Virtual Villagers: The Tree of Life Walkthrough

Welcome to the Virtual Villagers: The Tree of Life Walkthrough!

Uncover fantastic mysteries; unravel the story of Isola, and save the Tree of Life!

Whether you use this document as a reference when things get difficult or as a road map to get you from beginning to end, we’re pretty sure you’ll find what you’re looking for here.

This document contains a complete Virtual Villagers: The Tree of Life game walkthrough featuring annotated screenshots from actual gameplay!

We hope you find this information useful as you play your way through the game. Use the walkthrough menu below to quickly jump to whatever stage of the game you need help with.

Remember to visit the Big Fish Games Forums if you find you need more help. Have fun!

This walkthrough was created by TheRealBoo.

Game Basics

Main Menu

• Click on Change Tribe to create, select or delete a tribe.
• Start Over will allow you to begin from scratch under the current tribe name.
• Click on Options to access sounds, music and voiceovers controls, enable up to 4 music tracks, change between full screen and windowed mode and control the game speed.

Villager Detail Menu

• This menu can be accessed by clicking the detail button on the main screen.

• Here you will find all sorts of information about your villagers.
• You can see their portrait, name (can be changed), age, gender, status, skills, likes and dislikes.
• You can scroll between villagers by clicking on the arrows below the portrait.
• The villagers can be sorted out by age, skill or health.
• The status bar will indicate if your villager is healthy or sick. If sick, make sure to drop a healer on them right away.
• For nursing villagers a timer will appear under the status bar indicating how much time is left.
• Once a villager reaches the working age of 14, they can master up to five different skills: farming, building, research, healing and parenting.
• Farming can be developed by collecting any type of food.
• Building can be developed by clearing the stream obstruction and building new huts.
• Research can be developed by doing research in the lab.
• Healing can be developed by studying at the hospital and healing the sick villagers. This is accomplished by dropping the healer on the sick villager.
• Parenting can be developed by telling stories to children, nursing babies and working on becoming a parent.
• There are three different skill levels: trainee, adept and master.
• You can set a preference for a specific skill by checking the correspondent box next to it.

Map Menu

• Here you can see an overview map of the game.
• You can instantly move to any part of the game by clicking on the desired location on the map.

Collections Menu

• There are four sets of collectables that only your children can find.
• They are: fish scales, mausoleum, wind flutes and research lab.
• The fish scales appear to the left of the fish statue on the southeast corner of the screen. They are collected on the fish statue. Completing the collection will increase the maximum population.
• The mausoleum pieces can be mostly found around the center of the screen. They are collected on the mausoleum arch at the northwest corner of the screen. Completing the collection will increase the maximum population by five and ghosts of dead villagers will appear to point out rare collectibles.
• The wind flutes can be found mostly around the center of the screen. They are collected to the right of the stream obstruction at the northeast corner of the screen. Completing this collection will increase the maximum population by five.
• The research lab items can be found mostly around the center of the screen. They are collected on the shelves in the research lab. Completing this collection will increase the maximum population by five and the researchers will earn tech points faster.
• Collecting items you already have will give you additional tech points.

Technologies Menu

• There are six types of technologies that you can upgrade by using tech points: science, medicine, learning, construction, food mastery and dendrology.
• Upgrading science will allow your villagers to earn tech points faster.
• Upgrading medicine will allow your villagers to live longer, be more fertile and will reduce the frequency of disease on the island. Once you reach level three you can build a hospital for training and treatment.
• Upgrading learning will cause your villagers to pick up new tasks faster. Once you reach level three you can build a nursery school where children can be educated.
• Upgrading construction will enable your villagers to build and repair various structures.
• Upgrading food mastery will increase your villager’s understanding about preparing and storing all types of food.
• Upgrading dendrology will allow the villagers to fully understand and eventually heal the Tree of Life.
• There is a picture of the Tree of Life that tracks its current level of health. There are six levels total.
• Drop a villager that has mastered at least two skills on the nursery school to start teaching the children. This will give them a head start on skills when they reach age 14.
• You earn tech points by dragging a villager to the table in the lab so they can do research.
• Some of the puzzles will require the upgrade of certain technologies.

Trophies Menu

• Here you can track your progress in achieving up to 79 different trophies.
• Use the vertical scroll bar on the right to browse thru them.

Puzzles and Milestones Menu

• There are a total of 16 puzzles to solve.
• Every time you complete a puzzle, the original image will be replaced by a game screenshot.
• Click on a solved puzzle to see its name, a brief description and how long it took to complete it.

Controls and Navigation

• Use the detail camera found at the bottom right of the main screen to quickly locate any villager.
• Click on the arrows to browse thru the villagers. As each one comes up, the game will zoom to that villager.
• When the camera is blank and you click on the right arrow the youngest villager will be located. As you keep clicking, it will browse from youngest to oldest.

