The Forest (2018)

The Forest is remarkable. While I've played many other games that share some of the core features--food and hydration meters, crafting, base building--it's my first "true" survival experience, my first time with a game whose sole focus is survival. And I understand The Forest is a somewhat forgiving and 'lighter' experience compared to some of its peers, but the atmosphere it impresses upon the player is entirely successful in emphasizing the feeling of being in a survival situation.

Despite being made by a small team with a presumably low budget, years of early access, community feedback, and stellar developer support have molded this game into, for me, an unequivocal all-time great. It feels like it's a game that has no right to be as good as it is. It could be better in so many ways, and it's a shame that Sons of the Forest seems to have shied away from the strongest parts of its predecessor.

In The Forest, the player is presumably the sole survivor of a plane crash on a relatively small and densely forested island with limited supplies to scavenge, a layman's skill set, and no real advantage to speak of other than being able to save and restart if the worst befalls them.

The atmosphere is palpable, even with its relatively dated and rough graphics (and the game is gorgeous despite that). It's clear from the start that the player is not alone: unsettling totems of sticks, bone, and stone punctuate the landscape, hinting at a hidden, hostile presence lurking just beyond the trees. Every action the player takes the generates sound is done so with the knowledge that it's likely attracting unwanted attention, and every snapped twig, every hoof beat of a nearby deer, and every fluttering of wings by birds above amplifies the tension, forcing frantic, paranoid scans of the surrounding woods.

The Forest's caves are a masterclass in atmospheric design: labyrinthine, claustrophobic yet vast, and fraught with peril. These sprawling networks hold the game's most valuable treasures, guarded by formidable early-game enemies. The sound design, already exceptional, reaches its peak here, deftly reinforcing the tension of exploration. Unlike the often-linear cave systems of other games, the caves in The Forest feel singularly authentic. They are, like their real world counterparts, disorienting mazes of interconnected passages and chasms. Their sheer scale and integral role in the narrative could easily justify a title change to 'The Caves.' For me, the most rewarding and engaging moments I had with the The Forest navigating these subterranean depths where exploration became a thrilling and sometimes high-stakes endeavor.

There's also a good story to chew on, and while I don't think it's universally liked, I enthusiastically applaud the developers for making that jump because they absolutely stuck the landing in my eyes. A lot of survival games tack the story on after the fact, and from what I understand, that's the case with The Forest, but you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell without the background information ahead of time.

In the end, The Forest impressively transcends its humble origins and technical limitations to deliver a survival experience that is both gripping and deeply rewarding. It's a testament to the power of atmosphere, sound design, and thoughtful world-building, proving that a game's impact isn't solely determined by its budget or graphical fidelity. I don't think it's perfect, but its unique blend of survival mechanics, exploration, and a surprising narrative sucked me in for 70 hours and refused to let me go. I would recommend it to anyone, full stop. And I don't know if it's fair to call it a hidden gem since it's a well-known release that continues to get a lot of playtime, but I think it deserves to be celebrated.

I really liked playing this one in VR. It's not a perfect VR port, but chopping down very tall trees in VR is way more fun because you're not limited by the animation speed and actually swing your hand instead if clicking a button.
Also, gathering sticks and stones is less of a chore in VR because you just point your hand in a general direction and it allows you to grab the item.

And most importantly, the spooky darkness, the scale of things and the feeling of being IN the forest is so much stronger in VR.

Enabling physical crouching in settings also adds to immersion, as you sit crouching behind that tree, waiting for the natives to go past your camping spot.

Be aware that blocking attacks is not available in VR, but your attack speed is not limited by animation speed or stamina, like in flat screen mode. So you either play more aggressively, or run and hide.

One time I was pushing my log sled at night with only a lighter to light a small area around me. Pushing a log sled makes a lot of noise so I didn't hear the tribesman approach me and rammed into him full speed. That made one jumpscared me real good.

The Forest is an excellent game that's worth every penny. Survival at its finest. No training from the get-go, you're thrown into a dangerous island, stranded with nothing but your wits and will to live.

Build your base with friends, hunt down cannibals hunting you, stay alive and keep track of your resources!

I wouldn't recommend playing this game solo. It gets a little unnerving especially with the vibe and NO BACKGROUND MUSIC WHATSOEVER.

Grab your copy, it's usually on sale. The game is best experienced with at least one more person playing with you.

