A couple of days ago my friends Jamie, Shadey and I completed a play through of The Forest, a survival horror game released in 2018. Developed and published by Endnight Games, The Forest combines survival, exploration, building and a strong sense of horror. It beings with the protagonist surviving a plane crash and watching their son get kidnapped from the wreckage. What follows is a hunter gathering survival style of gameplay while looking for clues for the whereabouts of Timmy, the protagonists son. As you explore a network of caves and find clues, a grim story unfolds.
During our play through we dedicated some time to building a base using the various resources available. While it is cool to build something to call home, it is nowhere near as good as what can be achieved in games such as Minecraft or Valheim. I have to say I also found the game somewhat buggy and at times cumbersome. Having said that I found that the best part of The Forest was the atmosphere and the sense of horror it bestowed. At times it was really good and while exploring the caves I was reminded of the film The Descent. I hear that it is possible to play The Forest using VR, which I am sure would be terrifying and make it that much more atmospheric.
It would be wrong of me to spoil the story but I will say that there are two endings to choose from, which, along with secret items and optional areas to explore, makes the game re playable. We have spent over 32 hours completing The Forest and I have added it to my list of completed games. Jamie is bit of an achievement hunter so we will continue to play it for a while longer, at least until we get the lions share of the available steam achievements. While I do not care much for achievements (I am not sure about Shadey) I think it’s important that we all get what we want out of a game before we move on.
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