Title: The Forest
Type of Game: Survival, Horror, Open World
Developer: Endnight Games
Publisher: Endnight Games
Released: April 30, 2018
Platforms Available: PC Game, PlayStation 4
Platform Reviewed: PlayStation 4
Maturity: Mature 17+
Reading Time: 9 minutes
Into the Forest
In my following review, we’ll look at an excellent survival game from Endnight Games called The Forest, which arrived in 2018 for PC and consoles. Since the survival genre is rather crowded with many smaller or bigger ventures, it is necessary for every more ambitious title to come up with something innovative and technically superior for such a project to bite a more significant number of potential players. You can find out whether The Forest has a chance to succeed in the following text.
Initial Setup and Plot
From the very beginning, as usual, everything is wrong. You’re traveling with your son Timmy in a plane, but it involuntarily ends its flight by crashing on a deserted island. As you recover a little from the accident, you are horrified to discover that your son is gone. And it is at this point that your struggle to survive and save your child begins. Yes, this is not a very well-thought-out plot, but don’t despair; this is just an introduction to an adventure that you won’t be playing. You will be living it and, of course, trying to survive overall. After all, the island is more open than it might seem. The forest is dense and teeming with life, both friendly and hostile. The beaches stretch for miles, offering a serene contrast to the dangers lurking in the woods. After leaving the plane wreckage, you must, of course, start exploring the area you are thrown into. You can begin to admire the beauty of the forest or the vast beaches. Right at the beginning, after you’ve acquired an axe that will serve you for many different activities, it’s a good idea to look around for an ideal place to set up camp. As it happens, nothing comes for free, so it is necessary to start collecting production materials, which you will find both around you in nature and in the scattered luggage that fell out of the plane’s wreckage. Anyway, once you’ve settled in a bit, it’s time to start thinking about your son’s fate, and it’s necessary to go look for him. That much could be said in a nutshell about the setting of the game’s plot.
Gameplay Mechanics and Challenges
The game’s mechanics and controls are relatively simple, making it easy for players to jump in and start surviving. Although there is an easy difficulty in the game where you are free to play Robinson, what kind of survival would it be if you weren’t in some danger. Just by setting it to Normal, carefree “camping” becomes a rather dangerous affair, as you suddenly find that there really is life at every turn. Already during the first construction of the building, I was pretty scared when something I really didn’t expect appeared around the campfire, where my friend and I were standing in the co-op after dark. Although judging by the ubiquitous totems with human skulls scattered about, one might have guessed that there might be someone who “likes people.” You immediately realize that the disfigured undead you encounter on your travels will likely be your fellow travelers, and you can only guess who’s next. Yes, these are cannibals in many forms, and personally, I’d say one is scarier than the other. The sense of unease is further heightened initially by the fact that you only have a found axe to wield. It’s wielded rather clumsily, and what seems like a brilliant tool when chopping down trees quickly loses its value when it comes to combat.
Even if you don’t succeed in the first one, all days are not over. Although, of course, permanent death is present in the game. However, this is not applied on first contact with the man-eaters, as in this case, you are “only” thrown into a rather disgusting cave from which you must, of course, get out as stealthily as possible. Well, you don’t necessarily have to; you can also try to visit the lower levels of the cave, but I would definitely not recommend that at first. All it took was one scarecrow jumping out of the darkness, which surprised me in a dark corner, and you were done – “You are dead…” So the better option is to find an exit and get to work making tools weapons and building a camp where you can feel at least a little bit safe. These activities are done in classic style – get the materials, combine them appropriately, and the item is made. Crafting gives you a perfect overview of what can be built from the items, so there’s nothing left to do but decide on the correct item at the right moment. Building dwellings and other constructions is done through the diary, which also contains a lot of helpful information that you will definitely use. Such as the fact that fire attracts all sorts of unwanted visitors…
Emotional Impact and Progression
Having played a few survival games, I can safely say that The Forest is definitely one of those games that can evoke a range of emotions. Mostly negative ones, though. As my Co-op partner, who almost got…al (as he later said) during his first encounter with the “locals” of the island, could tell you. I am curious to know how the writers did it. Still, once dusk began to fall on the island, we always just became uncomfortable and, despite the decreasing sight distance in the twilight, tried more and more often to penetrate the darkness and see if any eyes were watching us from behind the nearest tree. It’s also interesting to see how, over time, you get hardened. Even with the better equipment you usually produce during the day, you start to feel safer and eventually seek out rewarding encounters on your own. A possible complication is the fact that enemies can react to your “confidence,” so you can almost always count on more of them coming to see you next time so that they have a better chance of not ending up like the ones who came to feast on you earlier.
On the other hand, this is a nice feature that keeps the player from getting comfortable for long at the top of the game’s food chain pyramid. You must constantly try to improve and make more dangerous weapons and more effective equipment and armor. This dynamic gameplay ensures that The Forest offers a high replay value and long-term engagement, making it a worthwhile investment for survival game enthusiasts.
Enemy Intelligence and Combat
As for the cannibals themselves, you can’t deny them a fair amount of intelligence, which they don’t hesitate to use in combat. So you can count on them to test your patience and skills a little or to provoke you and plan an encirclement, which are moments you don’t want to experience too often. Even if you’re already adequately experienced and have good equipment, you never know if you’re going to hit the mark and if all your progress through the game will go to waste. It’s also interesting to see that even when multiple enemies are after you at once, they’re not necessarily members of the same tribe, so you can also run into conflicts where you have two naked enemies between you while another tries to outrun you and prevent you from retreating from the fight. Speaking of fights, those are definitely no walk to church on Sunday. In fact, the combat system is quite clunky and then lacks any indication of the direction of the shot when firearms are used. As in Kingdom Come Deliverance, it takes a bit of practice and the requisite luck. Later on, various bombs and incendiary bottles come into play, which are immediately more cheerful.
Leaving The Forrest
Despite the reasonably extensive information your journal provides, there are plenty of things you’ll have to figure out for yourself as you play. So, you’ll probably be a little hesitant about what to build first and what to invest your precious materials in. Still, it’s nothing that you’ll have any serious problems with after a few dozen minutes played. Last but not least, the game also includes a multiplayer component, where you can dive straight into survival in four. There is probably no point in adding that the gameplay takes on another level in this mode, so we can only hope that you find a suitable server or, like me, friends who also own the game and can happily start playing together. Technically, the game, despite its relatively small size (around 5 GB), is very well managed, and the illusion of a spooky atmosphere is completed by both video and audio. Of course, few titles can do without a few bugs these days, but there aren’t that many of them. Here and there, you will encounter problems with the textures you go through. Still, fortunately, the authors have avoided bugs that would hinder the gameplay. So, if you’re in the mood to fear for your bare life once again, definitely give The Forest a chance. It’ll reward you more than enough.
Reddit and Where to Buy The Forest
Steam (PC Game) VR Supported: Available for $19.99. You can purchase it directly from Steam.
PlayStation Store (PS4): The game is priced at $19.99. You can find it on the PlayStation Store.
Official Page: Visit the official The Forest page for more information.
Subreddit: Join the discussion on the The Forest Subreddit.
