I first came across the action RPG Year In The Trees when I moved to Sweden and heard about Stugan, an incubator program that ran here from 2015–2018. For two months over the summer, game developers from all over the world would come together to work on their games in a cabin in the middle of Swedish nature. In 2018, Chris ‘Luno’ Smith was one of them—fittingly so, as his RPG is pretty much about living in a cabin in the middle of an enchanted forest.
Luno, started the project back in 2016 and it’s been wonderful to see his high-bit art style get polished over the years into the smoothness it has today. Combined with the music and ambience worthy of his musician background, we get a world that is as mysterious as Wizard Fu’s Songbringer and pleasant as ConcernedApe’s Stardew Valley (coincidentally two other games with solo devs that also did their own soundtracks).
In April we got the above vlog that gave us a closer look at the current state of the game and the kind of crafting/survival gameplay to expect. There are no release plans yet (or Steam pages to wishlist), but you can sign up for a newsletter on the game’s website or follow Luno’s updates on Twitter.
