Tree Review

Tree is a short 15 minute game that tells the story of a boy who plants a small tree. You control the planting, watering and how the tree grows each season. As you do this the years pass and the boy grows. Through the autumn you make the leaves call and hold out through the cold winter months, then in Spring you bud the branches into life again.

And at first, it looks like a little inconsequential act, but with time, a bond develops between the two that will last a lifetime. It's a game that gently connects you with the passing of time, and underlines the shortness of life. It can be interpreted in lots of ways, but running through it is the sentiment of the developer, "spend time with your family whenever you can".

At the end of the game, you can return to the scenes you created to take a photo and ponder that period of life. It's a touch that takes the game beyond novelty, like Passage to a space in which to meditate.