Earthtongue invokes the feeling of the early days of exploring nature as a child. Seeing fauna or flora you've never seen before in your life. Not even knowing what it's called or anything about it. So you observe. You sit and you wait. Maybe you go do something else for a bit and then come back later to check. Eventually, you notice something. You've recognized a behavior of the organism. You try feeding it something. Maybe relocating it somewhere. You repeat this cycle with more plants and creatures. You're still mostly an observer, but a curious one. You'll occasionally nudge things here and there, testing a new hypothesis. You've begun to form an understanding of the ecosystem around you.

I know that Earthtongue has the potential to be a much deeper game than how I've played it. You can specifically curate an ecosystem based on your knowledge of the animal and plant life you've observed. You can design effectively closed terrariums for multiple different species. I did none of this. I chose to trigger random events. Over and over. Occasionally doing something more deliberate. For the sake of testing of course.

I have yet to mention that this game is not just one ecosystem to explore. The base game features 3 incredibly unique options, and the workshop features a lot more. Yes, Earthtongue is also effectively a mini game engine for terrariums. Personal shoutout to "Earthwood Preserve" for being my favorite I've tried.

Play this game, and then explore the the rest of developer junestrings' (formerly critterdust) work on other platforms. Trust me. :>