Our Sons of the Forest overview finds this long-awaited sequel to The Forest stuffed with the type of spooky environment that’s sufficient to make even essentially the most iron-willed amongst us squirm in our seats. We’ve performed 16 hours up to now and made it to day 12, having experimented with completely different beginning methods throughout a number of playthroughs. We’ve extra to see, and can replace this review-in-progress periodically as we accomplish that, however up to now our expertise suggests it’s a unbelievable recreation – albeit not with out its flaws. There’s a nagging feeling that Sons of the Forest might have bitten off barely greater than it may chew.
The sport is actually enjoyable and fascinating, and for under $30, it feels definitely worth the value of admission, particularly for the reason that developer guarantees steady updates. However it’s necessary to notice simply how a lot it appears like The Forest. Certain, there’s extra vegetation, a much bigger map, new construct mechanics, extra selection in crafting and weaponry, and creepier mutants — nevertheless it kind of feels such as you’ve seen all of it earlier than. Maybe that’s the purpose: to take what labored and construct from there, actually and figuratively.
The Forest, redux
The story begins with a aircraft crashing right into a distant island, mimicking that of its predecessor, although just a few components are new. One distinction is that on this case, you headed to the island deliberately in an try to discover a lacking billionaire. The sport attracts on a twisted, humorous sensibility to construct its narrative via environmental storytelling, similar to its predecessor.
In some ways, this storyline, paired with the familiarity of the atmosphere, makes Sons of the Forest really feel much less like a sequel than an upgraded model of the unique recreation. The fundamentals are the identical: survive cannibal assaults, discover the island, and combat mutants in spooky cave dwellings.
It’s simple to see why the builders selected to launch the sport in early entry. It’s actually enjoyable to play, simply as The Forest was an important recreation as effectively. However you possibly can see the place the devs have left themselves room to fill within the particulars; the map is big, and a few elements really feel distant and barren. Maybe it is a good factor for gamers who search to keep away from cannibals and mutants, however the smaller map within the unique recreation supplied extra alternatives to wander throughout random components.
Sons of the Forest – survival challenges
As an open-world recreation, Sons of the Forest will not be linear, and a part of the enjoyable is figuring out what to do subsequent. You’ve a GPS tracker that guides you to some areas, and that’s useful to a level, however I’d have liked a means so as to add tags to sure areas, with out which I stored having to search for the Sons of the Forest map to navigate the sport.
As a result of I couldn’t absolutely observe my areas, it turned a relentless battle between attempting to survive mutants and cannibals and hoping to search out the gadgets I wanted to progress. As somebody on the lookout for a spoiler-free solo playthrough, there appears to be quite a lot of aimless wandering with the hope that I discover these things. The keycards. The shovel. The shotgun. How lengthy ought to it take an individual to search out this stuff with out resorting to trying them up?
Maybe that’s what offers the multiplayer mode a broader attraction, as gamers can revive each other and work collectively to defend towards hordes of cannibals whereas overlaying extra space in a shorter time. Your first in-game companion, Kelvin, can do so much for you, however he can’t assist you determine the place you’re going.
Sons of the Forest provides an attention-grabbing issue spike as assets turn into sparse within the winter. When it’s chilly and the lakes and rivers have frozen over, you not have easy accessibility to fish, meat, or different gadgets you want, which means it’s a race towards time to arrange your self correctly – and including a properly horrific twist in that chopping up your enemies turns into a tempting possibility for meals. Someday round Day 12 is the place I normally begin to wrestle, and although I may have finished a number of cheeses to fill up and survive the winter, I selected to restart to make certain I may adequately put together the following time round.
Sons of the Forest – an important recreation up to now
Sons of the Forest is an completely engrossing recreation, and in dropping myself in it, hours glided by as I explored. For me, the principle considerations are in content material density, lack of path, and a lingering feeling of being unfinished which, to be truthful, is completely comprehensible from an early-access title. The constructing is a little bit clunky. There are visible points with sure animations. It’s additionally given strategy to many hilarious glitches, together with a physics difficulty that launched my character into the sky whereas chopping down a tree.
If you happen to can tolerate these points, it’s completely nonetheless value taking part in. We’ll plan to replace this overview as we make our means via the remainder of the sport. If you happen to’ve already jumped in and are having fun with it, you’ll wish to see our Sons of the Forest constructing information and Sons of the Forest ideas. For extra spooky thrills, take a look at our information to the most effective horror video games on PC.