I will never forget my first confusing and terrifying encounter with cannibals in 2018’s The Forest. That’s when intelligent creatures out of a nightmare decide to simply look at me instead of trying to kill me. Its sequel, Sons of the Forest, cannot truly replicate the macabre novelty of the first, but it delivers the gameplay, story, and atmosphere of his one of the best survival crafting games ever in a very satisfying way. It’s built in some way. I’ve occasionally recalled its Early Access status with seemingly unfinished cutscenes and inconsistent performance, but not as often as many other recent games that use that label.
Set years after The Forest, Sons of the Forest challenges you to survive and discover new mysteries on a lush, warm island reminiscent of hiking in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It’s about four times the size of the original map and is absolutely gorgeous. The amount and variety of plants, some of which can be used as food sources or to make medicine, adds richness and richness to the landscape rarely seen in games of this type. is. Clouds partially blocking the sun on a warm day completely change my mood for exploration. It’s one of those little details that most games ignore, but I really notice when he does one well.
However, it is not yet fully optimized. My RTX 3080 was usually able to cruise at smooth 60 frames or more at 1080p with DLSS set to max quality, but would drop semi-regularly to 20 seconds when traveling long distances on land I also occasionally see annoying pop-ins where leaves and rocks appear tens of meters away. I also had a lot of glitching issues with the sound, especially during rainstorms and when different sounds were playing at the same time. However, performance is usually one of the last things to be finalized, so hopefully a lot will be worked out over the course of Early Access.
Further adding to the authenticity and hostility of Sons of the Forest’s environments is a complete system of seasons, including snowy winters that kill most of the edible plants and require you to track your body temperature. It’s a nice change of pace, but I think there’s more you can do with these weather effects. And interestingly, even with C4 explosives, ice in frozen water cannot be broken. Overall, though, I quite enjoyed both the visual variety and the challenging seasonal changes.
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Of course, we haven’t mentioned cannibals yet. Much like the first game, it deftly subverts everything we’ve been taught about video game enemies, prioritizing self-preservation over aggression. Starting off with a standoff, many choose not to fight, especially if they’re alone and you’re not afraid of them. , with improved stealth, higher social dynamics, and more diverse group behavior.
They can climb trees to escape, pounce from above, or even disguise themselves as piles of leaves to ambush them. It’s scary, especially when you go out at night and you can hear them near you but you don’t know where they are. More interesting interactions you can do yourself with these amazing people Needless to say, every time I thought they were out of surprise, they surprised me again.
However, once you venture deeper into the island, worry about cannibals is largely gone. Sons of the Forest has far more gigantic, terrifying mutants than its prequel, and far more dangerous. I’ve come to really enjoy the emphasis on combat, as it is used so effectively to
A heart-pounding resource management puzzler that will remind you of the best parts of Resident Evil and The Last of Us every time you battle powerful or hordes of enemies. Ranged weapons protect you from danger, but ammunition can be very hard to come by. You run out of healing items. Without batteries for your flashlight, you’re as good as dead. I’d rather run out of bullets and food 9 out of 10 times than lose my light source deep in a cave.
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That’s why I realized I had to weigh the risks and rewards of each approach carefully. Is losing a handful of arrows worth the loot you get from this cannibal camp? Is it worth the potion I need to use to patch if I attack this mutant with an ax to do it? I have never felt that my resources were robbed by ugliness.
Whether you’ve played The Forest or know how far some of the later chapters are from a walk in the woods, where Sons of the Forest will take you before the credits roll I can confidently say that I can’t guess yet. If you haven’t played the first game, well… buckle up. A terrifying tale that begins with trying to find a missing billionaire and his family in the wilderness expands on the supernatural elements established in the first game.
The ending is amazing and it’s pretty rough around the edges right now. It’s missing, or the character interactions look awkward. In fact, there’s a lot of work to do before then, so I’d recommend postponing the completion of the story until it’s in a more polished state.
It also includes building the cannibalistic fortress of your dreams using a new fully modular building system that allows you to place individual structural elements such as windows and support beams wherever you want. I’ve spent 5-6 of the last 25 hours just setting up the base, and I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible now. Especially when in multiplayer he has a crew of 8 people. By the way, this has worked great for me so far, and I haven’t had any serious server issues.
