Daniel Dickinson, Author, Adventurer

Survival games seem to be my thing. So when my buddy pointed out Green Hell was on sale, I jumped on that faster than a leech on bare skin.

Green Hell, developed by Creepy Jar out of Poland, really dives into the trials of survival with both feet. It pulls no punches when you’re dumped into the starting area of the Amazon. Not only do you have to perfectly balance food, water, survival, and exploring, but if you don’t do it well enough, you are going to die. Food and water, building, gathering, hunting, and exploring are dialed up in this game. Food has three sub-types you have to balance, carbs, protein, and fats. Drinking is not so easy if you can't first clean the water. Contract parasites? Well, I hope you know how to cure them. Oh, and of course there’s the wildlife trying to kill you. This is the Amazon after all. Bugs, four-legged beasts, and even cannibal tribes all want a piece of you, and each one brings dangers. This game is absolutely brutal if you’re not prepared. And you’d think, no problem, I’ll just build my way to safety. Well, my friend, you would be in for a shock because you, as a Dr of some kind, know absolutely nothing about surviving. You are not Les Stroud, you will die on your first play-through, or until you figure out how to live in style. And this is where the game survival kind of drops off a cliff.

Once you master the survival mechanics and what heals or kills you, then you’re fine. After a few rough lessons, my buddy and I got to a point in the game where we really didn’t need to rely on our home camp. Now, the survival mechanics may drop off at this point in your gaming experience, but what you also find, if you're playing the story, is a DEEP and emotional story about loss, sacrifice, and redemption. The story was by far, the biggest surprise in this game. Normally survival game stories are surface-level. Most, don’t even really revolve around the environment you are in. Not Green Hell. The very Amazon itself is part of the story, and it's up to you to figure it out.

That said, there were some dropped opportunities, and missed spots for us. Notably at the end, to get the good ending, we kind of knew what had to be done, or at least we had an idea to try. But what we missed, was a simple… blind moment. I guess you could say. We had been all over the second to last area of the game before reaching the last “area” of the game. We walked passed the place we needed to go a few times, and I even walked up to it and STARED directly at the spot we needed to go. Some of the stuff you want to make, because logically I should be able to mix things together to get a tool, which in fact, doesn’t make anything. Obsidian arrowheads?? Nope. Speaking of bows in general… Well, no spoilers here.

There are some bugs in the code. Some wonky things occur sometimes. The game crashes hard sometimes too, which is frustrating. The graphics are decent. The sound is pretty good. It would be nice if some of the animal sounds were fine-tuned. Monkeys in the trees would be awesome to have.

In all however, Green Hell is a solid survival title, and I highly recommend you pick it up.

It’s a new year and that means new opportunities! Happy New Year everyone! Let’s dive right into what I’ve got planned for the first half of this year.

Jan: We’re going to start off slowly in January. I’ve got Arizona Authors Association meetings coming up, followed by new stream hours. Fri-Sat. Friday times will vary until I can get into a rhythm. Taxes of course are due, but more importantly, tickets for the Storymaker’s convention opens up! I’ll be moderating a book launch for an Arizona Author’s Association member, Lalo Léon. Go check out his debut novel!

So far, February is a blank canvas. I’m sure I’ll find something to keep myself busy. I have a novel to fix, and others to write. One thing I’ll be doing in March, is setting everything up for March.

March: Oh man, I can’t wait for March. I’ve mentioned it now, what, three times? March (for good measure) is the Tucson Festival of Books, March 15-16th. I’d like to be there both days, whether that means I’ll be at a booth/table, is yet to be determined. It’s, of course, up to the Arizona Authors Association board if they send me for both days or just one. Either way, come down to the expo and say hello!

April will be another free month, for now I don’t have anything planned. Though, I’m sure that could change. I’ve been keeping an eye open for shows to attend and promote the Arizona Authors Association as well as my own works. I love coming out to the shows and meeting new people.

May: Another big month I’m excited for. Storymakers Conference in Provo Utah on May 8th-10th. I really want to take this time to meet new people, authors, agents, editors, whomever. Learn as much as I can from the convention and really hone my craft as best I can while I’m there. This is by far the biggest book business trip, I’ll be taking. I hope, though, that it’s the start of something more. But we’ll see.

June is another rest month. This will probably be like February, and I’ll use it to catch up on admin aspects of publishing. It’s also the end of the first half of the year. July though, well, July information will have to wait. I have to leave you with some kind of cliff hanger, keep you coming back!