Tree

It’s quite the challenge to take care of a living thing, regardless of whether it’s a child, a pet or a plant. Granted, it’s much easier to grow a plant than it is to take care of a child, and the latter is also more rewarding, but it’s still a great feeling to nurture plants and watch them grow. Trees are particularly impressive if you manage to get them to a respectable age, not to mention the fact that they can also provide you with fruit.

Tree is a simple game in which you play the role of a boy who plants a tree and nurtures it over the years, only to grow attached to it and form a special bond with it. Naturally, most of this is presented in a symbolic way, because the gameplay is about as simple as it can get. Even so, the game is powerful enough to make you think, or maybe even encourage you to plant a tree.

It all starts with a young boy and a seed, although the action moves pretty quickly. Soon the sap grows its first branches and leaves, at least as long as you keep taking care of it. This is achieved by simply clicking on the tree every now and again, so there’s no actual challenge, and it’s also pretty much impossible to fail, given the fact that there are no penalties or anything of the sort.

Things start to move quicker and quicker as you progress, since entire seasons take only seconds after a while. You can watch the tree shed its leaves in autumn, as well as cut its branches in winter in order to prepare it for the spring blossoms. The first fruits make an appearance after a while as well, and you can collect them by clicking on them.

The story gets rather dark after that, since you can watch the boy find love, have kids of his own and have them sit around the tree telling stories. Naturally, death enters the picture as well, since the boy becomes an old man and dies toward the end of the game. It’s great to watch the visual changes as well, since every season is nicely colored and quite moody.

All things considered, Tree only takes you a handful of minutes to play and finish, but it’s definitely worth the bother. You can learn a few things from it, or at least stop to think about life in general and how much it matters to leave something behind when you are gone, be it a family or a tree.