Among The Trolls, joined Steam last Wednesday to multitude of mixed reviews. The indie game by Avantgarden SRL stars “ Anna” , a woman who returns to the woods, forcing her to explore her connections to the land she left behind. Its Launch Trailer gives the run through of the story of the game, and Anna’s ambitions.
A skeleton of a vaguely human looking creature rests on the floor, as the narrator tells Anna, “Only shadows remain here, Anna.” As visuals of a lake appear. Anna’s on a lake, taking a boat to what seems to be a lovely island in the middle of nowhere. It’s not only her who’s ventured here before, her brother followed these steps before. Alone and in this new place, Anna revisits her childhood, as the narrator comments “These woods, you know them.” The woods don’t seem to be stagnant either as there are signs of prior human settlement and the woods themselves are sentient. All around the woods are signs of magic and the supernatural, with glass bottles hanging from trees, fairy circles and ancient ruins. All are fully explorable, and in her grandpa’s previous haunting place is “Grandpa’s bow” which she uses to shoot deer. There’s a clear settlement setup that the character can interact with and use in various means like grilling meat etcetera.
Anna can engage with the environment, lift wood, make a “Bridge Body” and more. Suddenly a troll emerges from the ground, and Anna sniffs flowers with a walking bear. She then ventures forth into “The First Passage” a series of mysterious caves as someone possibly anna chants to let her in. The gate lights up and pushes itself open for Anna to enter. Inside is a wealth of ancient passages, with runes, and mosaics of the past, the character solves puzzles and goes deeper and deeper, finding alters and more. While she goes, there are undead monsters that rush towards her, which she attacks to cross.