Forest Ranger Simulator Preview

There’s something so incredibly relaxing about going for a long walk in a forest. But as someone who’s guilty pleasure is simulator games, why bother stepping outside my house when I can now play Forest Ranger Simulator? Coming to us from the developer intent on turning every possible job role into a simulation (IT Support Simulator, when?), FreeMind, this title sees us stepping into the role of a park ranger, as they clean up and maintain a vast forest.

Forest Ranger Simulator features two modes: Quest Path and sandbox, although the former is lacking in any sort of story outside of the introductory text pop-up explaining that you’ve won a competition to begin your journey to becoming a forest guardian. Your first task as the winner of this illustrious prize? Clean up litter scattered around the forest. Fun! So, off I went exploring the immediate vicinity of my ramshackle log cabin to tidy up, and here is where I ran into my first issue. Unlike similar games (such as Train Station Renovation) where each piece of rubbish you pick up is automatically sorted into different bags for recycling, this time you’re only equipped with one bag for all, meaning it’s going to take several trips if you want to recycle everything correctly.

Once this task was complete, I was left to wander around for a few minutes with no clue as to what I needed to be doing. Thankfully, another quest appeared eventually, with this task being to restock a bird feeder. Sounds simple enough, but with no markers on the heads-up display to show where the seeds were or the feeder, it took much longer than necessary. This becomes a non-issue within sandbox mode, as you’re free to do as you please; though starting out, I would recommend getting stuck into Quest Path first, if only to learn the basics.

That’s the general flow of Quest Path, it offers various other tasks such as extinguishing fires, disarming bear traps, and crafting items to decorate the forest with, but it never felt varied enough to want to continue on, with the majority of the time being spent cleaning up litter. It is a newly released Early Access title, so I’m hopeful for more content in the future, but for now, it doesn’t do enough to keep my attention.

It certainly doesn’t help that the controls felt sluggish and clunky, with inventory management being a particular point of frustration. Why not just let me use the mouse wheel to cycle through what I have in my possession, rather than several button inputs? Exploration also feels limited, as the map is much too big and sparse, coupled with the implementation of a stamina meter really makes wandering around a chore. You do have the option to buy a vehicle, but it costs so much money that it’s likely players will have given up on the game before being able to afford it.

Crafting felt like a more enjoyable use of time, even if Forest Ranger Simulator doesn’t do a great job in teaching the player the basics, or where the best places to farm for materials are. That said, once you do find the components needed to start crafting, it was quite a rewarding experience. This is all optional as well, as your cabin includes a PC in which you can buy and sell items, making it easy enough to own a beehive if you just can’t locate the right materials.

Graphically, Forest Ranger Simulator looks pretty good! The lush landscape can be oddly relaxing for a virtual forest, with lighting also being used to good effect, especially as the sun beams down through the tree canopy. Although at nighttime, it’s next to impossible to see anything — with no way to pass the time until the morning — so maybe spend your evenings crafting away in the cabin! The music heard through is calming, if repetitive, and the ambient animal noises were pleasant enough, even if they cut off abruptly seemingly at random.

What wasn’t great was the performance, with frequent frame drops and screen-tearing, although this wasn’t anything major and usually resolved itself within a few seconds. There are a few areas which are in need of polish as well: pausing the game doesn’t stop time passing (leading to a lot of forest fires), a few of the in-game emails haven’t been translated from Polish, and the amount of money received from completing tasks seems far too low for being able to purchase new items. One instance even had me erasing a save file as a blank text box appeared in the middle of the screen — obscuring my vision completely — with no way of removing it, far from ideal after spending over two hours in that save!

There is a lot left to see within Forest Ranger Simulator that hasn’t been added just yet, things such as an equipment tab and skill tree which are simply titled “under construction”. Hopefully there will be more of a variety of tasks, but for now, Forest Ranger Simulator has around four to five hours of content to see and do everything, and the majority of that is slowly wandering around a vast forest collecting litter.