REVIEW : The Dead Tree of Ranchiuna (PS5)
Witness a university graduate’s soul-searching trip as he travels to the village wherein he grew up. When he arrives, he finds the area unoccupied and instead sees images of an event that occurred there maybe some time ago, involving another’s return to the town oblivious of what was about to happen. These visions take place in diverse places and times, leaving the player to piece together the puzzle and solve the mystery. The Dead Tree of Ranchiuna is an interactive experience that examines how unjust society can be, both directly and realistically, as well as via the use of fantasy elements, symbolism, and abstract storytelling. Navigate detailed landscapes across a large seamless map in first or third person. To expand the experience, solving riddles, uncover hidden conversations through diligent investigation, and unlock new post-game features.
The Dead Tree of Ranchiuna asks us to consider how unjust society may be, both directly and realistically, as well as via the use of fantasy elements. Some of the game’s behaviours can simply be interpreted as symbolic story-telling. A fully voiced, highly immersive “walking simulator” with a playtime of over two hours, featuring additional gameplay. A large map with no loading screens in the game. A blazing plot detailing the voyage, told by both in-story actors and the player protagonist.
Molo Dimolo provided a charming unique soundtrack for this film. The player will be carried through the peaks and valleys of their adventure through atmospheric sound design. Light puzzle and gameplay aspects make the game approachable. On-the-fly camera swapping between first-person and third-person perspectives. Through diligent world investigation, I was able to include more tale dialogue. After finishing the story, the player will be able to fast-travel between locales, allowing them to explore and “unleash” much more.
The Dead Tree of Ranchiuna is told from the perspective of an observer and follows an average guy who returns to his birth hamlet after completing his studies. Rather than being greeted with open arms, he discovers a planet riddled with hatred for no apparent reason. Devastated by hatred, his boyhood friend abducted his fiancée while he was away and is now pulling all sorts of cruel jokes on him with the help of two other accomplices. The action takes place in a Romanian village known as “Ranchiuna,” a name that combines anger, envy, and a desire for vengeance. Because of the sufferings they had to endure over the years, this emotion became imprinted in the Romanian mentality of country dwellers.A farmer’s life is harsh: the quantity of land you own determines your fate and restrictions, and this condition is prone to causing many arguments, even among family members. Your best buddy can turn into your worst adversary in an instant, and finding ways to get the money you need to sustain yourself can be a tremendous challenge. Despite the fact that The Dead Tree of Ranchiuna does not address these sensitive issues in the way that certain older Romanian novels do, it still captures the psychology of avarice bred of hatred and competition quite well. In that regard, I was astounded (in a good way) by how accurate the developer of The Dead Tree of Ranchiuna was, and even more so by how accurate the developer of The Dead Tree of Ranchiuna was. In that regard, I was pleasantly shocked (in a good way) to find how accurate the developer of The Dead Tree of Ranchiuna was, especially given his ability to communicate this psychology so well despite having no prior knowledge of Romanian culture.
The first half or so was indeed a fantastic experience, extremely relaxing and straightforward. However, when the game began to include a plot and very limited ‘mystery’ use, the peace gradually dissipated. Because the puzzles are like clicking things till you have either selected them in the proper sequence or enough times, the feeling of serene relaxation and gradual delight was supplanted with irritation.
Otherwise, it’s just a walking simulator, as the name implies. The storey has the sense of an Eastern tale that has been inadequately translated and presented in English. It undoubtedly contains some serious, intriguing components, such as the proper response to long-ago misdeeds, guilt, and abandonment. However, it is not thoroughly investigated.
The game’s scenery maintains a melancholy / nostalgic atmosphere, which is perfectly complemented by the gorgeous music. There are many features that evoke Romanian culture, like the flowers in the fields, the interior architecture of the houses, and even the minor flute subtleties in the music. All of these factors combine to create a one-of-a-kind experience that may be more powerful for me as a Romanian native than for you as a tourist, but the emotional aspect remains strong in both cases.
This walking simulator is not too long ; it takes about 2 hours to finish, after which the participant enters an encore mode in which they might travel to different areas of the map to further explore the lovely landscape and see places that were previously unavailable. I get the objective of all of the conversation and the values that were being attempted to be conveyed, but I despise this game.It enraged me greatly. I shouldn’t get progressively angrier when playing a game. Everything is designed to entertain, enlighten, or at very least fascinate me. I also got caught between two boulders at one point and had to restart from the last save point, which was quite inconvenient for me. The vocal performance and human conversation are both lacking, and the long trek is monotonous. After around 10 minutes, most regions start to appear the same. This is a breathtaking game with a terrific, atmospheric music. However, the game is bogged down by lacklustre game play, puzzles, and voice acting and screenplay authoring. It tries to delve into the themes of guilt, vengeance, envy, and greed. Even for a walking simulator, there seems to be a lot of walking with nothing to do, although you can run to speed things up.
REVIEW : Rugby 22 (XBOX Series X)
