Trees Hate You Download — Official PC Install Guide
The browser demo is the fastest way to try Trees Hate You, but the local Windows build gives you three things the tab can't. You get a steadier frame rate, which matters because every fake-safe read lives in two or three frames of animation. You get a cleaner overlay for recording or streaming, with no browser chrome on the capture and no tab notifications popping over the canvas. You get offline play, which matters the first time your internet goes out mid-run. Everything below walks through the exact five steps tykenn's itch page expects you to take, using the build that ships as Trees Hate You Demo v17.
Get the Trees Hate You Windows build
Grab the official Windows ZIP straight from tykenn's itch.io page. Free download, ~150 MB, no account required.
Download on itch.ioFive steps from browser to desktop
Open the official itch.io page
Go to tykenn.itch.io/trees-hate-you. The page header shows the Trees Hate You wordmark, a short description from tykenn, and a row of screenshots. Below the screenshots you'll see a banner that says "Download Now" or "Name your own price" depending on whether tykenn has the pay-what-you-want toggle on that week. The demo is free regardless. You can close any itch.io account prompt — downloads work without an account, though creating a free one lets you follow tykenn for devlog notifications. Scroll past the description until you see the download panel.
Click Download and pick Windows
The download panel lists every build tykenn has shipped. The only one you need is the Windows build — it's labeled with a small Windows flag icon and typically sits at the top of the list. Click Download next to it. itch may ask you to enter a voluntary tip; the No thanks, just take me to the downloads link is right under the amount field. Click that. Your browser will kick off a save-file dialog, or if you have your browser set to auto-download, the ZIP will just start arriving in your Downloads folder. No Mac or Linux build exists right now, so Windows is the only correct choice here.
Find the ZIP in your Downloads folder
Open your Downloads folder. The file is named something close to trees-hate-you-windows.zip or thy-v17-win.zip depending on the build, and the size is about 148 MB. On a home connection the download takes thirty seconds to two minutes. If the file size looks way off — under 50 MB or over 300 MB — something interrupted the download, so right-click and Delete, then go back to itch and click Download again. Virus warnings from Windows Defender or your browser are a known itch.io pattern for small indie builds; the Trees Hate You ZIP is signed by tykenn's itch account, which is the standard trust path for this kind of release.
Extract the ZIP and launch Trees Hate You.exe
Right-click the ZIP and pick Extract All, then choose a folder you'll remember — Documents/Games or the Desktop is fine. Open the extracted folder and you'll see Trees Hate You.exe plus a data folder. Double-click the .exe. Windows SmartScreen will almost always show a blue panel that says Windows protected your PC. Click More info (small blue text near the top), then click the Run anyway button that appears. This is a standard SmartScreen response for any small indie release that isn't code-signed by a commercial certificate. The game launches into a menu within a few seconds. Movement is walk-only, jump is space or A on controller, retry is R or X.
First-run tips before you start the hike
Before you dive in, tap Esc from the main menu and open the settings panel. Two things are worth checking on a first run: windowed versus fullscreen (windowed is the easier mode for reading the subtle shadow tells on Hidden Pits, fullscreen is the better mode for capture) and V-sync (leave on unless you're chasing frame-perfect retries on high-refresh hardware). The control-remap screen lets you move jump off space if you're a WASD-with-shift-crouch kind of player. Demo v17 remembers your settings between launches, so you only touch this once. Close the menu, pick New Game, and the first clearing will be on your screen about six seconds later.
Trees Hate You demo system requirements
- Platform
- Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit)
- Memory
- 4 GB RAM
- Input
- Keyboard + mouse or Xbox-compatible gamepad
- Storage
- ~150 MB extracted
Common itch.io download errors
If the Trees Hate You demo download stalls, cancel the partial ZIP and start again from tykenn's official itch.io page instead of using a mirror. A tiny file usually means the browser saved an interrupted transfer. A SmartScreen warning on first launch is normal for small indie builds without a commercial signing certificate; use the itch page and the extracted folder name to confirm you are running the official build.
Back to play online
Want to skip the install and just keep playing? The browser demo is still live on the home page.
Play the browser demo