While in the early days on the Switch RPGs were a pretty scarce commodity, over the years the ranks have grown considerably. Of course, more games out there in the genre space make for more competition, so titles that perhaps could have managed to limp by early on, are now pretty easy to decide to pass on since there are so many better options out there. While The Song of Trees may have a very old-school sensibility to it that could appeal to more vintage gamers like myself, its lack of any particular feature that helps it to stand out, aside from it looking old, really does it no favors.

Played as a dungeon crawler that feels like it could have been inspired by games I played on my PC in the early DOS days, though looking a little more refined at least, this is a pretty straightforward affair. You’ll be able to spend some time putting together your party, looking to get a variety of classes with different strengths to help you survive a sustained campaign, and then go off in search of adventure. Moving through the overworld you’ll be able to see landmarks as well as enemies waiting for you, then engage them in pretty typical turn-based combat, working through your party and each enemy, then going back to the beginning of the batting order until it’s all done with.

While I do appreciate the fact that this very clearly and reverently honors the classic dungeon crawler from the past, my issue is that beyond accomplishing that specifically it appears to have little ambition. As primitive as some games may have looked and sounded in those earlier days, that isn’t to say there weren’t some bangers even back then in their own right. In particular the Bard’s Tale series comes to mind, not just offering up this style of play in look and feel, but also then going to great lengths to do some world building and keep you entertained with interesting characters and writing as well. By comparison this is a wholly sterile affair, going through the classic motions but offering little more than that. Granted, there aren’t that many titles in this style within the Switch eShop, but there are enough to make it clear that this is, by comparison, a lesser effort.