Developer: Mobmonks
Publisher: MadOctopus
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Trees Inc – Review
Idle games have become bigger and more prominent in the gaming world ever since Cookie Clicker became a thing. Now, almost 13 years later, we can’t see the forest for the trees anymore. Developer Mobmonks, along with publisher MadOctopus, has now created Trees Inc, yet another idle clicker game. In this review, we will have a look at it and whether or not this game manages to turn over a new leaf for the idle clicker genre.
Story
There isn’t much of a story going on in Trees Inc. The game begins with a single window, telling the player that they now work for Trees Incorporation and are meant to plant and chop trees to gain profit. That is pretty much all there is to it. No further narrative or explanation. No lore about the trees, nor the company. Given the size of the game, this isn’t necessary, but it also lacks any motivation to progress further.
The lack of explanation isn’t uncommon here, mind you. Further along in the gameplay, the player will unlock more features that lack explanation. More on that later, though.
Graphics
Something where Trees Inc. luckily scores some positive points is how the game looks. Everything just works well together. The UI is designed to look like heartwood, or planks, and everything has clear images or icons, so nothing gets mixed up.
Furthermore, the actual area with trees is pleasant to look at. Trees are designed in a blocky 3D animated way, whereas lumberjacks and planters are faceless stick-like figures with thick comic outlines, making them seem almost like an entirely different art style. They included animations as well for when trees are chopped down, making it easier for the player to notice where to keep their focus, should they be actively participating.
Sound
Sadly, there isn’t exactly a lot to say when it comes to sound. There is exactly one song featured in the game, composed by Alba MacKenna. The soft lo-fi beat is played on a constant loop throughout the gameplay. It is not a bad song, but it gets quite monotonous for play sessions longer than 15 minutes or so. Furthermore, the background music eventually gets drowned out by all the sound effects that play when trees are chopped down or lumber is gathered. At first, this isn’t as noticeable, but once your tree farm is filled to its maximum, you won’t be able to enjoy MacKenna’s music anymore due to all the beeps and boops going on.
This can be turned off, of course, but at that point, you’re better off fully muting the game as a whole and putting on your favorite songs or shows whilst the game continues in the background.
Gameplay
As mentioned earlier, we are playing an idle clicker game. The main purpose is—you guessed it—clicking trees to chop them. Luckily, Trees Inc brings more to the table than just chopping and replanting trees. When a tree comes down, the player gathers lumber. This is your main resource to progress through the game, as it allows you to buy lumberjacks, planters, or even more trees. These, too, can be upgraded. The walking speed and work speed of these characters can be maxed out, allowing players to gather the other resources much faster.
These other resources are perk points and prestige points. These both unlock passives or extras to broaden the gameplay, even if just a little, and help the player gather lumber much faster. The only difference between the two is that by spending a prestige point, the player starts from the beginning again, with one single tree.
Eventually, the player can unlock different trees and seasons to play with, though the main gimmick is that they are raising certain odds to gather more resources.
If the player is done clicking around but still wishes to gather lumber, they can opt to turn on ‘idle mode’. This will spawn a circle on the tree farm that hovers around at random and chops all trees in its perimeter. Take this with a grain of salt, however, as the circle doesn’t chop trees instantly, and may need to hover two or three times before there are actual resources to be gathered. We found the most effective way to play was to keep idle mode on and click at the same time for double the effect, making idle mode more like an active booster than a passive tool.
At a certain point in the game, the player will max out all resources and upgrades, with the last prestige node to unlock. We found the conclusion of the game to be rather anticlimactic, not to say even disappointing. No spoilers here, however, as we still want to give players a chance to experience the conclusion for themselves.
Conclusion
To wrap it up, we don’t think Trees Inc is a bad game altogether. Players can tell that Mobmonks really tried to deliver a nice, small game for others to enjoy. The reality of it all is that there are simply better, and perhaps more intriguing idle clickers out there. It’s fun to have little lumberjacks run around on your screen, cutting down trees whilst you’re doing something else. But when that’s all there is to it, with not even a proper reward to aim for, Trees Inc just falls quite a bit short. If you’re looking for something to run on a second monitor or to make a workday less dull, we do recommend this game. Otherwise, we might let this one pass.
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