Life Is the Start of Love

I got intrigued by the game The First Tree after watching a video by its creator on Youtube. In the video David Wehle, the creator, showcased how he developed the game and how it became a huge commercial success. At that point I knew it was an artist’s game about a fox and that it looked stunning.

I sat down to play The First Tree on my Nintendo Switch. It looked even better on a big screen! As a fox, you get to walk around in a beautiful world. The serene music matches the atmosphere. The high praise the game received seemed well deserved.

The First Tree, a third-person exploration game centered around two parallel stories: a fox trying to find her missing family, and a young couple dealing with a tragedy in theirs.

Players take control of the fox on a poignant and beautiful journey that crescendos at the source of life, and perhaps results in the understanding of death. Along the way, players can uncover artifacts and stories from the young couple’s life as they too become intertwined in the fox’s journey towards The First Tree.

Description from thefirsttree.com

While you’re running around with the fox and interact with the world, voiceovers are played while you play. This works surprisingly well. I somehow became immersed in both stories.

The game is not very long. It will take you a couple of hours from start to finish. As I enjoyed the atmosphere, I was hooked. The appeal in this game is not in the gameplay. My mood would match the serenity of the game while I played. However, at the same time I felt the game was a tad repetitive.

“I love seeing intimate, domestic stories juxtaposed next to epic, origin-of-life stories, because in my mind they’re not that dissimilar. Microcosms next to macrocosms allow us to gain perspective in a way that was hidden before. Basically, The First Tree is a story about families.”

— David Whele in the press kit for the game

My emotional attachment to all the characters (the fox and the voiceovers) made me want to finish the game. I am not sure I have skipped content, but I stopped exploring and tried to find the ending of the game. The edge of the game was just too good. I am so glad I did.

After experiencing some boredom in the actual gameplay, the ending left me speechless. Multiple times. What a rollercoaster! It was deeply emotional. Not just because of what happened in the game. The game made me reflect on my own past experiences as well.

The ending has multiple layers, which I won’t go into as I don’t want to write any spoilers. There is one feature I do want to elaborate on: when you finish the game, you are able to leave a message. These are manually approved by the creator and randomly shown to other players.

When I wrote my statement in the game, my experiences in the game collided with my own and it came straight from my heart. You’ll either think it is profound or corny.

Life is the start of love, and death is not the end of it

— The statement I left behind

I love that I was able to leave that behind. In doing so I directly affect how another random player experiences the game. It’s a really fascinating concept. You can download a sample of the quotes on the website (do yourself a favor and only do this if you have finished the game yourself). If you read the statements left behind by other players, it is obvious that the game managed to make an impact on a lot of people. All the different messages seem to be personal in a different way.

This game had me thinking about how I used to be fearful of death as a teenager. After playing I found out I have overcome this adolescent fear. It also reminded me I forget to enjoy the simple things in life, like sharing time with my friends and family. Quite the achievement for a two to three hour game.

The game is not perfect, but it deserves to be in a museum as it is definitely a work of art that evokes all kinds of reactions and emotions in a lot of people. All the reviews are a testament to this. You can also watch people play it on Youtube. Some of them are holding back their tears while they clutch their controllers.

It is very likely that The First Tree is available on a platform you own. Do yourself a favour and support an artist that is defying all genres and is trying something new. You only need some coffee change and an evening or two to spare. You won’t regret it.

Then go out and live a better life. Sometimes it’s that easy.