Sons Of The Forest, or more precisely, The Forest 2, is the game many have been waiting for, including myself. Indeed, the first part was atmospheric, and the plot was quite intriguing. Let’s see if a particular game is worth paying attention to.
We again have to look for food, build a base and fight off the savages. In addition, in the early version, the outlines of the plot have already appeared, which can be passed from beginning to end. But the answer to the main question of whether Sons Of The Forest is fun to play is not in the choice of state.
The sequel is still available, and many people think that the plot is not finished, but it is not. Everything comes to its logical conclusion, although the quality of the expected harvest is much to be desired. But do not test – we have a typical beta version. Be prepared for precise performance, bugs, crashes, and other glitches. However, we’ll talk about this later, but for now, it’s worth talking about how Endnight Games projects compare favorably with other survivors – about the plot.
And yes, if you love survival horror games, then this game is a must.
What’s new and what is this game
Sons of the Forest is a survival horror game that takes you into a crazy world filled with cannibal mutants and dangerous animals. As a player, you must collect resources, build shelters and fight for survival. All in the style of The Forest. The game has stunning graphics and sound design that creates an intense experience. But be careful. This game is not for the faint of heart!
In Sons of the Forest, players, as part of an armed group and even on two helicopters, go to a mysterious island in search of a billionaire who disappeared more than thirty days ago, his wife, and daughter. There are even markers on the map in your laptop where it makes sense to look for clues. Everything goes according to plan for about a few minutes while you admire the scenic landscape from a bird’s eye view, and then the typical The Forest begins.
Someone opens fire on you, and the helicopter starts to fall. The location of the plane crash will determine the location of your starting area on the map. For example, you can crash into the sea and fight for life in a sinking helicopter, and you will find yourself already on the shore.
Structurally, the story of the second part almost completely copies the original: the main character gets into a plane crash and now must survive on a seemingly deserted island, exploring the surroundings and encountering very strange features of the world. If, in the first part, the main character flew about his business and nothing foreshadowed trouble, then in the sequel, we play as a special forces soldier sent in search. It seems that this is where all the differences in the plot and not only in it end: Sons of the Forest does not hesitate to take what worked in the original and is in many ways similar to its upgraded version.
One of the unique features of Sons of the Forest is the companion system. Whether you are playing in multiplayer mode or starting single-player,
After the fall, only one of our group of comrades remained alive – Kelvin. And believe me – this is the most important companion for building and collecting resources. There are and will be others in the game, but at the moment, there are two of them: Calvin and Virginia.
The partner can directly give orders of various kinds – not only to follow, but also wait or rest. He knows how to get food, collect and bring basic resources for crafting, build a tent from tarpaulin and sticks to rest and save progress, and make a fire. At the moment, Kelvin is not suitable for battles, but he often detects a threat in front of you, points out the danger to you, and hurries to take cover. But our second partner is already more willing to help in battles and protect the house.
Gameplay
Sons of the Forest is a survival horror game where you must explore and stay alive. You will need to gather shelter resources such as food, water, and building materials. You must also watch out for dangerous animals and man-eating mutants hiding in the shadows. The game has a variety of weapons and tools that you can use to defend yourself, but sometimes it’s best to avoid a fight. However, allies may also meet on your way: Virginia and Kelvin.
At first, it is difficult to understand the game’s mechanics, especially if you have not played the first part before. The Survival Guide is divided into two parts.
In the first, the player clicks on the image of a building or object to place it correctly. Everything will build itself – the main thing is to collect resources and bring them to the construction site. The second part of the guide shows the player’s actions for construction – arrange logs, boards, sticks, and bones in a certain way, or connect something to something. This is more difficult but gives room for creativity.
In the game, the inventory is such a big bag where the main character stores the collected resources. Over time, a bunch of things accumulate there: weapons, resources, spare parts, food, books, human remains – the list is endless, it seems. It is easy to get confused in all this.
By exploring the world, players can find a lot of useful things, and not only in those places of interest that are marked on the map of the navigator. To access the closed sectors of underground structures, key cards are needed, and in one of them, I found a 3D printer into which you can load the resin found on the island to print, for example, hooks, crossbow bolts, water flasks or elements of special armor.
Cooperative
One of the most interesting things about Sons of the Forest is the multiplayer mode. You can play with your squad and explore the world together, fighting cannibals and fighting for survival. It’s a completely different experience when you play with your friends and it adds a whole new level of fun and excitement to the game.
Do not forget about the cooperative mode, as you know, any game becomes better with it, and even Sons of the Forest even more so. Building a shelter in the forest and fending off cannibal attacks or clearing dark caves from creepy monsters is always more fun with friends. It seems to me that the game is great as a joint entertainment with your soulmate, given the specifics of the gameplay. However, the developers have also taken care of lonely hearts – the main character can be accompanied by non-player characters who will help not only in battle, but also in building the base.
Enemies and Atmosphere
Occasionally, the player will be visited by cannibals with mutants – these vandals break all the buildings on the way to you. We must learn to stand up for ourselves and deceive the savages.
