The Haunted Hoard: Through the Woods (PC)

The forest at night is one of the more terrifying places you can find yourself in the real world. Trees blocking your vision of the path ahead, the uncertainty of what might be out of sight but also potentially very close, and even seeing another person is likely to raise uneasy questions rather than provide comfort. Through the Woods is a horror adventure that sees you passing through the woods in the dark as legends and monsters from Nordic myth roam, the player learning to fear any moment they’re sent wandering through a space that is as open as it is hemmed in by the forest.

 

Through the Woods begins with Karen heading to a cabin with her son Espen to work in quiet isolation. It’s not long before Espen is snatched away by a strange man on a boat and taken to a distant island. Karen swims after them, only to find herself in a version of the forest where history and myth blend together. Old Norse villages sit abandoned, notes found telling of the various creatures in the area that made their life terrifying, particularly the work of Old Erik who sacrificed their children to a wolf regularly. Now fearing Espen was chosen for this process, Karen must explore the island to try and save him, but many other malicious entities can be found along the path, Karen unable to fight back and instead needing to find ways to get around trolls, giant wolves, and other beasts keen on killing her quickly should they have her in their sights.

Through the Woods does admittedly have some graphical shortcomings that get in the way of an otherwise effective mix of the atmospheric woods and the sense of history behind the abandoned villages you find. Despite being released in 2016 it can look like a game from ten years earlier, mostly in terms of some plastic character faces and environmental details like the intentionally silvery still water almost looking like a glitch at times. There are places where the visuals can flip out and smear but not in ways that should impact those important moments you’re trying to avoid killer monsters, and a lot of the actual creatures meant to terrify look great or strange in the ways they’re meant to. It is a bit easier to accept some visual shortcomings because of this and appreciate the story and horror segments, although the voice acting can also be a little rough, mostly for Karen since she’s meant to carry the emotional core but sometimes dives too deep into portraying an emotion rather than having subtleties or build-up for her behavior. Her tie to the story though does become more robust than merely a mother trying to save her son and it outshines a game like Dark Atlas: Infernum because it actually gives the son some personality and agency as well as a more complex relationship with his mother. Karen’s actress may undermine it a little, but as you learn more about her history and thoughts you do get an interesting undercurrent about whether saving Espen is truly something done out of love or may be more an extension of her ego and lingering guilt over that selfishness, the story devoting specific moments to pondering such things so it’s not just a read you have to extract yourself.

 

Through the Woods can do good work with the notes you find too in building up its threats or even just laying the seeds of a generally mystical setting your find yourself in. A fair few monsters or elements are brought up partly just to stew you more in the Norse setting, a few creatures even just making what amount to cameos, but it also can put you on edge as Through the Woods will sometimes pay off the build up with proper encounters with something dangerous. You can eventually get a sense for some of the clues that there might be something to worry about ahead and the game isn’t afraid of having a fairly slow start, but once monsters start appearing you do start wondering if you’re safe while exploring around for bits of lore or optional collectibles.

What makes the monsters of Through the Woods more interesting though is that each one behaves differently and has a different trick to overcoming them. The troll is a huge and direct creature and you have no recourse but to try and get to places where it can’t reach or follow you, but the Huldra’s stretch of dark forest is more open in ways that allow it to get the drop on you before you can shine your flashlight on the blind woman to send her scrabbling away. The troll is more obvious but can be upon you quickly if it catches you heading down desired paths, but Huldra encourages you to better plan your movements so your light can be ready to repel her no matter her angle of approach. Not every creature is all that difficult to get around even if the uncertainty in meeting it is certainly an intentional part of the fear before you realize it’s not that bad, but some like the wolf brothers mix a more involved means of keeping them at bay while using some newer spaces like inside an old temple to spice up how they can use the environment to catch you by surprise.

 

There aren’t as many monster sections as you might like, although most of the better ones get more than one encounter to put your stealth skills to the test. At the same time, the weaker ones that are easily surpassed do mean there are some stretches where Through the Woods isn’t giving you much to do besides scour around for collectibles, and there is even one monster that could be easily missed entirely since you can find the way to bypass it before you even see the beast itself. Through the Woods does benefit a good deal from that uncertainty on whether you’re moving into a dangerous area or not though, but it can also leave a few fallow periods in the progression as you’re hoping for a little stimulation beyond more woods and a bit of exploration. Through the Woods does at least keep even its more dangerous monsters from becoming overly frustrating, checkpoints not too generous that they declaw the beasts but you won’t have to repeat long stretches because a monster caught you by surprise.

THE VERDICT: While it can have a few too many quiet periods and the lead’s vocal performance undermines the richer parts of Karen’s character, Through the Woods does build fear well through well-placed notes and a range of monsters you interact with differently. The stealth sections require a bit of thought and the dark woods or nearby areas work well to give the creatures an edge that isn’t too oppressive. It has some clear visual compromises, but the effective moments make the few hours it takes to go through the woods an interesting enough adventure if you stick with it past a slow start.

 

And so, I give Through the Woods for PC…

An OKAY rating. While the lead voice actress’s performance and some of the visual shortcomings are likely just a part of its nature as a game made by a small independent studio, it’s the pacing that Through the Woods mostly needs to work on, especially with a few of its monsters not commanding their sections quite as well as the wolf brothers or Huldra. It didn’t need to be an unrelenting string of creature encounters, the time spent exploring the abandoned villages or encountering characters where you aren’t sure if it will take a dangerous turn set an effective uncertain tone that its dark forests and rocky roads can also contribute to even when there are no monsters about. If there are going to be lesser enemies or ones more easily overcome though they could be distributed more effectively, while the more varied and challenging stealth sections could serve as the greater substance that benefits everything else with their presence and the fear that more could be around the corner. The quiet periods of exploration are helped by the notes effectively rooting mythical elements into the lives of those who occupied the supernatural forest you find yourself in and perhaps even just more of those could better occupy your time during the quieter walking sections where you start to wonder if anything is going to actually happen. Through the Woods needs polish, plain and simple, the foundational ideas interesting and effective and the team likely just needing more time, resources, and experience to better hone it into its clear vision rather than having elements like its effective variation on the typical “parent saves their child” motivation being a bit dragged down by rough performances.

 

Through the Woods does a bit more than just lean on the uncertain terror of exploring the woods at night, but it also unfortunately asks for a bit more patience than what its pay-offs can always reward. It uses its elements from Norse mythology quite effectively to better hold your interest and the better stealth encounters are what really sticks with you, but it’s hard to say whether the trek through the forest is totally worth it when its interesting vision is sometimes obscured by weak execution.