While the story deals with tough themes, it’s also beautiful, as is the world the game lets you explore. It’s an insightful feature, and one that will motivate another playthrough. On a second playthrough, audio clips are found scattered around the world, recorded by Wehle, explaining some of his choices in telling the story. A cool feature that becomes apparent only after beating the game once is the inclusion of director’s commentary.

One or two lighter moments are sprinkled throughout, but it remains an intense experience. It’s a story that pulls no punches, and doesn’t shy away from the sometimes harsh and unfair nature of life. In an interview with Wehle, he stated that the game was written as a response to certain events that had occurred recently in his life, and it shows. There’s nothing flashy or over the top here, but it’s real and authentic. The voice acting is strong from the two lead actors, who effectively convey the pain of their situation. Bringing this to life is a solid, although slightly wordy and heavy handed, script from writer/director David Wehle, who brings a painful truth to the narrative that unfolds over the course of two hours. The greatest asset The First Tree possesses is its story, which deals with themes including loss, regret and broken homes, and I imagine could hit quite close to home for some players.

The few controls are explained to you pretty quickly, and all works as it should. There are also a couple of simple puzzles here, and a fair bit of platforming, but nothing too challenging. As you uncover more objects, you learn more about the narrator’s past, and there are some wonderful moments where the stories mirror one another. As you wander around, you can uncover objects from the narrator’s life, which trigger conversations between the couple that fills gaps in the story, and gradually unveils the tragedy at the heart of the story.

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