Don’t let the title mislead you, Among the Trolls isn’t about a bad experience on the internet—it’s an escape from all that, with a Finnish folklore flavor. Its release is planned for October 14, so Intel Gaming Access had a timely chat with creators AvantGarden about their troll-filled first-person adventure.
Among the Trolls begins with protagonist Anna returning to the islands she grew up on to look for her missing grandfather. But that’s just on the surface… “Underneath, it’s about discovering that her grandfather was a guardian of the balance between the natural and supernatural worlds,” AvantGarden explains, “and that something has broken that balance. It’s a story you uncover piece by piece.” This is one for players who love to roam a world that rewards attention, where mood and place matter just as much as mechanics.
“The forest isn’t a backdrop,” AvantGarden continues. “It watches, it reacts to how you treat it. A lot of games pit you against the wilderness; here the relationship with nature is the heart of the experience. That reframing, folklore as a living system rather than a monster catalogue, is what makes it feel different: [that] moment the forest goes quiet and you realize something has changed, the feeling of a world that’s paying attention to you.”
AvantGarden went to great lengths to ensure this immersion. “The entire soundscape is built from real, recorded sources,” they tell us. “[Such as] a death-metal vocalist’s screams layered with the sound of manipulated wood to give the creatures their voices. The music adapts in real time to the islands’ life energy. It’s an enormous amount of craft that players feel without necessarily noticing.”
There are combat and survival elements throughout, and these are fully integrated into the unique rhythm of the game. “Saving is tied to finding a bed or building a shelter,” AvantGarden explains, “so choosing where to stop becomes part of the journey. It gives even a small expedition a sense of purpose, and makes the quiet moment of reaching a shelter feel like a meaningful part of the adventure.”
A meaningful—and challenging—part of the game’s development was changing engines. “We moved the project from Unity to Unreal Engine 5. It was a demanding decision that meant rebuilding much of the game, but AvantGarden knows Unreal well, and it gave us the technical foundation to achieve the lighting, dynamic weather, and environmental immersion that are central to the game’s atmosphere. It’s a big part of why the world feels the way it does now.”
These elements also informed the team’s stance on performance. “Among the Trolls depends heavily on the feeling of being present in its world,” AvantGarden says. “Smooth, fluid performance is what keeps all of that feeling continuous and believable—and responsive controls become especially important when quiet exploration gives way to a more dangerous encounter. Intel XeSS lets players push image quality while keeping performance fluid, so the atmosphere we’ve built stays intact whatever your configuration. Our recommendation is to lean on XeSS.”
We second that advice, and for those unsure of how XeSS makes a difference, AvantGarden broke it down. “A game with dense vegetation, dynamic lighting, and wide outdoor vistas, [this is] where upscaling technology earns its keep. Intel’s technology lets us protect that visual richness while giving players real flexibility over performance. For a PC release where we want as many people as possible to experience the world the way we intended, that’s exactly the kind of technology that makes a difference.”
And that PC release is imminent, so ready yourselves for an immersive time Among the Trolls.
Wishlist Among the Trolls on Steam.