• Another way of selecting a villager is by simply clicking on them.
• You can drag and drop any villager to any part of the screen.
• There are several ways of navigating around the screen.
• You can left click on the ground and drag the screen around.
• You can access the overview map and click on the desired area.
• You can use the detail camera and browse thru the villagers. The screen will move to their current location.
• You can also use the numeric keypad to move around. Imagine the screen broken into nine grids where each grid corresponds to a number. For example, pressing #5 will take you to the center of the screen and pressing #9 will take you to the northeast area of the screen.

Stews

• Making stews are a very important part of this game.
• They are created by boiling fresh or salt water in a pot in the lab and adding herbs or foods.
• You must have three herbs to make a stew.
• There are three herbs to make stews with: soapy plant, sweet plant and spicy plant.
• The soapy plants are white flowers located to the left of the lab bridge.

• The sweet plants are yellow flowers located just above the lab.

• The spicy plant is an orange flower located to the left of the Tree of Life.

General Tips

• For an easy start choose two kids (10 or younger), two young women and one young man.
• Follow the tutorial the first time you play the game. It’s a great way to quickly familiarize you with the game basics.
• The game keeps running even when you are not playing. If you are planning on not playing for a while consider switching the speed to slow or paused.
• Nursing mothers won’t work for a period of two years.
• Females between 18 and 50 can become nursing mothers.
• Children between the ages of 2 and 14 will not work, but they are the only ones that can collect mushrooms, flowers to make stew and collectables.
• Make sure to pay attention to the weather. When it rains mushroom will appear more often and when it’s foggy collectibles will show up more frequently.
• When the foundation for a hut shows up, you can pick it up and move it to a different location.
• You need to have at least 250 in the food bin to stop villagers from worrying about food and keep working on their tasks.
• If you are running the tutorial it will show you how to start a fire.
• To start a fire drop an adult onto the pile of wood that’s left of the staircase going up the cliff. Then drop an adult on the dry grass that’s between the wood pile and the staircase. Last, drop an adult onto the black circle with the wood and the grass on it.

• You can pause the game at any time by hitting the space bar.
• This guide was designed to help you solve the puzzles as quickly as possible. Don’t be afraid to try more challenging combinations of villagers to start with.

Puzzle 1: The Cutting Tool

• Head to the large fish skeleton that is south of the food bin.
• Drop an adult on the skeleton and they will collect three bones and heat them in the fire.

• After the cutting tools are made they will store them in the science lab.
• During each process three cutting tools are created.
• You can store up to six cutting tools in the science lab.

Puzzle 2: The Stream

• Head to the cascading waterfall.
• Pay close attention to where it ends.
• Look for the stream obstruction, left of the wind flutes, and drag a villager on it so they can begin clearing it.

• You can use more than one villager to speed up the process.
• Once the obstruction has been cleared, the water will surround the tree.
• Head to where the waterfall used to end and you will find the keystone.

• Drag a villager who is both an adept builder and an adept scientist to the stone and they will plug the hole to the left of the tree thus restoring the normal flow of the stream.

Puzzle 3: Boiling Water

• There are two sets of bowls. At the top of the cliff you will find the set for fresh water and the bottom the set for salt water.

• To boil water you have to first bring water to the pot in the lab and then heat it up with a red hot stone.
• Drag an adult on the desired set of bowls. They will fill the bowl with water and take it to the lab.
• Look for a pile of stones at the bottom left of the bridge to the lab.
• Drag an adult on the stones and they will take one to the fire.
• Once the stone is red hot drag an adult to it and they will take the stone to the pot in the lab.

Puzzle 4: Soap Invented

• The requirement to solve Puzzle 4 is: Puzzle 3.
• Look for the soapy smelling flowers (white ones) located to the left of the lab bridge.
• Drag a child to the flowers and they will collect three of them and place them on a table in the lab.
• Use an adult to fill the pot with salt water, heat a stone and boil the water.
• Drag an adult to the table with the flowers to make soap.
• When the water disappears from the pot, drag an adult to it and they will stack the soap on a rack.

Puzzle 5: The Butterflies

• The requirements to solve Puzzle 5 are: Puzzle 1 and Puzzle 2.
• Look for a dry plant at the bottom of the stream, below the blackberry bush.
• After solving Puzzle 2 the dry plant will begin to recover.
• Once the plant is green drag an adult to it and they will cut the leaves.
• The adult will get covered in plant sap and butterflies will show up.

• Very slowly (to make sure you don’t lose the butterflies) drag your villager to the Tree of Life.
• Once the adult is done wiping the sap on the tree, the butterflies will stay on the tree.

Puzzle 6: The Frog Rescue

• The requirement to solve Puzzle 6 is: Puzzle 2.
• Look to the right of the stairs going up the cliff.
• When it rains you will see a puddle of water appear in this area and frogs will show up.
• Drag an adult onto the frogs and they will carry one to the tree.
• Repeat this process until six frogs have been rescued.

