Mushrooms: Forest Walker

One of the biggest genres today, for both older and newer generations of gamers, is the Battle Royale genre. It is by no means a new idea, but the combination of accessible, online gameplay and the shifting attention of gaming tastes (in that it is actually becoming more diverse) has led battle royale games to be incredibly popular lately. There are a few reasons for this, perhaps the biggest being that each round is a new slate, essentially acting as a treasure hunt to find the most powerful/rarest items on the map. Even with better weapons, however, there’s a lot of skill involved in winning, meaning that anyone with the right tactics can still claim victory. Mushrooms: Forest Walker is a bit of a trailblazer in that yes, it is a battle royale, but its also about becoming a sort of mycologist. Not only will you be tasked to familiarize yourself with and hunt down various kinds of mushrooms, you’ll also be required to fend off other hunters as well. It does not yet have a release date at the time of writing this piece.

Mushroom Enthusiasts Rejoice

I’ll be the first to say that what draws me to this game is the overall game direction. I’m not exactly sure if I’d ever have the creative vision to turn the relatively relaxing world of mushroom collecting, identification, and study into one that is vicious and unforgiving, but here we are. You should know, however, that there is a single player mode and a coop mode as, so if the battle royale isn’t really for you, have no fear. You can feel free to spend as much time as you’d like in a laidback fashion studying fungi without worrying that you’ll be stabbed in the back for your findings.

Admittedly, the battle royale aspect IS what caught my eye and seems to be a major piece of development. The whole idea behind this game lies in collecting mushrooms to create potions and elixirs out of the mushrooms while crafting other survival gear to make it through each day in the wilderness. With crafting elements similar to that of The Forest, but with grittier weaponry/tactical thinking like Escape from Tarkov (specifically the battle royale mode, of course), it appears that Forest Walker will try to carve its own path while using some traditional ideas.

Large Areas to Explore

Unlike The Forest, Mushrooms: Forest Walker will have five totally different maps for you to explore that focus on different biomes: North America, Asia, South America, Europe, and Africa. While little is known about their actual differences, this feels like a great way to expose players to different playstyles and mushrooms in an organic manner, though only time will tell.

Bottom Line

Along with hundreds of tasks to complete and a plethora of characters, there is also interestingly some discussion about a mobile app you can use to scan mushrooms that will provide different information.

• Pros: TBD
• Cons: TBD