I went into this game thinking "I very much doubt any survival game will be as good as Subnautica" and of course came out of it thinking "So I really like the forest, it really is Subnautica on land, but with more emphasis on survival horror" Like, you can compare both but The Forest is a LOT harder as a game and I felt a lot slower paced too if you play it and discover it on your own (despite the map being smaller), on the second play through it is extremely easy to know where ever cave is, where ever special item is, and what order of caves and what items you need to progress.

It's a game that if you take it slow can take 35 to 40 hours, but if you know about everything and cut out the whole learning curve (and it is quite the process of accomplishment like this game really DOES feel fulfilling and can be a lazy game you play while watching a show like minecraft to some extent as well or animal crossing?) it'll just take about 3 to 1 hour easy. I was someone who had to grind my strength to 99.0 until I could go through the caves like a breeze, so if you take it slow it's ok enough, and as you play a lot starts to envelop through sheer exploration.

Now how matter tempting it might be to click on those spoilers below: experiencing this game on it's own and seeing it envelop was INCREDIBLE, like this is a game you'll wanna experience with no expectations. Honestly? I'm amazed at how The Forest manages to tell an amazing story through no dialog..AT ALL. You can 100% get what story is being told here. Game starts off as basically: The Descent: The game, then it turns Resident Evil with a little bit of Dead Space and The Incredibles because it really looks like Syndrome's base. But I think the biggest twist and thing to discover was the fact that: You're the author of THE book!

The story elements are so subtle, like the trail of red paint or the series of drawings you find through out as you explore and venture into various caves fully. Now: I don't know if it's the case but It's kinda heavily implied the artifact is like a demon thing of sorts like Dead Space, like the reason people who paint themselves red aren't harmed and there's bibles everywhere is apparently to hint that the cannibals won't attack the Devil? It's completely vague and the whole ancient society that uses magic is more Atlantis in nature, the whole bible stuff is mostly because the scientist quotes the bible I think?

I really do like the mechanics and item improvements this game provides of course, little improvements are almost everywhere and the mechanics were implemented in a very good way. I think what needs to be complimented is the style of the survival book, which is simply amazing, it really does look like an actual survival book and it's an immersive way to implement crafting and how to play the game. There are a ton of things to craft and always be upgrading, not only that but special items that completely change the tone of the silent forest to more of an 80s montage. I have to admire the fact that there wasn’t any major glitch whatsoever in the entire game and it’s apparently made in Unity, it didn’t feel like it at all.

I just don`t give this game a perfect score because of how weird the map and cave systems can be, they can be very confusing especially as things are REALLY dark. And despite how satisfying the crafting systems and way things go are, there could have always been a lil more in there to make it a perfect game, it's hard to access because it is a game that does what it has to do it's just that it might not be that replayable given the nature of the genre, it's biggest flaws are it's biggest strengths of course.

Anyways it truly does feel like an adventure, and the thing I need to remark about the most is you truly feel a sense of "wow I've come really far" by the end because of the interesting inventory system, it is a laid blanket of all of your items that at first seem pretty simple but as you play you get ALL Sorts of things and your entire blanket is completely full and it's just a full arsenal that I do not know how my character is carrying. The whole progression was indeed a SLOW burn but chopping wood in this game will always be axed into my brain.

The Forest is essentially Subnautica but smaller in scale, on land, and multiplayer... if that makes sense. Both are survival games that have an emphasis on terror and horror, featuring a relatively subtle story and heavy emphasis on survival. The forest (location) is scary, and the caves below are simply terrifying--I can't say that I would play this game comfortably alone, as I was constantly on edge even with a friend or two.

The crafting is pretty good, nothing extraordinary. The Metroid-style way of unlocking items works well in theory, and mostly in execution, although I had some issues with losing my items after joining friend's worlds and going back into mine. Building is a neat feature, although most parts of the game are fairly unpolished, and look a little jank. The story is pretty alright, I would argue that Subnautica does a better job with dispersing small story aspects, although both have some fairly interesting locational exploration--I'd argue that The Forest does a better job at this. Additionally, The Forest features a much smaller number of animals compared to Subnautica, although the monsters in The Forest are pure nightmare fuel with you first see them (seriously, play the game before looking them up).

The location is probably the best part of this game. Exploring the forest, discovering your first cannibals (as they stalk you), crawling through caves... I was intrigued and terrified at the same time. Play this game for some good horror and scares, but bring a friend with you.