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"Every hunt is an ancient ritual, a step within a fragile balance.

Before drawing the bow or following the tracks of a prey, one must listen to the will of the forest - and honor it.

My grandfather used to say that only those who showed respect earned the grace of Mielikki, the goddess of the woods and animals.”

As we prepare to open the doors to the world of Among The Trolls through the Closed Playtest starting in two weeks, many aspects of the game are passing under our radar. Among the latest is one of the pillars of survival within the archipelago: hunting. Recently, we’ve been working on its systems and polishing a few details, and today it’s the star of our deep dive into the game’s features in this month’s devlog.

HUNGER AND FAITH

While we want players to perceive traces of old beliefs and traditions throughout the world, hunting is designed foremost as a practical tool for gathering resources and managing hunger. But the choice of the bow or, later, the spear talk about a very physical relationship with nature. It takes time and energy to gather materials and craft your hunting tools. So, you need to be most efficient as your hunger grows and you get exhausted. You affect nature and nature affects you.
You’ll begin your adventure with the bow’s handle already in your pocket. Like all weapons, the bow is subject to breakage, but even then, this piece to which Anna is so emotionally attached will never disappear from your inventory. You’ll keep it with you and will need to search for resources in the world to rebuild it. We want the bow to feel like a long-term companion rather than a throwaway item, tying weapon progression directly into exploration and scavenging.

Like a lot of things in Among The Trolls, weapons – like the bow – are tied to crafting. Arrows are a resource, and you’ll be able to craft them using the sticks you collect. They allow you to adopt a stealthy, ranged approach, particularly useful for studying your target and hunting highly alert animals like deer, which are a good food source.
You can crouch and move slowly to keep animals from spotting you. This lets you get in position and take a good shot instead of just running in.

If you feel the need to practice your aim, we’ve got you covered: you’ll find Grandpa’s target range behind his cabin.  It’s a spot where you can mess around with the bow, see what distances work, and get used to aiming before you head into the woods to hunt for real.

That’s it for this month, and our next - and final - update of 2025 will be all about our closed playtest! We can’t wait to gather your feedback, and we’d like to remind you that you have until December 1st to send in your application[505.games] and try to join the first wave of testers. Thank you to everyone willing to support us in this journey.

Hello adventurers, 

Today we’d like to give you an update on the current state of development for Among The Trolls and share our next steps - one of which will directly involve you! 

As you know, after restarting development from scratch last year, our goal was to release the Early Access within 2025. However, as we approach the end of the year, we realize we need more time to polish and refine the experience. For this reason, we’ve decided to move the release to 2026, with the goal of launching on a stronger foundation. 

On the bright side, today we’re announcing that sign-ups for our Closed Playtest are officially open! The playtest will begin in about two weeks, and your feedback will be crucial in helping us understand whether we’re on the right track and what areas still need improvement ahead of Early Access. 

To register your interest in the closed playtest, please fill out this form[505.games]. A key requirement is joining our official Discord server[discord.gg], where a private section will be set up for testers to share their feedback. If selected, you’ll be contacted directly via Discord DM in the coming days with all the details and instructions to access the playtest. 

We’ll consider all submissions received by 1st December 2025, and for this first test we’ll select a limited number of players. 

We hope you’ll join us in this phase - your feedback will be incredibly valuable in helping us focus on the right aspects in the months ahead. 

We can’t wait to have you on board! 

"Grandfather has disappeared, and he has left me this backpack.  

I remember when I was a little girl: I was fascinated by it. With him we could remain away for two whole days, far from home, thanks to that backpack alone. Inside there was everything we'd need... to make a fire, to build a shelter, to cook what nature gave us...but also it held some special ingredients for those strange rituals only Grandfather knew about.   He said it was old, that it had belonged to his father, perhaps to his ancestors.  

Each of them, over time, had added something useful, a small fragment of themselves. 

He would open it and lay a cloth on the ground to arrange each object with care: everything found its place, as if in a mysterious and perfect order. As a child he would  let me watch, but he always warned me not to touch the Vaky box -"not yet, Anna". 

