The Forest for the Trees

Most of the levels in the Mega Man series have an industrial feel, but Wood Man’s stage from Mega Man 2 is completely centered around nature. The entire level is lined with grass and (robotic) trees, and the floor tiles all have a distinct wood-grain pattern. Keeping with the nature theme, the enemies in the stage are all based on real-world animals. You’ll fight robot bats, robot rabbits, robot tigers, robot apes, robot birds, and robot chickens. It’s easy to predict their attacks, since they generally behave exactly like their organic counterparts do. For instance, the bats fly around erratically and the rabbits will launch heat-seeking carrot missiles at you. It’s just like the real thing! At the end of the stage, Mega Man will come face-to-face with the aptly-named Wood Man. Say what you want about the guy, but no one can accuse Wood Man of false advertising. In contrast to his metallic peers, his body is made almost entirely of wood. The guy is basically a walking tree trunk, and he uses leaves as his primary weapon.

It’s not uncommon for video game forests to be dark and ominous places, and this is certainly true of Final Fantasy IX‘s Evil Forest. The place could really work on it’s branding, and there’s nothing ambiguous about its name. There’s very little reason to visit the forest, but you’ll be forced to take a detour through the woods after your airship crashes unexpectedly. The party members are split up during this ordeal – some of them are even captured – so you’ll have to mount a rescue mission to get the gang back together. This is exceedingly difficult, since the forest is inhabited by spiders, goblins, and carnivorous plants. To make matters worse, the monsters secrete dangerous spores that can put you into a trance. The Evil Forest would be foreboding at the best of times, and the feeling of helplessness is heightened since you’re separated from your friends. Escaping the forest is quite the ordeal, and it will become petrified after you leave. You couldn’t return even if you wanted to, and I say good riddance.

The third chapter in Castle Crashers is split up into six small stages, but they’re all set in the same forest and flow into each other seamlessly. After locating the forest entrance, players will fight hordes of thieves and scare the shit out of woodland creatures in the process. In the next section, players will make a daring escape through an abandoned mill while riding on a deer. You’ll be pursued by an usually large troll during this sequence, and its fearsome appearance will cause the deer to panic and create explosive amounts of poop. After the mill, players will take a ride through the rapids while thieves attack you from the river bank. Fortunately, you’ll be able to use logs to stay afloat. Corpses, crocodiles, and sharks can also be used as flotation devices, so you’re options are open. At the end of the ordeal, you’ll encounter a bear that’s riding on the back of a massive, aquatic cat creature. Forest levels are often peaceful or serene, but Castle Crashers made a trip through the woods feel like a rollercoaster ride.

“Sawmill Thrill” looks peaceful at first, but the action ramps up almost immediately. At the beginning of the stage, you’ll find refuge among beautiful birch trees as a storm brews in the background. From there, you’ll take a ride on a minecart for some reason. It’s ill-advised to hang around metal rails during a thunderstorm, but things get even more dangerous after the Kongs work their way into a nearby building. While still riding in a minecart, the Kongs find themselves trapped in the middle of a large sawmill. Giant blades will turn trees into lumber, and entire trunks will be hollowed out before your very eyes. When you’re not preoccupied with the saw blades, you’ll have to be mindful of the veritable wooden projectiles that the blades churn out. Your minecart will be replaced with a log canoe about halfway into the level, so you’ll be able to skip across the forest lake while avoiding large wooden spikes that inexplicably block your path. Whether you’re in the mill or on the lake, you’ll spend most of your time dodging weaponized trees. The trees in the background look a lot nicer than the ones that are trying to kill you.

The Last of Us is set in a world where most humans have been transformed into mindless monsters by a contagious fungal infection. The post-apocalyptic landscape isn’t as drab as you might expect, however, and the concrete jungles have started to resemble actual jungles after a couple of decades without upkeep. Nevertheless, the game’s urban environments stand in stark contrast to the rural areas that you’ll explore late into the game. The game’s ninth chapter starts in a snow-covered forest and sees Ellie fending for herself while Joel is incapacitated. After killing a rabbit with a bow and arrow, she sets her sights on a deer and proceeds to hunt it down. Any noise she makes can spook the timid animal, so she’ll have to avoid fallen tree branches and bushes as she stalks her prey. After landing her first hit, she’ll be able to follow a trail of blood through the snow in order to find the deer’s next location. The Last of Us is ultimately a game about survival, so a spontaneous hunting trip in the woods is thematically appropriate. Ellie has to fend off zombies, cannibals, and would-be rapists throughout her adventure, so there’s a bit of role reversal when she’s the one doing the hunting.

