Game Review - The Trail
The Trail is a lovely simulation android game created by the Company 22cans. The game starts off with you, a pioneer who goes on a journey to reach and settle in Eden Falls. It's all about survival instinct, communication, and crafting skills.
In a way The Trail is a puzzle, simulation, adventure game all combined together. The good thing about this game is not only because it's free but because there is no energy bar/waiting time until you can play again like in Candy Crush. Though similar games have been created, this is by far the simplest and most appealing due to it's clean graphics, and small tasks within the game that will keep the player occupied and hooked into the game. You'll want to keep gathering specific materials to make clothes to keep you warm or carved sculptures to sell for money for the ferry. These are all feel very real - like fatigue/hunger and the panic of whether you'll make it to the next campsite or not. There is a distance meter that shows how far you are from Eden Falls and that itself is quite motivating.
The game's goal is to keep going until you reach Eden Falls, but to keep going you'll need an extensive supply of survival items and money. There are multiple items you can craft and the more you craft each item, the higher level it will be and the more it will sell for. This aspect of the game I find quite entertaining and will never get sick of. However, the process of money making is quite tedious in a way that it take's a long time and the price of the ferry is quite expensive - bear in mind there are multiple ferry rides on the way to Eden.
If the player runs out of hearts which represent fatigue/hunger, you will pass out and everything in your inventory - excluding clothes on your back - will fall out of your bag and onto the path. There is a risk to this as other players can steal your items, but most of them are kind enough to walk past and be on their way which is most of the time. You can pay to refill your stamina bar instantly but that will cost in game points called "Favours" which are quite difficult to obtain. However, other than the risk of your items being whisked away, there is no real consequence which I reckon is good for the players in a way there is no real sense of panic in the game, but also no real sense of loss. A possible idea as a consequence could be taking away all your items or deducting in game money.
Speaking of in game money, the only way to earn money is to sell items during trading with other players, there is no external out of game source to do so which is good for players who spend real world money for in game items.
As mentioned above, players can steal your items if they are out of the bag. There are also other interactions such as trading and if you click on your own player, you can say: Hello, Well done, Sorry, Thank you, or taunt them. But other than those types of interactions there isn't much else you can do which feels a little limited for those who are more into social games. However, for those of us who are more into exploring on their own and leveling up their crafting skills, this is more than enough.
Right off the bat, you can tell the graphics are beautiful - there are options for how high quality you'll want the game graphics to be, the higher the more define the shadows and time of the day. The style of art is almost polygon like, creating a minimalist style, almost like a pop up story book. The colour scheme is earthy and everything corresponds with one another. It was this art style and colour palette that gave me inspiration for our game as our game is similar to this in terms of UI, art, and goal (collecting items).
I have mentioned a couple of downsides before hand but the worst of them is the fact the game keeps crashing. I don't know if the fault is with my phone or the app but there are time's I am in mid trade - which are timed and you can win prized if you sell the most - or when I've walked a great deal and the game jumps out, when I relaunch the game, it puts me back into the nearest campsite with my progress saved but the trade would be over and I'd have to re-walk the distance I've traveled before.
All in all, it is a good game which i highly recommend as it is qui'te calming and doesn't require internet so you can play on the bus or in the car if you're not driving. Being one of the newest games on my phone, I haven't gotten bored of it yet and I know I won't for a while.