Taking a break from the brain-munching ways of the undead,
Zombie Farm maker
The Playforge has gone all-natural, releasing the cute (yet simple) Tree World for free on iPhone and iPad. Tree World has a simple premise: grow a tree from a small sapling into a giant home for dozens of creatures, large and small, and keep them happy by equipping the tree with different kinds of natural habitats.
The gameplay of Tree World is as simple as the premise. You'll be given a few animals to start your game, like a Frog or Rabbit, and must assign them to branches that sprout as you make the tree taller. Each animal produces Tree Food over time (automatically), with different animals taking longer to produce larger and larger amounts of Tree Food. You can use this Tree Food as the game's major currency, either using it to purchase additional animals to live in your tree or using it to grow the tree or branches to offer homes for more critters.
Each animal has their own stats and quirks, and prefers a specific kind of tree branch to live on. You'll be able to manually assign vines, flowers, fruit, mushrooms or moss to grow on each branch, and can then place two animals on each branch (either two different animals or two of the same can live comfortably on each). Just as animals flourish on specific plant types, they also have their least favorites, so you'll quickly find yourself balancing the wants and needs of your animals by repeatedly growing the same kinds of plants on multiple branches as your tree continues to reach towards the sky.
As you might expect, the growth of your tree becomes more difficult over time, as each level requires more Tree Food than the last. You can counteract this increase in difficulty by routinely adding new critters to your tree, as each increases your overall Tree Food production. Luckily, you don't have to waste Tree Food on new critters, as the game's helper creature - Poppy - will automatically summon a new animal for your tree every so often. You can speed this process up (or purchase more valuable animals) with Vita Gems, the game's premium currency, or you can simply wait for the rarer animals to appear at random.
A secondary gameplay element in Tree World offers a collect-them-all feature in the game's Almanac. As animals are separated into five different rarity levels, your ultimate goal is to collect at least one of each of the game's animals, with 61 different animals being available in the game's initial release.
While the majority of Tree World can be enjoyed in a solo setting, the game's social features allow you to visit your neighbors' trees and take a look at the different critters they currently have living on their branches. There, you can offer trades of your own animals for theirs, which is helpful in the case of duplicate animals.
Overall, Tree World is a charming take on the tower-building and animal collection genres, with simplistic gameplay that can be enjoyed in very short play sessions throughout the day. If you're looking for a game with incredible depth, this might not be the best place to start, but as it stands, Tree World is a fairly polished, lightly social experience that provides plenty of cute graphics for those expecting a relaxing time in the trees.
Click here to download Tree World on iTunes --->
Have you tried The Playforge's Tree World? What do you think of the gameplay so far? How far have you been able to grow your tree? Let us know in the comments!
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