"From 'round the wood on blackest night, I call to me the scattered light.
On fiskroot's arm ignite the fire, find the safety I desire.
And with these lights I forge my bond. I give myself, I take beyond.
To cut this spirit's earthly tether and guide it from this world forever."
On fiskroot's arm ignite the fire, find the safety I desire.
And with these lights I forge my bond. I give myself, I take beyond.
To cut this spirit's earthly tether and guide it from this world forever."
— The Ritual Incantation
Spirits of Anglerwood Forest is a mobile game developed by Mike Braverman. The game was released for Android on February 14, 2020 and iOS on March 13, 2020.
You play as Edgar Fenn, a farm boy living with his parents in the small rural town of Masonfield. After learning a strange ritual from his father the night before, Edgar wakes up the next morning with both parents nowhere to be found. Now Edgar must journey through the woods to find his parents and figure out what happened to them, using the strange ritual to protect himself from whatever is lurking in the forest.
The game is a kind of Adventure Strategy Game with day and night portions of each level. During the day, you clean out the lanterns around the forest, survey the area, and talk to other characters. At night, you have to light the lanterns in ways that allow you to avoid the forest spirits hiding in the trees.
This game provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: From what little we see of him, Cyrus's father berates him and yells at him.
- Anachronism Stew: The setting is vaguely inspired by late 19th/early 20th century America and Europe. Some of the music is reminiscent of ragtime.
- Apathetic Citizens: The people of Hatchet's Point really don't care that a young boy from out of town has nowhere to stay for the night.
- Arc Words: "You'll be safe here."
- Bigger on the Inside: Phoebe's library seems to be bigger than her whole house.
- Book Ends: The first and last level take place at the Fenn's house. Also, the game opens and closes with a long pan over the forest.
- Campfire Character Exploration: After you rescue Daniel, the kids discuss and comfort each other over what just happened. This solidifies Edgar's friendship with Cyrus and the other kids.
- Celestial Deadline: When the sun rises on the Winter solstice, all the spirits Ezra captured will be lost forever.
- Creepy Child: The Mysterious Boy in Hatchet's Point.
- The Corruption: Ezra is the victim of this. As a child, he is lured deep into the forest and his spirit is captured and corrupted by something, possibly the forest itself. He becomes obsessed with luring his family into the forest along with him and eventually sets his sights on Edgar.
- Creepy Jazz Music: The music in the nightmare world in Chapter 10 is eerie distorted jazz music on a continuous loop. At least at first.
- Demonic Possession: Ezra tries possessing Edgar in Angler's Maw, but he manages to drive him off.
- Don't Go in the Woods: The children of Anglerwood Forest are told by their parents not to go in the woods at night. For Ezra, the warning was justified.
- Driving Question: What happened to Edgar's parents?
- Eldritch Location: The nightmare world in Chapter 10. A strange Deliberately Monochrome amalgamation of someone's house and a deforested area that doesn't actually seem to be real. It's full of surreal portals to Ezra's memories, has Creepy Jazz Music on loop and puts Edgar into some kind of trance.
- Emotional Regression: Implied to have happened to Ezra right before his spirit is corrupted. His memory is set back to when he first went to Angler's Maw and he starts acting much younger. The next time we see him, he looks like he did when he was a child.
- Face–Heel Turn: Ezra, after having his spirit corrupted, sets his sights on his family.
- Fantasy Americana: This world is inspired by late 19th/early 20th century rural America with various supernatural elements being the focus.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Anglerwood Forest is based on America, but from the level select map, this doesn't seem to be Earth.
- Fire of Comfort: Fire is associated with safety and warmth throughout the game. The light from the lantern fire protects you from the spirits. Any time a character offers Edgar shelter a fire is often mentioned or shown.
- Forced Transformation: The people around Ezra start turning to trees after the incident in Angler's Maw. After his corruption, he does this to Edgar's friends and family.
- Friends Are Chosen, Family Aren't: Cyrus clearly is more comfortable around his friends and says he tries to spend his time at Daniel's house to get out of his own.
- Genre Blindness: In Chapter 8, Cyrus and the other kids run off to fetch fiskroot branches, not knowing the spirits lurk in the trees.
- The Hero: Edgar Fenn.
- Heroic BSoD: Cyrus suffers one after he sees Daniel turn into a tree.
- Heroic Mime: Edgar. He almost never talks. The few times he does, the scene either cuts to after he's finished or we simply just don't hear him.
- Invisible to Normals: Edgar is the only one that can see the spirits.
- It's All My Fault: When Daniel gets captured by the spirits, Cyrus blames himself because he dragged him to Hatchet's Point against his wishes. Happens again toward the end of the game when Daniel turns into a tree.
- Left-Justified Fantasy Map: The level select screen is a map and only shows a portion of a continent. It's even labeled "Southwest Anglerwood Forest".
- My Greatest Failure: Ezra cursing his family, since he feels it robbed him and Phoebe of a normal life.
- No Name Given: The Innkeeper and the Schoolmarm are both labeled as their jobs. Also, the Mysterious Boy and The Man That Lives Nearby. Justified in that they are not real people.
- Oh, Crap!: Edgar's expression when his parents in Angler's Maw turn out to be fake and Ezra first reveals himself.
- "Pan Up to the Sky" Ending: The game ends with a camera pan past the trees to the horizon.
- Parental Abandonment: Edgar's parents' disappearance is what sets off the main conflict. Ezra's parents also never came back after he went to Angler's Maw. It's implied they were turned into trees.
- The Power of Friendship: This is how the final boss is defeated. In the first phase, Edgar's friends provide extra salt to protect him. In the second phase, Edgar places the branches of his tree-ified friends and family into Ezra's tree, uncorrupting his spirit.
- Railroad to Horizon: Chapter 8 ends with a pan up to a train leaving on the horizon. This is shortly before Edgar leaves his new friends and heads to Angler's Maw.
- Schoolmarm: The kids attend a one-room schoolhouse with an unnamed schoolmarm.
- The Silent Bob: Edgar, overlapping with Heroic Mime. He has full conversations with numerous characters using only his expressions. He only speaks twice, but we don't hear him.
- So Proud of You: Said by Albert to Edgar at the end of the game.
- Three-Quarters View
- Unnamed Parent: Cyrus's father is just labeled as "Cyrus's Father". By the end, we at least know his surname is Grant.
- World-Healing Wave: What happens when you beat the final level. A wave comes out of Ezra's tree and restores the Fenn farm and everyone turned into a tree back to normal.