Puzzle 7: The Cooking Pit

• The requirement to solve Puzzle 7 is: Level 2 Construction.
• Look for an area covered in rocks next to two palm trees at the southwest corner of the screen.
• Drag an adult there to remove the rocks.
• You can use more than one villager to speed up the process.
• Once the area is cleared you need to move four hot stones to it.
• Make sure you use more than one villager because if you are too slow the stone will cool down and you will have to restart the process.
• Drag an adult to the banana tree located between the blackberry bush and the bridge. They will put leaves on the pit until it is activated.
• Now you can drag adults to the fruit trees.

Puzzle 8: Cloth Invented

• The requirements to solve Puzzle 8 are: Level 2 Science and Puzzle 1.
• After getting Level 2 Science the foundation for a new hut will appear: The Clothing Hut.

• Once the clothing hut is finished, drag an adult on the pulpy vines located on the cliff wall to the left of the staircase. They will cut three pieces of vines and take them to the lab.

• Fill the pot with salt water and boil it.
• Drag an adult to the table and they will add the vines to the pot.

• Once the cooking is done, drag an adult to the pot. They will place the cloth pulp on a flat rock on the shore.
• Drag an adult onto the pulp to make the cloth. This needs to be done ten times.

• Have two adults working on the pulp at the same time to speed of the process.
• When finished you will have three bolts of cloth which will be stored at the hut.
• The clothing hut can store up to six bolts of cloth.

Puzzle 9: The Nursery School

• The requirement to solve Puzzle 9 is: Level 3 Learning.
• After reaching Level 3 Learning a new hut foundation will appear.
• Drop some builders on it to start construction.
• Once it is built, drop a villager with at least two skills mastered on it. They will start teaching the children.

Puzzle 10: The Mossy Rocks

• The requirement to solve Puzzle 10 is: Puzzle 12.
• Have an adult catch a fish. This will make a crab appear on the beach to the right of the cliff staircase.
• Very quickly pick up a child and drop it on the crab. Repeat again with another child.

• Now drag an adult to the crab and they will pick up the crab and take it to the mossy rocks at the base of the pond.
• You need to do this process five times.

Puzzle 11: The Grand Feast

• The requirements to solve Puzzle 11 are: Puzzle 7 and Puzzle 12.
• Have the children pick up the three herbs: spicy, soapy and sweet.
• Fill the pot with fresh water and boil it.
• Drag an adult to the table to start the stew.
• Drop and adult twice on the food bin.
• Drop an adult on the blackberry bush.
• Drop an adult on the pier to get a fish.
• Drop an adult on the fruit trees.
• Drop a child on a mushroom.
• After everything has been added, drop an adult on the pot.
• When finished, all the villagers will come get a bowl and gather around the fire.

Puzzle 12: Fishing Nets

• The requirement to solve Puzzle 12 is: Puzzle 8.
• Drag an adult to the piers to repair them.
• Drag an adult to the piers after they have been repaired. They will use the cloth to repair the fishing nets. Repeat the process until the nets are repaired.
• Now you can get fish by dragging an adult to the piers.

Puzzle 13: Pruning the Tree

• The requirements to solve Puzzle 13 are: Level 2 Dendrology, Puzzle 1, Puzzle 4 and Puzzle 8.
• Drop an adult onto the sick branch of the tree. They will go get cloth to bind the branch.
• Drop an adult to the cutting tools and they will cut off the sick branch.
• Drop an adult on the soap in the lab to clean the black spots.

Puzzle 14: Honoring the Tree

• The requirements to solve Puzzle 14 are: 20 villagers.
• Make a stew with the following ingredients: fresh water, three sweet plants and food from the food bin.
• Very quickly drop 20 villagers onto the pot and they will take the stew to the Tree of Life and honor it.
• The puzzle will be solved once 20 villagers are kneeling at the Tree of Life at the same time.

Puzzle 15: Purifying the Tree

• The requirements to solve Puzzle 15 are: Level 3 Dendrology and Puzzle 4.
• You need an adult that is clean of body and mind to purify the Tree of Life.
• Drop an adult on the soap in the lab. He will put soap into the pond and suds will appear.
• Drop the adult into the pond and wait until they are clean. You will know because there will be white sparkles around them.

• Drop a different adult onto the nursery to move all the children there.
• Drop the sparkling adult near the wind flutes and they will start to meditate.

• Make sure no one disturbs the meditating villager.
• When the villager is done meditating they will be clean of body and mind, sparkling white and gold.
• Drop the villager onto the hole in the Tree of Life.

Puzzle 16: Decorate the Tree

• The requirements to solve Puzzle 16 are: The first four steps in healing the Tree of Life and Puzzle 8.
• Drop an adult onto one of the three crates located below the big round table in the lab.
• They will take one braid and lay it down on the same flat rock used to make cloth.
• Look for the purple hummingbird that will start to hover around some flowers.
• When the hummingbird flies away, drop a child onto the flower.
• Keep dropping the child until the flower is picked.
• Drop more children onto the flower until six flowers have been added to the braid.
• This process has to be done three times in order to cure the Tree of Life.

Congratulations! You have completed Virtual Villagers:The Tree of Life!