Through Abandoned: The Forest
- August 9, 2016
- Igor Krutov
Get on SteamIn "Through Abandoned: The Forest," players explore a sacral place in the Ordered, solving puzzles and discovering items to find their brother. This free-to-play adventure and romance game offers engaging problem-solving and a captivating narrative. Add it to your Steam wishlist for future updates.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features beautiful hand-drawn graphics and improved sound design that enhances the atmosphere.
- Puzzles are more complex and varied compared to the first game, providing a satisfying challenge for players.
- The game has a captivating storyline that keeps players engaged and wanting to explore further.
- The game suffers from numerous bugs, including freezing issues and disappearing items, which can disrupt gameplay.
- Navigation can be convoluted and frustrating, with a lack of clear hints leading to confusion about where to go next.
- Some puzzles are overly cryptic and lack logical solutions, making them difficult to solve without external help.
- story42 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 76 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The story of the game is a mix of intriguing elements and cryptic narratives, often delivered through diary entries and logs, which some players find engaging while others see as disjointed or lacking depth. While the second installment shows improvement in storytelling and world-building compared to its predecessor, it still leaves many questions unanswered and relies heavily on exposition. Overall, the narrative has potential, with a mysterious atmosphere and a promise of further development in future installments, but it may not satisfy those seeking a fully fleshed-out plot.
“With its atmospheric visuals, immersive sound design, and intriguing storyline, it's a captivating adventure that will keep you engaged from start to finish.”
“The story mixes futurism with surrealism, and takes place in a forest that is connected to other worlds through doors.”
“Mysterious story about two brothers who explore parallel worlds in a point-and-click adventure setting.”
“Despite being the second title of the series, knowledge of the first title isn't needed at all since there is barely any story in it - you can even skip all dialogues and focus on the puzzles, especially since the font makes it hard to read the text.”
“This installment also had the same issues with a very weak/lazy plot and an absurd amount of exposition that simultaneously overexplains the obvious and doesn't actually advance the plot.”
“The story is some weird alien world/technology tale told through diary entries.”
- graphics32 mentions
- 47 % positive mentions
- 41 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the hand-drawn art style and atmospheric visuals that enhance the gameplay experience, while others criticize the overall visual quality as amateurish and lacking in detail. Many players appreciate the nostalgic and simple artwork, but there are complaints about graphical bugs and repetitive environments that detract from the experience. Overall, the visuals are seen as a notable improvement in some aspects, yet still fall short of professional standards.
“We get some really nice new puzzles and lots of new and various environments which are a treat for the eyes in this hand-drawn graphic style which I just love.”
“It has a beautiful nostalgic art style referencing the Submachine games.”
“The hand-drawn graphics are nice, and the palette is easy on the eyes.”
“The artwork here is terrible; it's a hodge-podge of amateurish 'my first Wacom tablet' style drawings used instead of professional-looking game assets.”
“It's unclear if this is due to a lack of budget to hire someone who can create graphical assets properly, or a lack of talent; regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is extremely low, enough on its own to deter gamers.”
“While the artwork itself might be considered passable, the visual presentation here is negligible; it might as well be a slideshow or a YouTube video.”
- music17 mentions
- 59 % positive mentions
- 24 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its ability to enhance the overall atmosphere, with many reviewers noting its beauty and intentionality. It complements the art style and gameplay, creating an immersive experience that evokes feelings of mystery and exploration. Overall, the soundtrack is described as pleasant and fitting, contributing positively to the game's mood and engagement.
“This game, and the others in the series, are full of easy-but-fun puzzles in an interesting and forgotten world, filled with lovely art and a soundtrack that really heightens the feeling of exploring that lost place.”
“The music also felt a bit more intentional in this one, instead of like they picked the first royalty-free track labeled 'industrial' with mechanical sounds in it.”
“The volume being set in a 'room' before the music change creates some sound blasts.”
