The Silent Forest

About this game

This is version 0.1 of The Silent Forest, which has been created for the Magical Realism Jam. The game is powered by Unreal Engine 4. The landscape is static, but the trees are randomly placed on each play-through.

The aim of the jam was to make a game inspired by a tweet from @MagicalRealismBot. The chosen tweet was "A forest in Tokyo is made of silence," which instantly made me think of Aokigahara forest.

How to play

Explore the forest. Listen to the silence and acknowledge that which goes unspoken. For the intrepid, there are 4 spirits to find and bear witness to.

• Look / Turn = Mouse / Right stick
• Move = WASD / Cursor keys / Left stick
• Sprint = Shift / Shoulder buttons
• Listen = Space / Mouse buttons / Triggers
• Pause = Escape / P / Start button

Trigger warning

The Silent Forest contains references to suicide. This game is not graphic or gratuitous, but is intended to be relaxing and contemplative. However, if you choose to research the source material for yourself, you may find it upsetting.

About Aokigahara Forest

Aokigahara, the Sea of Trees, is a dense forest at the foot of Mount Fuji in Japan. It is widely known as a site of frequent suicides.

From Wikipedia: "In 2003, 105 bodies were found in the forest, exceeding the previous record of 78 in 2002. In 2010, it was estimated that more than 200 people had attempted suicide in the forest, of whom 54 completed the act. Suicides are said to increase during March, the end of the fiscal year in Japan... In recent years, the local officials have stopped publicizing the numbers in an attempt to downplay Aokigahara's association with suicide."

Rangers patrol the forest, partly looking for bodies and partly to find and talk to wandering visitors who may be there to end their lives.