Sons of the Forest

Continuation of The Forest about survival in the forest. The protagonist sets out to find a missing billionaire on a remote island and ends up in a nightmare place teeming with cannibals. To survive, he searches for resources to build a place to sleep, hunts, creates various items and weapons. Designed for cooperative play with a squad of up to 8 players, but there is also a single-player mode.

Regardless of the mode, AI companions will accompany you, one of whom can be commanded directly, while the other helps from time to time.

Hardcore survival is still the core of the gameplay. Starting empty-handed, the player needs to create primitive weapons and tools, a safe roof over their head, equipment, and consumables such as first aid kits. Over time, traps, furniture, various armor, and other elements of deeper gameplay will become available — more than 1000 items in total.

Many recipes and blueprints are available right away, but first, you need to gather the necessary resources or find components, which is limited by the lack of needed tools or hidden deep in dungeons that need to be cleared. The bottomless inventory is designed as a self-spread tablecloth with an intuitive interface. The crafting system now includes a 3D printer that can make arrows, flasks, armor fabric, and more.

Enemies, as before, are aggressive, mobile, and powerful, differing from The Forest with a more frightening appearance and grotesque bodies. Each type of enemy has its own behavior, strengths, and weaknesses. Their extermination will require appropriate weapons and tactics. Hunger, cold, thirst, and fatigue will also make themselves felt, affecting both rest and combat. A strength indicator has been added, increasing with physical activity and resetting after rest.

A full-fledged firearm has been introduced — a pistol, revolver, shotgun, and rifle. Simple modifications like a silencer or scope can be added. There is a lot of shooting, but the scarcity of ammo and control difficulty prevent the game from becoming a shooter. Crates and secrets with supplies, ammo, and other necessary items for clearing locations are hidden everywhere. Among the unusual equipment items are a taser, chainsaw, scuba gear, and rope gun.

Long before the events of the game, billionaire Edward Pafton bought an abandoned island in the ocean for personal use. Obsessed with finding artifacts that could make him even richer and more influential, Pafton scoured the island until he found deposits of unusual metal, a mysterious golden cube made from it, and other items.

The discoveries were researched for many years in numerous bunkers, as they caused irreversible mutations and turned scientists into monsters, destroying everything in their path. They scattered across the island, hiding in caves and corners, much to the displeasure of the local cannibalistic natives. However, Pafton's private army kept the situation under control, suppressing everyone by force.

The front for Pafton's company's real activities and his true goals was an island VIP hotel for the rich and famous with luxury rooms, golden beaches, bars, a spa, a pool, a golf course, and a nightclub. All of this is presented in the game world.

Shortly before the events of Sons of the Forest, all communication with the island was completely cut off. The board of directors of the corporation owned by Pafton sent a rescue team of professional soldiers from his private army to find and evacuate the boss and his family. As they approached the island, the helicopters were shot down, and only the hero and his comrades survived.

Even in early access, the storyline of Sons of the Forest was playable from start to finish and, unlike The Forest, did not require deep immersion into survival mode. The backstory of the events, the reasons leading to Pafton's downfall, and key moments of the future story were explained in general terms. However, there were no additional tasks or secondary storylines.

As in The Forest, the narrative relies on the conclusions drawn by the player, finding notes, journals, audio recordings here and there in the game world, and watching simple cutscenes set in the engine. There are minimal dialogues, as well as characters encountered throughout the playthrough. Bot companions are useless in terms of the plot. The journey to the ending is more interesting than the ending itself, and after the finale, you can continue surviving.

The world of Sons of the Forest is a square piece of land in a meadow-forest biome with a rugged landscape, cut by streams and lakes fed by a snowy mountain range in the center of the island. The lack of movement restrictions made the exploration territory truly vast, justifying the appearance of GPS with markers for all points of interest on the map.

The natural habitat was striking in its detail and visual quality. The deciduous forest, in all its variations and diversity, occupying most of the world, was particularly impressive. Here you can fight with natives, hunt hoofed and feathered animals, fish in bodies of water, drink rainwater from a turtle shell, and look for cozy or more safe places. However, in the mountains during early access, there were almost no activities.

As before, any site can be cleared for construction, fenced off with a log palisade, and then built into a multi-level house-fortress. The physics became even more realistic, objects interact better: floors will collapse without support, logs can be floated down the river, rain extinguishes fire, and more heat is needed in winter.

Sons of the Forest introduced seasons with smooth transitions and interactive elements such as falling leaves, the first snow, ice formation, and even deep knee-high snowdrifts. In frozen bodies of water, you can carve a hole for fishing. In spring, the forest transforms again.

Sons of the Forest developed and expanded the gameplay in details, keeping the core principle of "entertain yourself." The situation on the island worsens every day, as the story progresses, or with excavated caves and bunkers. Natives and mutants become stronger, their numbers grow, and new species appear. Developing and further strengthening the base is the only endgame activity.

Co-op playthrough is faster and more fun than solo, all else being equal. In co-op, loot is unique for all participants, its volume adjusts to the number of players, avoiding shortages. Item exchange is free. Story quests and saving count towards the host.