The Forest

The Forest is an adventure action-horror game with survival elements set in an open world and featuring a first-person perspective. The main character is the sole survivor of a plane crash on a strange and seemingly uninhabited island. The goal is to survive. Shelter and fire are necessary to endure the cold night. In the game, you will need to gather food and water. Crafting is also present. You can chop down trees, set up tents, make traps, cook food, and much more. Your enemies, aside from the wild nature, are the local mutant cannibals. You can either fight them or hide from them in the forest.

First-person action The Forest is dedicated to survival in an open world, known for its high-quality reality simulation, extensive crafting, and high difficulty. The player finds themselves on a hostile island with nothing but a shirt, needing to hunt, cook food, build structures, craft weapons, and defend against attacks from local cannibal tribes and horrific humanoid mutants.

The project from the indie studio Endnight Games features average graphics and not the most advanced animation, but you can get used to it. The Forest was first released in early access on Steam in May 2014, with the final version released on April 30, 2018, after numerous updates that significantly changed the gameplay and expanded the game world.

A spacious location with several biomes is available for exploration: forest, water, coastal, and snowy mountain. The above-ground content of the island is very colorful, but it is just the tip of the iceberg. The main secrets are hidden deep underground in dungeon and cave systems that crisscross the island and are located beneath the entire map.

The player sets up the first camp in a tree, but can later build any place to their liking with dozens of construction options available. The primary materials are wood and stones, but there are many others. Everything must be gathered for crafting. The main adversary is the environment: cannibal villages are scattered across the island, and mutants emerge from the caves. It is much safer during the day than at night, but you still need to stay vigilant. At night, you need to hide in your camp and fend off attacks.

It all starts on a plane, where The Forest's protagonist Eric Leblanc and his son Timmy are flying over the Island, with no hint of trouble. Suddenly, for an unknown reason, the plane starts to fall and quickly crashes into the dense forest. When the character comes to, he sees a man with red tattoos taking Timmy away.

After this, the player is free as the wind and can do anything they want. Finding Timmy can be done in a couple of hours, simultaneously learning the reason for the plane crash, the preceding events, and answers to other questions. Or you can get engrossed in the gameplay and not be distracted by anything else. Especially since, aside from an axe in hand and a survival guide, the player has nothing. Everything must be done by hand.

The Forest, as an action game, requires a lot of killing, but the priority is on survival: food, water, light, warmth, medkits, and weapons form the minimal set. Without this, you can't venture into the dungeons or the world, so the initial time will be spent exploring the Island, building, and crafting. Many things can be made or gathered, but good or better items can only be found in caves, which are teeming with enemies. Собранные во время рейдов хабар и вещи расходуются на дальнейшую прокачку и так пока не надоест.

У персонажа семь характеристик, каждая из которых влияет на тот или иной аспект геймплея. Например, здравомыслие отвечает за восприятие игры, а голод за здоровье. Голодающий или жаждущий персонаж долго не проживут.

Режим поддерживает от 2 до 8 человек, работает по системе клиент-хост и клиент-сервер, что лучше для большого числа игроков. Владелец хоста или сервера задает параметры, определяющие геймплей, это может быть кооперативный режим (все друг другу помогают) или мультиплеер, где нет правил и можно убивать.

Отличие одиночной игры от сетевой в том, что игрок умирает не сразу: его можно спасти и дать возможность залечить ранения. Для общения с другими игроками используется рация. В остальном геймплей не отличается от одиночного режима. В релизной версии усовершенствован механизм сохранения игрового мира, как кооперативного, так и конкурентного прохождения. Были добавлены новые настройки.

У The Forest нет режима «королевская битва», хотя в настройках сессии можно задать до 128 игроков.