izigame.me

My first impressions were: "Wowza, this is one lush environment!", "Wait, why does the frame rate get so choppy in the tent?" and "Oh great, how do I get rid of parasites?". Despite some odd choppiness (1080p w/a 1080 GTX) issues and wildly swinging FPS (sometimes down to 35, settings on high and shadows on low), this game had enough to keep me engaged for the 50 hours I sunk into it.
In the beginning, the game is daunting--every fruit and nut you find is "unknown" and you quickly get over your trepidation as the hunger meters deplete. Yes, I said "meters". In Green Hell, you'll have to manage thirst, carbs, fats, and proteins as well as sleep. After a couple brutal slogs, hopping from coconut to coconut, I finally realized I could throw rocks at snakes! But, then I got mauled by a jaguar. So it goes in the jungle, where every nap is followed by worm infestations and every stroll comes with a handful of unwanted passengers (leeches). You'll stumble into snakes (and get poisoned), walk over Goliath spiders (and get poisoned), get jabbed by scorpions in caves (and get poisoned) all the while desperately trying to cure dysentery from drinking river water...
And then, you read the Wiki. Green Hell provides zero help when it comes to identifying flora and fauna, and hands you an in-game notebook which is used only to track new crafting discoveries (objects, not food) that you bump into at various native camps and abandoned structures. Find a camp, kill the natives, learn how to make a smoker! Unfortunately, once you get the hang of the basics--edibles, tools and remedies--you'll quickly discover that 70% of the game's content is meaningless.
There are several different flavors of axes and spears, for example, but there doesn't seem to be much variation in terms of damage output. Once you track down some obsidian, you'll render all other types moot. There are no stats for us number-crunchers associated with the various blades, axes, bows and spears, so you'll just end up picking obsidian and running with it. I was also bummed that you can't make obsidian+bamboo axes and spears. Bamboo is pretty.
Food-wise, it's all about the magic of coconuts. Drink their juice, crack them apart for their meat (carbs & fats) and then wear the two shells like a bra and go traipsing around the jungle high on mushrooms! Or, drop them on the ground when it rains and gather rain water. Find enough coconuts (which are plentiful) and you'll have yourself one hell of a watering hole. The orange fruits are edible, so are bananas (obvs) and the little glowy/brown mushrooms. If you stay away from everything else, you'll be golden. Rattlesnakes are everywhere, and dumber than posts. Lob a rock at one and you'll see just how intimidating they are! After staring it down for a minute and realizing it's not going to attack you, chuck another rock and you have dinner.
The natives scared the hell out of me initially, with their happy-go-lucky tribal songs, but once you realize you can snipe them from a distance as they stand there scanning the horizon... Whatever. The jaguar, if you run into its awkwardly looping growl, is just about the only predator to be feared in Green Hell.
After 50 hours, I'd scoured the map and discovered all the crafting recipes but found that most of it was pretty useless. A set of 20 coconut shells laying on the ground was more effective at keeping me hydrated than a fancy water purifier and it rained more often than the purifier could purify. A basic campfire worked just as well as an elaborate one requiring 20 big stones, the small hut kept me just as cozy as the medium sized hut for 1/3 the materials, a smoker takes 12 hrs to smoke 4 pieces of meat that last 3 days when you can just BBQ on the go, and I tended to hole up at an abandoned fishing village which already sported a hammock! Ultimately, the mechanics need some tuning. All this stuff and no reason to use any of it made for a rather lackluster experience.
But, it's an early-access game! The atmospherics are gorgeous, but there are still numerous bugs being sorted out--the worst of which have to do with using the bow. Your arrow shows up as an item you can interact with while cocked in the bow, sometimes your arrows get oddly deflected by hit boxes that shouldn't be there, sometimes your bow entirely bugs out leaving white tracers in the air and sometimes you can't even load it despite having more arrows in your bag! Nevertheless, I had loads of fun mapping out the territory (oddly all in the SW quadrant of the map) and managing my coconut bowl farm. Looking forward to seeing how this game shapes up in the months to come.