Tree of Life
- August 17, 2017
- OddOneGames
- 18h median play time
Get on Steam"Tree of Life" is a sandbox game that allows you to build and manage your own village in a beautiful, procedurally generated world. You can create and customize your character, choose your role and allegiance, and explore diverse environments such as deserts and snowy fields. The game encourages creativity, freedom, and discovery, with the potential to build grand castles or a village for wanderers.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has a charming art style and a vibrant world that encourages exploration.
- Crafting and building mechanics are engaging, allowing players to create their own bases and communities.
- The community is generally friendly and helpful, making it easier for new players to get started.
- The game is heavily grindy, requiring excessive resource gathering that can become tedious.
- PVP mechanics can lead to griefing, with players able to easily raid and steal from others, making solo play frustrating.
- The game lacks sufficient tutorials and guidance for new players, leading to confusion and a steep learning curve.
- grinding434 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of "Tree of Life" is a significant point of contention among players, with many describing it as excessively tedious and time-consuming. While some enjoy the grind as part of the game's charm, particularly in crafting and farming, others find it transforms gameplay into a chore, especially when playing solo. Overall, the game is best experienced with friends or in a guild to mitigate the grind, but it remains a polarizing feature that can deter potential players.
“The grind - oh dear heavens the amount of grinding to accomplish the most simple of tasks.”
“I'm not saying that you shouldn't work for something, but when the grinding is mind numbing, it goes from being a game to a chore real quick.”
“If you enjoy spending dozens of hours of monotonous grinding and farming, only to have everything stolen, then this is the game for you.”
- graphics355 mentions
- 28 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are a mixed bag, with many players appreciating the charming, cartoonish art style that adds a whimsical feel to the gameplay. However, there are frequent complaints about poor optimization, low frame rates, and outdated visuals that detract from the overall experience. While some find the graphics cute and fitting for the game's theme, others criticize them as simplistic or lacking detail, suggesting that improvements are needed to enhance performance and visual appeal.
“The graphics are beautiful, but remind me of something my kids would've played when they were younger.”
“Cartoonish yet charming visuals, with a whimsical feeling to everything.”
“I love the art style, the world is beautiful and the music in the game goes along with it perfectly.”
“This game has only one quality of graphics, it runs poorly and isn't worth it.”
“Graphics are horrid.”
“The graphics are awful, as well as the gameplay.”
- gameplay353 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 73 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its sandbox and crafting mechanics, as well as the potential for cooperative play. However, numerous complaints highlight issues such as repetitive tasks, poor combat mechanics, frequent crashes, and a lack of meaningful updates or support from developers, leading to frustration among the player base. Overall, while the core gameplay concept is seen as promising, significant flaws and bugs detract from the experience, making it difficult for players to fully enjoy the game.
“The gameplay is at its core a really good idea, and for a while the game had a good following, and was a lot of fun to play.”
“Tree of Life is a very fun survival game with some good mechanics and a pretty deep crafting system.”
“The actual gameplay is pretty easy, a lot more easy to get into unlike similar games like Xsyon for example which is a lot more hardcore in its gameplay.”
“I gave this a positive review, but after playing it more and getting past the initial areas, dealing with respawn mechanics, and the overall abandoned state of the game by the developers (who have moved on to a top-down version of the same thing), I cannot in good faith recommend this game.”
“No game progression; all content that has been added in big updates has been removed due to incompetent conception of the game mechanics, therefore breaking the game, requiring rollbacks and wipes.”
“Flawed combat mechanics, grindy difficulty built around an exponentially hard crafting tree, poorly implemented criminal, hunger, and durability systems which continue to eat away at a player's gameplay experience as they progress.”
- stability92 mentions
- 4 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 96 % negative mentions
The game's stability has been widely criticized, with many players reporting frequent bugs, glitches, and lag that significantly detract from the experience. While some acknowledge that minor issues are expected in early access titles, the overall sentiment leans towards frustration due to persistent problems and a lack of effective developer response. Despite these challenges, a few players express hope for improvements, noting that the game shows potential if the stability issues can be addressed.
“It runs great on my Sony Vaio laptop at max settings.”
“For an early access game, it's more stable and bug-free than a lot of actual full releases.”
“The price is fairly modest considering how fun the game is.”
“The game is not worth the effort. I have 550 hours in-game and over the year kept trying to play it with the same result: too laggy, too buggy, never get what was advertised on the main sites. They do not listen to the community, the population is near gone, max 100 on in a 24-hour period with some time periods down to 24 or less across 3 servers.”
“I am unable to recommend this game right now as there are a number of exploits like infinite stamina, duping, glitch teleport (where your character pretty much blinks forward), and even though there have been a number of videos posted of players abusing those bugs/glitches, weeks later they are still playing the game.”
“Game constantly lags. My character glitches backwards while I am running.”
- music92 mentions
- 37 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its relaxing and immersive qualities that enhance the overall atmosphere. However, some find the soundtrack repetitive and irritating, with calls for more diverse musical content. Overall, while the music is often described as beautiful and calming, there are significant criticisms regarding its lack of variety and the absence of musical instruments in the game.
“The music is surprisingly very relaxing.”
“The soundtrack alone is uplifting, regardless of crazed red players or skeletons of the night.”
“The music and atmosphere of the game is immersive.”
“The soundtrack sucks giant t-rex dick in my opinion.”
“The music is more than just annoying - it's irritating.”
“- sound and music is poor; repetitive.”