He never parted from that backpack.  
It is strange to think that he set out without it." 

We’ve talked a lot in previous devlogs about how survival is key in Among The Trolls, so it won’t be hard to imagine how important this month’s focus is for our protagonist, Anna: her inventory.  
Every explorer knows how essential it is to have the right tools with them - their backpack becomes an indispensable adventure companion. That’s why we spent quite some time designing and developing the inventory system in Among The Trolls, which is likely one of the elements you’ll use the most throughout your experience.  

Instead of the traditional slash eternal 2D inventory management, we opted for the versatility of 3D to allow players to physically interact with their resources. Being able to open Anna's backpack within the game world itself - with the same dynamic lighting and weather effects - felt like the best way to provide you with a better sense of immersion.  
Opening the backpack, you'll be able to interact with all you've discovered thus far, and a simple 2D overlay will display the contextual information you need. In addition to managing your resources, the inventory will also allow you to craft tools, weapons, and additional materials by dragging the necessary items to the crafting space, with the help of Anna's journal for recipes. Similarly, you will be able to cook meals by taking items out of your inventory and placing those items in a certain area (the campfire, for example). Stay focused, though - your dinner could burn to ashes in the blink of an eye. 

 
We hope that our blend of a 3D inventory with just the right amount of 2D elements will make your experience both immersive and intuitive, giving you all the information you need to move through it easily - and the freedom to experiment, succeed, fail, and learn.

The world of Among The Trolls is steeped in mystery - some gradually revealed through the story, others more deeply hidden within the forest. Uncovering them is a task for the most attentive explorers, who will slowly piece together details and tales from a distant past. 

A lot of the characters in Among The Trolls are based on the stories in the Kalevala, an epic poem that Elias Lönnrot put together in the middle of the 19th century. He used traditional songs and folk poetry to put together the historical memory of the Finnish people, combining the cosmogonic origins and the mythological cycle into one work. These fascinating writings have been the focus of our in-depth study, to which - in some cases - we have added our own artistic interpretation, as many descriptions of certain entities leave plenty of room… for imagination.  

Below, you’ll find some examples of the kind of notes you’ll be able to discover while exploring. Think of them as a small taste - full versions will be waiting for you directly in Among The Trolls. We hope these will spark your curiosity and evoke the sense of wonder we felt while we turned the pages and got lost in those mystical tales. 

The air had a daughter: her name was Ilmatar. Weary of her days and lonesome in the wide halls of the gods, Ilmatar dove down into the wide, gleaming world below. When she descended from the high heavens into the sea, the waves embraced her, and in their union she became the Water-Mother, heavy with a child not yet born.  
 
For nine ages Ilmatar drifted, her womb full, her spirit aching. She lifted her knee above the waters, and a goldeneye laid its eggs upon her. The heat of the nesting grew fierce: Ilmatar, wincing, shifted her knee, and the eggs tumbled into the waves. They shattered not into ruin, but into becoming. From their shards came the world. 

From the darkness of Ilmatar’s womb, the unborn Väinämöinen wept and spoke to the gods, but they would not open the path. And so he opened it himself. For nine years he floated on the waves, old though newborn, until at last he touched land. 

A sage from the moment of his first breath, with beard white as river-fog and eyes that had seen the shape of stars from within the womb. He wandered the newborn land alone, until he met Sampsa Pellervoinen, the Son of the Field.   

Together they carved space for the seeds of life - cutting trees, sowing grain, calling forth the first harvests of the human age. And so Väinämöinen, son of the sea and of sky-born Ilmatar, became not just witness to the world, but its maker and its memory. 

“It is said that in the waters around the islands, the Aallottaret are hiding. Water nymphs who were once women drowned, consumed by envy for the living. They grab you and drag you down without mercy. I still haven’t figured out whether they do it to keep people from reaching the islands… or to make sure they never leave.” 

Over the past month, we’ve focused on bringing life (and danger) to the waters of Among the Trolls. In today’s devlog, we’ll take a closer look at the swimming system in the archipelago, how it affects exploration - and your survival. Ready to take the plunge? 

