walk in the park. Yes, this is where we explain that bit about leeches and rashes. Green Hell features a number of interlocking systems, including examining your own virtual limbs and prying off whatever creepy-crawlies are currently clinging to them. But wait, there’s more!
MAKE LIKE A TREE
“Most games focus on one guiding element of danger (eg cold), starting with it and adding more elements,” Kwiatek tells us, going on to explain the team’s slightly sadistic design philosophy: “In our case, we knew from the very beginning that […] instead, we want the player to feel overwhelmed [by the Amazon.] […] From the beginning all systems were designed in symbiosis, all mechanics are equally dangerous for the player, every step can end up with a snake or spider bite that, [if] untreated, is as dangerous as lack of food or sleep. It is all the mechanics together that create the experience of survival in the Amazon jungle, and each of them was planned from the beginning of the project.”
FROM THE BEGINNING ALL SYSTEMS WERE DESIGNED IN SYMBIOSIS.
But perhaps most interestingly
(or ominously, depending on how you feel about the survival genre), he says, “Compared with other projects we’ve worked on, we have an extremely small number of things that didn’t make it to the final game.”
You won’t just have to manage your physical health, either. “The psyche is inextricably linked to physical health. Each of our actions affects our mental well-being. […] Bad nutrition, diseases, bugs under the skin, or leeches have a negative effect on our condition and, like in life, a warm tasty meal, a long, uninterrupted sleep, and a comfortable bed will help the player stand on his feet, both mentally and physically,” Kwiatek explains.
GREEN AROUND THE GILLS
Kwiatek says of the team’s extensive research process: “Our ‘guideposts’ were the tribes – their everyday life and their rituals. Every plant has its purpose, as food, medicine, or poison.” And while you can encounter human friendlies in story mode, the tribes in-game “have their reasons to stay hostile towards the player.” We’re told that the developer does not have plans to add “more player-tribe interactions.”
But if you simply want to enjoy the fruits of the developers’ research and get a feel for one of the most beautiful wild places on Earth,
Tourist mode mitigates a lot of the aforementioned challenge. We’re told, “The idea for this mode came directly from our community. Players appreciated the work we have put into creating a realistic jungle and they just wanted to feel the atmosphere and build without any dangers lurking for them.” It exists as an option in story mode “for those who want to enjoy the storytelling, but [don’t] necessarily want to fight for food or dig the worms from under their skin.” Well, we won’t be ones to judge when Green Hell makes its PlayStation debut later this year. We hope you packed the bug spray…
To find out more, visit the official website at greenhell-game.com.