“The art and music portray a sense of mystery, wonder, and occasionally the creeps.”
- gameplay11 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 36 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by interesting puzzles and a visually appealing art style, though some users noted minor bugs that can disrupt the experience. It follows a familiar point-and-click/escape game format, with smooth mechanics and an engaging story, but some players found it only average compared to similar titles. Overall, the gameplay is intriguing, with solid puzzles that enhance the experience.
“Some minor bugs found during gameplay, but otherwise it's an interesting puzzle game with a pretty nice art style.”
“Intriguing story and gameplay.”
“I'll need to try it again when I won't have those block rooms getting me upset to the point of looking for the dev's location to bite him (I'm joking, of course, but most of my gameplay was understanding what I was supposed to do and why one of the blocks was bugged).”
“Likewise, its gameplay mechanics are only up to par with other point-and-click/escape games out there.”
“Gameplay is similar to the first one, mostly in the vein of a mobile/flash first-person adventure game: the player scrolls through a grid of static screens, looking for items, interactive spots, or doors that lead to some kind of smaller sub-dimension that could contain some crucial element.”
- atmosphere7 mentions
- 57 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 29 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its immersive sound design, improved sound effects, and captivating visuals, which collectively enhance the overall experience. Players appreciate the ambient sounds that enrich exploration and contribute to the eerie, engaging environment reminiscent of classic adventure games. Overall, the combination of art and audio effectively creates a compelling atmosphere that draws players into the storyline.
“With its atmospheric visuals, immersive sound design, and intriguing storyline, it's a captivating adventure that will keep you engaged from start to finish.”
“Good adventure game; the audio really sells the atmosphere!”
“There's now ambience when exploring locations, which is something I highly appreciate and feel like it adds tons to the atmosphere.”
“There's no ambience when exploring locations, which is something I highly appreciate and feel like it adds tons to the atmosphere.”
“The game is set in the same eerie atmosphere as the first abandoned game, being inspired by Mateusz Skutnik's Submachine games.”
- monetization4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the developers has been criticized as unethical, with accusations of creating low-quality, asset-flipped games that exploit existing templates and assets for quick profit. Users describe these practices as cash grabs, likening the output to shovelware, and express concern over the lack of originality and integrity in the games being sold.
“These guys do nothing but copy premade game templates and game tutorials, fill out a few things, stamp out basic levels using the construction kit templates, slap on an asset-flipped set of sprites/assets, and dump them on Steam and into cheap, nasty shovelware game bundles as cash grabs.”
“Trying to get paid for someone else's game templates and assets... at best, this is shovelware; at worst, it's a scam/cash grab.”
“Igor Krutov/Trinity Project/Droid Riot have shown a repeat pattern of unethically dumping other people's work onto Steam as a cheap, nasty cash grab, through this account or through closely linked/alternate accounts.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly due to the lack of clear navigation cues in puzzles, which forces them to repeatedly explore each environment by dragging the mouse in multiple directions. This mechanic can lead to frustration and a sense of being stuck, detracting from the overall experience.
“Tedious to get stuck in the puzzles.”
“Game doesn't tell you if the room or the scene you are in lets you go left or right, so you have to drag your mouse each time up, down, left, and right when you are in a new environment to see if you can move to a different location, and after a while it becomes tedious.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with frequent freezes and crashes occurring after solving puzzles, leading to multiple restarts. Many users have described it as a "buggy mess," detracting from the overall experience.
“I didn't mind the undeveloped story as much as some other reviewers, but unfortunately had to restart the game quite a few times as it freezes and crashes after solving certain puzzles.”
“It also doesn't help that this game is an incredibly buggy mess.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game offers minimal replayability, primarily limited to uncovering secrets, which is typical for its genre. However, its low price point sets appropriate expectations for the lack of extensive replay value.
“Like most games of this genre, there is very little replay value besides discovering all of the secrets, but the price of the game is so low that you shouldn't really expect any replay value anyways.”
