Between Realities: Devlog #2

Welcome to our second "Between Realities" devlog, where we’ll update you each month on the latest developments and behind-the-scenes insights into our work on Among The Trolls!

This month, we’d like to introduce you to our protagonist, Anna, and what led her to embark on this unexpected journey - to a land that should have felt familiar but turned out to be something else. We’ll also dive deeper into the game’s survival mechanics and our approach to these systems.

INTO THE UNKNOWN

The protagonist of our story is Anna, a sharp and determined 35-year-old woman who spent years as a successful lawyer. However, at a certain point in her life, her deep passion for nature convinced her to leave the courtroom behind and pursue a career in forestry, trading legal battles for untamed landscapes.

Raised in the United States, every summer, her Finnish roots called her back to spend peaceful days on her grandfather’s island alongside her brother, Jonas. Perhaps it was among those trees that her love for flora and fauna first blossomed - learning to navigate the woods, one scraped knee at a time.

Now, something is calling her back to the island of her childhood. But Jonas isn’t with her, and her grandfather isn’t waiting at the dock like he always did. Something feels off. The place that once felt like home now seems… different. The colors, the sounds, and the creatures that inhabit it may no longer be the ones she once studied as a child in dusty old science books about local wildlife. And maybe, just maybe, the island itself is not where it should be.

SURVIVING THE WILDERNESS

When Anna sets foot on her grandfather’s island, survival becomes key. The survival system is one of the game’s core pillars and has been carefully designed to integrate seamlessly with the rest of the mechanics. It revolves around four primary needs: hunger, thirst, sleep, and temperature.

The goal is to encourage players to explore and interact with the world around them. Food can be found, cooked, or hunted; sleep becomes necessary over time and is affected by the day/night cycle and weather conditions; cold, especially at night or in certain areas, must be countered with fire or shelter - and so on.

All these survival needs are connected to Lykky, the balance of the region’s energies. The lower the Lykky, the more hostile the world becomes: animals grow more aggressive, resources become scarcer, and tools wear out faster.

You'll be able to monitor Anna’s needs not just through the in-game HUD, but also through visual and audio cues that reflect her physical state. Survival is important, but rather than feeling like a punishment, we want it to be a constant invitation to engage with the world around you: gathering what you need, learning how to use resources wisely, and making the right choices at the right time.

As always, feel free to share your questions with us, they’ll help shape our future devlogs!

We also invite you to follow us on our social media channels (X, Facebook, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok) and join our official Discord to share your feedback and stay up to date on our progress.