Quick Review: Overgrowth

It was a time of peace for the bunnies of White Flags. And then the Canine/Feline Nation attacked.

"I've done enough killing, all I want is to
settle down and have my peace... Oh great,
what is happening here NOW?"

Overgrowth is a creation of Wolfire Games and its first version was released to Steam on October 16th, 2017. In a world of anthropomorphic animals (who are NOT cartoonish like you’d see in animated films; they have faces that look closer to real animals’), trouble brews on an island populated by rabbits as dogs show up to capture and enslave the preys. However, some rabbits are ready to fight back against the invader – as well as any other species associated with them.

The story is split in four sets of missions. They follow the story of Turner, a combatant rabbit who’s come to the island to find his peace after a life of battles, only to be forced to fight the invaders. The game also includes a storyline that consists of a rewritten version of Lugaru, which precedes Overgrowth and was released in 2005.

Yes, he just ran up that wall.
A real ninja, that Turner.

Missions in the game alternate between platforming-focused and combat-focused levels, with some even having about 50/50 of both. On the platforming side, the bunnies are insanely good jumpers, and characters can even run upwards and sideways on some walls, jump from walls, grab ledges…

Rabbit kick to the sides!

On the combat side, the system is thought in such a way that you can approach most fights however you please. Sneak up on an enemy and snap their neck from behind, punch/kick them, swing or throw your weapon at them… You can also roll away. The idea was to let players approach each situation however they'd like. Do you try to fight them head-on, or do you pick those nasty dogs and traitor bunnies off one by one? There is a great level of freedom in how you can approach most missions, and that’s pretty cool. I would normally find the least dangerous path and exploit it, mostly because I’m not great at utilizing all of the options I have. It’s said that you can actually practice levels in order to come up with the most cinematic combos in those fights. Meanwhile, I’m over there saying “Showing off? I’m gonna survive first, thank you very much!” Part of the downside to this idea of “cinematic battles” is that sometimes, when your rabbit is down and enemies are around with a clear shot, they’ll stand around and wait till your character has awoken before they strike again.

You're not gonna tell me what to do,
you weird voice inside my head!

How high can you JUMP??

As for difficulty? It’s fair, but hard bordering on tough. That’s why I played carefully; I had to play most missions over and over. The platforming levels are difficult unless you know the controls very well. Thankfully, those also tend to have a lot of checkpoints, so you don’t have to start over from the very beginning. Combat missions have less (and sometimes no) checkpoints, so you damn better know what you’re doing, especially since some of these will have you take out entire groups of guards. Hence why I say "hard, but fair" - it knows when to give the player a break. You can also choose a difficulty at the beginning, or change it midway through; I've been playing on what the game calls Easy.

I'm gonna take your boat, your armor,
and all your god damn weapons.

Also of note (and a bit of an issue in my honest opinion), there are no HUB elements like an HP bar or details about the playable character’s state; as a result, you don’t always know how many blows they can still endure before death. Although, to be fair, that design choice does make sense with the combat mechanics, which focus more on the lethality of each attack and how/where each enemy was wounded than on any sort of HP system.

The game’s CGI looks very good for an indie title, with its vast and detailed environments, and its furred characters (who still look a little uncanny, a few hours in; blame children’s animation for making more realistic anthro rabbits feel weird). What might have been a factor in the game’s sheer size (20 Gb) is that each level is its own scene, with unique setpieces that can be used to approach each situation.

Run on walls sideways, too?
Yup. Only on some surfaces, but still - you can.

On top of this pretty large game with four sets of missions, it’s also very mod-friendly, and has a wide modding community. New levels, new mechanics, worlds and items inspired by famous franchises… If you want to see Turner with a bow or tossing Captain America’s vibranium shield, well, you can.

Sneaking remains the best strategy.
Let's Assassin's Creed this place.

This is a pretty good game. I don’t know if I’d call it amazing, but it’s good. The story is interesting and features quotes from characters that help with the worldbuilding. The sheer number of things Turner can do, in platforming and during battles, gives the player a ton of options. I do think the game could have done with a few more options (although, anything that’s missing, you might actually find in the Steam Workshop). You can also, at times, see the seams of the “cinematic battles” idea, which is unfortunate but understandable. I guess I was a bit disappointed that the game was split in missions, but I get why Wolfire Games went with that; I'd rather not imagine how hard it would have been to make this an open-world. It’s still a pretty impressive product that was worth the nine years of development; I’ll likely come back to it a bit after I’m done with these quick reviews.

Overgrowth is available for 29.99$.