INTO THE CURRENT 

The sea surrounding the archipelago - the one Anna used to secretly swim in during summer as a child, without her grandfather knowing - no longer feels the same. Something is off, and those clear, calm waters that once filled her memories now seem unfamiliar: the water that laps the shore no longer seems to follow the rules of the real sea, as if her swimming skills mean nothing against its hostility. Swimming here has become excessively - and unnaturally - exhausting for Anna.

The islands of the archipelago are home to a variety of environments, but one thing they all share are the sandy shores that stretch into deep waters. Choosing to swim there can be risky - it’s up to you to weigh the dangers. 

Movement in water is slower, and can be extremely tiring for Anna. While swimming, stamina drains quickly, and if you push yourself too hard, you'll soon run out of energy and run the risk of drowning. 

But not all waters are the same. Swimming in island lakes is certainly less dangerous than swimming in the ocean. Out there, as you move away from the coast, you'll find the dark Deep Sea. If you cross into it, stamina depletes even faster, the world begins to distort and turns hostile. A true boundary, as solid as any wall. You can’t cross the open sea without building a bridge - because some waters are too dangerous and must be avoided at all costs.

And exhaustion isn’t the only threat. Enemies can chase Anna all the way to the shoreline - though they probably won’t follow you into the tides. Still, keep in mind that tools are useless in water: axes, bows, and spears can’t be used until you’re back on land. If Anna falls in with a heavy load, she’ll have to let it go in order to survive. One missed handhold, one misjudged jump, and the current claims another secret for the Aallottaret. 

We’re working hard to make the waters of Among the Trolls as unpredictable and mysterious as the landscape. Whether you're wading between islands or simply hearing the wave crashing in the distance, remember: sometimes, it's not what you can see on the surface that you should fear - but what's down below. 

That wraps up today’s devlog. The next one will be coming in September!

“These passages… I've never laid eyes on them.
Spires of solid stone corridors, built with an architecture I don't comprehend, carved by hands that shouldn't be possible. Did my grandfather hide them from me? 
Etched on these walls, somehow, I recognize the ancient myths he used to speak. 
Who built this place - and where does it go? 
Perhaps the crow knows more than it's letting on. Time to get some answers.” 

Over the past month, we’ve ventured deeper into the mysteries surrounding the dungeons of Among the Trolls, the focus of our fourth Between Realities devlog! 

Ready to descend into the depths and uncover more? 

Hidden behind thick stone walls and away from prying eyes, deep within the forests that stretch across the archipelago you’ll explore in Among the Trolls, lie places as ancient as the world itself. Here, some secrets are carefully kept out of sunlight. 

It’s in these strange - and far from safe - places that the protagonist’s story begins to intertwine with old legends and long-buried truths. With every step, every exploration, you’ll uncover something new. 

 Work-in-progress screenshots. Assets are still subject to change.

As we craft our dungeons, atmosphere remains foremost in our minds. We want players to have that unique sensation of being lost - of venturing through halls carved by invisible hands, where curiosity alone is the compass. We want you to feel absolutely present in a place outside of time, where a faint glow, your tools, and your keen intuition will be your only guides. 

Of course, as you might expect, not all of the encounters will be friendly. The secrets buried deep below have guardians of their own, and these have made the darkened corridors their home. These combat encounters will test your fighting skills and resource management - and you'll need to keep your wits about you to find your way back to the world you once knew. 

 Work-in-progress video. Assets are still subject to change.

We're working hard to bring all of these elements together, buffing lighting, sound, and all the tiny details to make each dungeon a unique exploration experience. Things are moving along steadily, and we can't wait for you to lose yourselves in the depths - to discover the hidden pieces of story that we've left behind these ancient walls. 

As always, we invite you to follow us on our social media channels (X[x.com], Facebook[www.facebook.com], Bluesky[bsky.app], Instagram[www.instagram.com], TikTok[www.tiktok.com]) and join our official Discord[discord.gg] to share your feedback and stay up to date on our progress.