As its name suggests, Ori and the Blind Forest is set in a vast forest which was “blinded” by a cataclysmic event. We see the landscape in all of its glory during the opening moments of the game, but things are decidedly more gloomy after the forest starts to wither. Remarkable beauty can be seen in the environment even after the florid colors give way to the melancholy, however. Forests have an ongoing cycle of death and rebirth in the real world, after all, so the potential beauty of the blind forest is always apparent. You get a sense of how enchanting the forest used to be, and its easy to imagine how breathtaking it could be in the future. The entire game takes place in a forest and several of its areas were considered for this list. I’m acknowledging the Valley of the Wind, specifically, because I’m partial to pine trees. I also loved the sense of continuous motion. Leaves and canopies would sway in the wind, and otherwise lifeless tree trunks would rock back and forth. The entire area felt like it was alive even when it was in a state of decay. Ori and the Blind Forest is one of the best-looking games of all time, and the Valley of the Wind is one of the most stunning areas in the game.

The Wooded Kingdom is a peculiar region where nature and machinery form a symbiont relationship. The level is defined by large forests, iron structures, and a giant, climate-controlled dome where the greatest flowers in the world are grown. Worker robots take residence in the kingdom, and they maintain the gardens without rest. There are trees and flowers everywhere you look, and the place feels like a massive greenhouse. The Kingdom floats high above the ground, and if Mario falls off he will find himself in a dark forest that is untouched by the machines. This quiet area accentuates how surreal the rest of the kingdom is, but it’s not without its own absurdities. The forest is inhabited by a T-Rex, for instance, and Mario will need to grow a beanstalk in order to return to the mainland. The deep woods give Mario an opportunity to get closer to nature, however, and he’ll even be able to transform into a tree! I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Wooded Kingdom, and you’ve gotta hand it to Nintendo for doing something different with a forest stage. The go-go music that plays in the background was both unexpected and infectious.

Sokrovenno is an immense forest in the Soviet Union that was regarded as a holy place. In the final act of Metal Gear Solid 3, Naked Snake takes on a legendary sniper named The End in a tense battle. The End was over 100 years old at the time of this encounter, but he was able to call on the spirits of the forest to grant him strength. Despite being much older than his opponent, the End’s connection to the forest gave him a built-in advantage. The centenarian sniper chooses his positions wisely, he uses a moss-covered suit as camouflage, and he’s able to lower his body temperature to match his natural surroundings. His techniques make him invisible to the naked eye, and he is able to stay in a prone sniping position for weeks at a time. Obviously, Naked Snake has to develop a profound understanding of the forest in order to survive. On those grounds, he uses binoculars, directional microphones, and thermal goggles to track his opponent down. He also follows footprints, looks for out-of-place reflections, and tries to catch his elderly opponent sleeping. Snake can even disguise himself as a crocodile if the situation calls for it! It’s said that the End had become one with the forest, and Snake has to adopt a similar mindset.

Kokiri Forest is home to the Kokiri people and its guardian spirit, the Great Deku Tree. The region serves as Link’s starting point in Ocarina of Time, and his village acts as a training ground for the rest of his adventure. Whether you’re roaming through the Lost Woods or venturing into the Deku Tree itself, Kokiri Forest creates a sense of wonder and amazement. You can practically see the magic in the air, and particles dance around you in spectacular fashion. Link’s journey doesn’t truly begin until he leaves the forest and steps onto Hyrule Field for the first time. It’s easy to empathize with him during this poignant moment, and you will have had spent enough time among the Kokiri to understand the magnitude of Link’s decision to leave. When Link returns to Kokiri Forest as an adult, he discovers that his once-peaceful home has been overrun by monsters. After making a quick trek through the sacred meadows, Link conquers the Forest Temple to lift the curse and return the forest back to normal. Ocarina of Time is widely regarded as one of the best games of all time, and Kokiri Forest gave us many unforgettable moments.

The ninth (and final) world in Banjo-Kazooie is set in a deciduous forest that surrounds an absurdly large tree. Click Clock Wood is the longest level in the game by far, since it gives you the opportunity to explore the landscape in four different seasons. You’ll see leaves change color and ponds freeze over, and the characters who live in the forest will have different priorities from one season to the next. You’ll meet a squirrel in the spring who is gathering acorns for the winter. By summer, he has already eaten most of his stockpile. When you run into him again in the fall, he is so bloated that he can barely move! As the seasons change, you’ll also tend to a garden, help a baby eagle reach adulthood, and swim beneath the ice to visit a beaver who has taken refuge inside of the tree. It’s rare to see character progression in a simple platform game. The soundtrack changes to reflect each season, too. In the spring, the music is filled with boundless energy and reflects a time of rebirth. The sounds of birds and insects are added in the summer and fall, but the wildlife slows down in the winter. By the time the snow hits, the orchestration is focused on whimsical xylophones and sleigh bells rather than the flutes and recorders that defined the springtime. All told, Click Clock Wood was the most ambitious, creative, and atmospheric level in the entire game.