Fern
Play free
FREE A cozy hiking game for Windows, macOS & Linux
Lace up your boots. The trail never ends: every step is new land, every biome a new mood, and nobody tells you how to cross the river.
Autumn Meadow
A round little hiker with noodle arms, a merit-badge sash and a backpack that is always a bit too big. Pick colors, a hat and a face. They bounce, flail, wave, laugh and facepalm along with you – and they live in the world: catching snowflakes, holding on to the hat in a gust, pointing at shooting stars, warming their hands at the fire. Whatever is in the backpack hangs on it, and you can take things in your hands: a walking stick, a swinging lantern, the trail map, a harmonica.
It's the same editor as in the game. Hold G (or LB on a controller) on the trail for the emote wheel with 32 emotes, and V switches to third person.
Autumn meadows melt into wheat fields, cherry valleys, white birch woods, forests of giant pines, mushroom woods, rock gorges and heather moors under northern lights. Every biome has its own corners – a birch stand here, a fern hollow there – and the next one grows in slowly, grove by grove. Every world grows from a seed, so type in a word and your friends set off on the very same trail – which biome comes next then depends a little on your pace and the hour.
The sun travels over every valley. Mornings begin in golden mist, evenings glow, and short moonlit nights sparkle with stars and fireflies. And every biome tends to arrive at its finest hour: the cherry valley at dawn, the golden birch slopes in the golden hour, the glowing woods at night, the deadwood bog in the rain – the clock even slows a little to let the moment last. Or pick Each biome at its best and the hour simply follows the trail.
The trail is full of reasons to linger: skies that change with the hour, snow and fog and far-off storms, campfires and shelters, ancient trees, berries to pick, cairns to build – and animals that trust you if you sit still.
There is no intended solution, only physics, your stamina and whatever is in your backpack.
1Long before you see it, the banks close in and turn to rock. Then a giant trunk lies across the lane and there is no way around it.
2A wide river, a strong current and the stumps of what used to be a bridge.
3After a long climb the trail stops at a 20 meter drop with a waterfall pool far below.
4Climb the stile, or go looking for the end of the fence.
5Wading costs time, stamina and dry boots. The stepping stones cost courage.
6Boulders as big as houses. Find the winding gap, or climb.
Cheese and cocoa, a compass that points to the next obstacle, a lantern for the dusk, a kite for windy hills, a harmonica for the long evenings. Everything weighs something, and your body keeps count.
No health bars. Hunger, thirst, cold, wet clothes and a heavy pack show in how you walk, breathe and see.
Pack light and you're quick. Pack for everything and every climb hurts. Fifty-five items, all with a purpose.
The trail never ends. Type any word as a seed and your friends start in exactly the same world.
Gusts chase cloud shadows over the hills, showers leave puddles and rainbows, dust devils spin through the desert.
56 tracks shift with the biome and the moment: calm when you rest, tense on the rope, splashy in the river.
Low to Extreme presets, distant trees as impostors, every optimization can be toggled. From a handheld to a gaming rig.
An emote wheel full of gestures: point the way, cheer at the summit, facepalm at the river.
Voice chat is on its way: push to talk, always on or voice activation already work, and your scout's mouth moves as you speak.
Got a controller? Plug it in – left stick walks, right stick looks, every action has a button and the symbols follow.
Unzip it and hit play, no installer needed. Share a seed with your friends and compare how far you got.
Windows may say "Windows protected your PC" because the game isn't signed. Click More info → Run anyway.
On a Mac, move Fern.app to Applications, then right-click → Open → Open the first time (it isn't signed by Apple). If macOS calls it "damaged", run xattr -cr /Applications/Fern.app once in Terminal.