- story74 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 81 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The game's story is described as lacking a clear arc, primarily revolving around players' survival and building in a chaotic environment where many have crashed. While there are hidden diary entries that provide some backstory, players feel the absence of structured quests and meaningful narrative content, leading to a sense of aimlessness. Overall, the story is seen as a backdrop to gameplay rather than a driving force, with many players expressing a desire for more engaging content and quests.
“A backstory was created through hidden diary entries around the world.”
“This game is great; I do not regret buying it. I bought it like 2 days ago and already have 10+ hours. You get lost in character development and you build your own quest and gameplay.”
“Shares a story of ogres, zombies, and sheep.”
“The only thing you do is build and grind... no bosses, no story, the guilds suck, gank fest, and many more not mentioned... go play and buy something else.”
“I'm so tired to try to make this game better for any member of our guilds, for people who start... but can't anymore... played for 1 year, cause thought developers would finish what they started. This game has huge potential, but failed because they didn't know what to do. The game has lots of griefs, PvP unbalanced, no content PvE, no end game stuff. The sad part of the story is, there's no game like this, so I tell you just sit and wait, don't waste your money... cause this game has no future.”
“If this game doesn't get a mission option soon, or a different level system throughout the world (meaning the monsters get tougher in different regions), the game will not satisfy players.”
- optimization68 mentions
- 18 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 32 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with many players reporting poor performance, high system requirements, and frequent crashes. While some users experience minimal stuttering, the overall consensus is that the game feels unpolished and akin to early access, leading to frustration and a lack of enjoyment. Recommendations suggest waiting for further updates to improve optimization before purchasing.
“I would also like to add that you need to work on optimization; a few of my friends all report the same thing.”
“Just need more optimization for better graphic performance and fix some minor bugs.”
“Awesome game, still has its bugs and optimization issues.”
“Poorly optimized and requires far more PC efficiency than stated in the description.”
“The game isn't optimized well; the servers crash sometimes (but they give a resource buff on restart for a few hours), it is grindy, and it still feels like early access.”
“The system requirements for this game are way out of whack; it says it should require 2GB of RAM, but my sister had 4GB and it wouldn't run, thus the problem of optimization.”
- humor44 mentions
- 95 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely appreciated, with players enjoying its funny animations, quirky creatures, and lighthearted interactions, particularly in PvP scenarios. Many find the cartoonish style enhances the comedic experience, fostering a fun community atmosphere. However, some players express frustration with certain gameplay mechanics that detract from the overall enjoyment, leading to mixed feelings about the humor's effectiveness in the context of competitive play.
“Looking forward to the game; it has some nice animations/models. I didn't know we could even ride a chicken; it was so funny!”
“Definitely worth the money, much better than other games of its style. The cute cartoon aspect adds to the game's humor and fun.”
“The game is simple, but very funny, if you like PvP.”
“Not good, not funny.”
- monetization40 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 23 % neutral mentions
- 70 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game has been heavily criticized, with many users labeling it a "cash grab" due to the prevalence of expensive microtransactions and misleading advertisements. Players feel that essential features have been removed and that the game is being marketed dishonestly to attract new players, while concerns about the game's readiness for launch persist. Overall, the sentiment suggests a lack of trust in the developers' intentions and the game's future direction.
“Game supports in-game purchases for power.”
“Early release game for 2 years with in-game purchases.”
“I get the impression that if this game ever gets out of beta, microtransactions will creep into it.”
“Cash grab at its finest.”
“So in short, the 'launch' of the game was a cash grab to help fund development and pay employees while providing a game not ready to be officially launched.”
“They have removed features, they have gone back on their word about future features, they add more pay-to-win microtransactions, and they have now removed group play in an MMO.”
- atmosphere27 mentions
- 59 % positive mentions
- 30 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its relaxing and immersive qualities, featuring beautiful graphics and brilliant music that enhance the overall experience. Players appreciate the casual vibe, reminiscent of classic MMOs, which allows for enjoyable village building and exploration without the pressure of constant management. Overall, the game creates a tranquil and cute environment that fosters a sense of community and nostalgia.
“The game has an extremely pleasant and relaxing atmosphere, and I love it! It reminds me of an old MMO I used to play that had an awesome community and wonderful atmosphere.”
“The music and atmosphere of the game is immersive.”
“First impression: the atmosphere this game gives when meeting people, seeing them work on a village or working on a village yourself is amazing.”
“The atmosphere is cute!”
“You get to build your village and craft and explore different atmospheres.”
- replayability6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Reviewers indicate that the game has solid replayability, particularly for two-player groups, and express a willingness to accept bug fixes that enhance gameplay. Overall, the existing content is deemed sufficient for enjoyable repeated play.
“Should make the game more playable for a 2 player group.”
“I do not mind entire bug fix updates if it makes the game more playable.”
“There's already an entire playable game here.”
- character development6 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is engaging and allows players to immerse themselves in building their own quests and gameplay, with persistent stats enhancing the experience. However, there are calls for improvement in character design elements, such as diversity in faces, hairstyles, and body types, alongside some technical issues that can detract from the overall experience.
“This game is great! I do not regret buying it. I bought it like 2 days ago and already have 10+ hours. You get lost in character development and you build your own quest and gameplay.”
“Your stats persist, and your character development stays the same.”
“Tree of Life, however, could use improvements in character designs, which includes different faces, hairstyles, body builds, etc.”
“The game can also be pretty buggy at certain points, such as the lighting working awkwardly or monsters appearing invisible.”
- emotional4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional response to the game is mixed, with some players expressing frustration and disappointment due to negative reviews, leading them to hesitate in engaging with the game until significant updates are made. Overall, there is a sense of intrigue about the game, but it is overshadowed by concerns about its current state.
