TREES HATE YOU
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Character Creation: Design Your Victim

Choose a face, hairstyle, colors, clothes and accessories before the hike. You can also take the default glasses character straight into the forest, then collect a wearable top hat along the route.

How to make a character and start playing

  1. Start a new game and choose the custom-character path on Design a Victim. Choose the default glasses character to start immediately.
  2. Choose eyes, mouth, skin and facial details first, then adjust hair and colors while watching the preview.
  3. Choose clothes and offered accessories. Compare each style and color on the preview before proceeding.
  4. Accept your design with the screen's start/continue control and begin the hike. Your customized face can appear on the forest's wanted poster.
  5. Open the top-hat chest during the hike for an earned cosmetic. Creating the character and collecting the forest hat are separate actions.

You have finished setup when your chosen character appears at the picnic. Match the preview to the hiker's look before moving into the first trap.

Developer's custom/default character explanationRecorded creator menu · 0:16–1:48

Appearance options and what to change

Tykenn names eyes, mouths, hair, clothes and skin in the developer announcement. The groups below include those options, recorded facial details, and the later glasses gag. The exact style and color counts vary with the build.

Glasses and accessories

Keep the default glasses or change offered accessories. In the June Steam demo update, worn glasses fly off when the character dies.

Tykenn's demo update · June 19, 2026

Hats found in the forest

The Steam demo includes at least one wearable hat. Open its chest during play; this is separate from the creator's appearance choices.

Official Steam Demo features

Default glasses man, outfits and earned hats

Start with a familiar face

The original bespectacled character remains the quick default. You can change the face, short or longer hair, outfit colors and offered glasses without creating a new class or combat build. Tykenn says the trailer character is not based on a particular person.

Collect the top hat during the hike

The fenced chest shelf gives a tall black hat that appears on your character. This is an in-game pickup, separate from any creator preview. Continuing into the theft gag loses it; a player-reported checkpoint trick can keep it on the remainder of the route.

Chest location and keep-hat steps

Community guides describe clothing and hats as cosmetic. They do not give a health, speed or bullet-protection bonus; progress still depends on route choices. Hat appearance and route notes

Which demo has character creation?

Tykenn previewed customization in January 2026, included it in the February 22 expanded itch.io demo, and lists it among the Steam demo features. The June Steam update added more creator options and the flying-glasses death detail. Choose a current build if an older embedded version lacks the menu or a style shown in a video.

Expanded itch.io demoSteam Demo featuresJune creator changes

Compare browser, Windows and Steam builds or fix a menu or controller input problem.

Secrets & Collectibles

Find the wearable hat, coins and arcade.

Version history

See when creator options and checkpoint changes arrived.

Game overview

Choose the current demo and check full-game availability.