For cannibals, by the way, it is interesting to watch. They jump up trees and try to intimidate the player with their screams. Will a person is thrown into a cannibal be quickly eaten? If you kill a savage in the camp, then the woman of this savage will mourn the deceased. Towards the end of the game, a way to avoid conflict is to find a golden mask that will trick the cannibals into not attacking you.
Trap walls or high walls help keep intruders out as a first line of defense. But the game has many possibilities beyond that. You can create and find weapons that can be used against them – pistols, crossbows, homemade bows, shotguns. A shot literally pulls the enemy out of life, tearing off limbs – if they remain at all after an encounter with buckshot.
I have not seen hostile predators in the game, but there are enough dangers without them. In the initial assembly, several types of local, so to speak, residents are implemented. Some of them are completely wild, people covered in mud. They move on all fours, skillfully climb tree trunks and can ambush hiding in the foliage.
In addition, tribes live on the island. Their camps are located in the forest and protect their territory. These savages react to the situation and the environment. They can just come and look at you. They can arrange a raid for eight people. They have leaders and even some primitive religions of their own. And among them, sometimes a bandit can knock down the player’s character with one blow. And this is not the worst thing that can be found in the forest’s depths.
The island is striking in its beauty. I want the flow of water or the rustle of leaves, heavy rain or falling snow to captivate the eye – this place is full of life.
If you lift a stone, bugs and spiders will crawl out from under it. Deer run and are frightened of everything possible, so an eagle catches a hare for dinner, birds calmly rest at a watering place, the world is pleasant and alive. The island is huge and diverse: sandy beaches, snow-capped mountains, dense thickets, and cozy meadows, rivers, and lakes. Sons of the Forest is one of the best nature renderings I’ve seen in a video game, except for Red Dead Redemption 2.
Great sound also contributes to immersion. Thanks to him, you feel like you are in the wild – the knock of falling trees, the murmur of water or the singing of birds are conveyed so realistically that sometimes you want to stand and listen, especially in rainy or windy weather.
The first thing I want to note is that the title is made on Unity. Perhaps this is the most beautiful game I have seen on this engine. All character actions are animated and this has a positive effect on immersion. It pleases the eye how the hero turns a bunch of trash into tools or weapons.
So what’s wrong with this game?
Unfortunately, the game has a lot of downsides. Let’s start with what is the most – bugs. In general, it is well-optimized, but in places, there are FPS drops. And when you fill the inventory to capacity, friezes will begin when you open it, or the animation will freeze, and that’s it … But a beta is a beta.
As for the design, they disappointed me here. Nothing new was added. Some buildings from The Forest are even missing. Although, now you can make a small log from a large log, and cut the sticks in half. In general, it is realistic, of course, but it is not much. There is a free-build mode that goes on the fly, but it definitely has issues. And the fact that you can’t make a small preset interferes and lengthens the work.
As for weapons, there is an imbalance and, of course, their strength. For example, if you opened a shotgun, and found a buckshot on it, then that’s it. They will save you even on the highest difficulty. Any enemy will die with one or two bullets.
There is also an interesting bug or a strange idea. When you re-enter the game, all the loot is regenerated, and all the things like stones that you could diligently remove from your land all reappear.
I really liked the game for its beauty and atmosphere, but it is empty. The map is big but empty. When leaving the first locations, you can find caves 3 by 3 meters with 4 chests, which give resources.
And finally, the plot. Well, it’s probably even interesting in places, but there will be no wow effect, as at the end of the first part. A couple of cut-scenes, an indistinct main villain. And a hint of a sequel or a completely new game. After reading all the notes, I didn’t understand, so everyone was building theories and trying to figure it out. And the most annoying thing is that the game can be completed in 10-15 minutes if you know what to do and where to run.
Even though Sons of the Forest is in early access today, it is already a great sandbox. At the moment, the game is quite raw but already well-optimized. The developers promise to indulge players with updates with many innovations regularly, and even launched a timer in the main menu, counting down the time until the next update, which at least shows the time and what the game is still doing. But for a comfortable game, there are still a lot of things missing – new drawings for construction, opportunities for survival and diversity.
By all indications, Sons of the Forest looks much more promising than the studio’s previous project, but similarities appear and they are not even hidden.
Nevertheless, despite the bugs and crashes, incomprehensible mechanics, and the complete emptiness of the island, there is something to like in Sons Of The Forest. The best part of this game, as weird as it sounds, is the forest and what they did to the game’s visuals. Whether to buy Sons of the Forest right now depends on what exactly you want to get. If you have a company of a couple of friends who are ready to go on an adventure together, then act – in this regard, the project is unlikely to change much. But for solo players and those who want to devote more time to the story and research, it is better to wait – there is still room to grow and improve the game. Do not forget that the first part was also in beta for a long time.
Sons of the Forest is a verified purchase by the reviewer and not completed using a code provided by PR.
