The Fox, The Forest & The Darkness
Will Leamon · 2025 · Atmospheric, Adventure, Casual, Mystery, Dark
PC
6 user reviews100% · 6
This game is free to play. Get it on Steam →
Screenshots
About The Fox, The Forest & The Darkness
Things have not been going well for Zak, in trouble at school, in trouble at home and now wondering what to do, where to go and who to be. Now he's stuck wandering the park doing homework on the weekend and frankly the whole thing is becoming a bit too much.Then Zak discovers the fetid vines, his first sign of the growing Darkness in the woods and the dangers that wait for us all. --What's in the game?
- Explore Southeast City Park discovering clues about Zak, his story and the reality he is building around himself. The Forest and The Darkness both call to Zak in their own unique ways.
- Enjoy seamless transitions between 1st and 3rd person perspectives so you can really explore the clues to the mysteries that surround the Zak.
- Experience a uniquely crafted story that eloquently melds the written word, music and visuals into a cohesive experience only a solodev / auteur experience can create.
- Make use of curious game techniques like a story driven inventory system.
- Although narrative based and story driven, the game doesn't bog you down with cutscenes and dialog sequences. The goal is for the player to feel free to move whenver possible.
- An "audio book" format (as read by the author) is also provided but you can turn that off if you read faster than listen.
- Several achievements are also scattered throughout the park (currently working on Steam integration).
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
The Fox, The Forest & The Darkness functions as an intimate, narrative-driven vertical slice that operates on the boundary of interactive psychology and slow-paced atmospheric exploration. The design layout positions the user within a stylized reconstruction of Southeast City Park, transposing the internal cognitive crisis of a 14-year-old protagonist, Zak, into an environmental canvas. Rather than relying on modern high-budget mechanical loops or dense cutscene sequences, the architectural framework delivers its storytelling vector through seamless transitions between first- and third-person perspectives, forcing the operator to manually decode spatial cues and text fragments scattered across the isolation of the landscape.From a ludological and systems design standpoint, the software employs a curious story-driven inventory configuration that treats narrative assets as mechanical keys to advance the plot. The audiovisual matrix acts as a highly unified sensory anchor; the precise synthesis of minimalist lighting variables, ambient acoustic positioning, and melancholic musical loops effectively establishes an environment of vulnerability and existential unease. While the title inh…3 found this helpful
Good game, good story, promising! The demand on the hardware is high, options to change resolution e.d. would be helpful. I like the butterfly gardens!1 found this helpful
short and boring walking simulator made by single dev. touch grass in a park searching mushrooms but fail with a fox friend.1 found this helpful
This is a story about a kid named zak who hates his parents and loves a fox. the end1 found this helpful
Community reviews
—
0 reviews
Sign in to write a review.
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this game.
