I actually beat this game once upon a time many years ago on PC, returning to it now though I have rediscovered how both tough and unforgiving this title was!

Furthest I have gotten so far, in a relative speedrunning learning sense, is just past the tree. At this point all my health was gone and some unfortunate spawns finished Ashley off.

Any general survivability tips would be much appreciated.

I think it helped me to learn a bit where spawns can appear. Then you get a better sense on how to enter a screen in a way that makes it easier to avoid them as they appear. Knowing how to get by them without getting caught on the corner of things help too.

Yeah. I'm definitely learning. - My biggest obstacle so far is health. - Hard to ignore any health pick-ups in case things go south. Still though, the more I learn and the more used to the ahem "controls" I get, the better I'll do.

Not seeing a smart way to do the tree through beyond battle of attrition tactics. A smarter kill on him would save me masses of time in NOT having to get health, but I'm not sure that exists.

You know about the chainsaw glitch right? If you're out of gas keep spamming the "turn on" button while attacking with it. Should do more damage to the tree. Also, if the tree knocks you down you can open the menu to auto stand so you're not stuck on the ground.

Yep yep. - I saw both in other peoples videos and read the tips. - It's more of an issue that the tree is a battle of health attrition and my execution is pretty crap, so I'm taking more damage than would be ideal before getting there. Well, perhaps more accurately, I'm losing time picking and/or farming health to ensure I survive the tree and run to the cave.

It would just make it infinitely easier if there was a cheese strat on the tree. - If nothing else though, I'm getting somewhat consistent with pinning Spider Gran in the corner.

I think I did better on the tree when I didn't just spam the attack button and timed my attacks. Since it sort of has i-frames for a bit when you hit it. But I'm still new too, and it's been a bit since I tried a run. I also think i tried hard to save my large health kit for the tree fight too. Good Luck with the learning!

I just watched your fight, I think you're doing pretty good. I attack more from the side. No real reason why but sometimes I feel like I get missed once in a while from his attacks there. But I have to real proof of this.

Thank you for your kind words - I've fought the tree from the side and I seem (or at least I think) I get leg swiped more. But it might be more advantageous to do it from the side as the knock back (presuming you're a little late on the pause) might not be as substantial- You're 100% on the money with the timing though.

I actually think the game has a very basic 'parry' system in that if you attack, while being attacked, you won't take damage. I notice this with a lot of the skeletons in the 'Primitive Screw Head' section of the game.

And thanks for coming into the stream also. I thought you were from here, but I couldn't 100% remember and didn't want to commit to it :-)

Not to mention I was having a bit of a bad beat with the game at the time.

At the moment though, I'm getting Spider Gran pinned 50% of the time, which helps massively.