Looking to avoid delaying their game from launching when they said, Endnight Games has released Sons of the Forest into early access. With the current build, there are still a few issues to clean up before the full launch of the game, but there is already quite a bit of content to explore in the game. There is plenty to explore and some secrets to uncover already.

Gameplay

Just as it was set up in The Forest, you are a survivor of a crash on a mysterious remote island that doesn’t seem to be uninhabited, and even worse - they are hostile! However, unlike the first game, you are given an AI character named Kelvin, who also survived the crash but seems to have suffered serious brain hemorrhaging. Luckily, he can think well enough to do whatever you ask him to do which helps with gathering supplies - as long as you don’t want him to help with a tree house. Fun tip, Kelvin is insanely good at catching fish!

To comment on the tree house aspect, there are rumors that it is canon and he does this because he is scared of heights or because he saw some of the hostile people climbing trees and thinks it is unsafe. However, that isn’t confirmed yet and his destruction of tree structures could easily be a glitch or malfunction.

The building in the game is the first thing you’ll interact with as you need shelter and a general setup to get started. You can’t exactly start running around the island without food, water, and a base to return to after all. To get started, you open your inventory, open up your emergency bag for your starter tools, and use your guide to start building. There are two forms of use for the guide - one that sets up the structure in place and you add materials to it, and then one that tells you what you need to set up structures directly yourself. This does take a bit of getting used to, but just know that your first base is likely a trial to understand the controls before you move on to a proper base.

One of your items is a GPS map tool which shows a few indicators on your map. After setting up a base near your helicopter crash site, mainly so you can use the helicopter on the GPS to find your way home, you can head out to the first pink icon. This will lead you to a GPS tracker in… a way you can find out about. Taking these back with you makes it so you can start marking things around you. To do this, you equip a stick, place it on the ground, and then put the tracker on the stick.

You can also find cave entrances, which are a lot of fun to go through although entirely full of hostiles but also random gear that you ultimately need. Then there are green markers on the map that each show something different when you reach them and are a first look into the lore of the island you are on. The only thing I’ll say about them, to avoid spoilers, is that you start seeing more civilized aspects of society at these markers while the rest of the game is nature at its worst.

Combat in the game feels similar to what I recall from the first game. You can use the hatchet you get from the emergency bag, but you can also make a spear, a bow, and find other weapons. Once you have enough material, you can start making armor, arrows, and even molotov cocktails and bombs. The enemies come in a variety of forms where you have crawlers, jumpers, runners, and more varieties. They all have different weapons and attack types, so it is hard to learn them all but understanding your enemy helps your chances of survival.

Expectations

There is a lot of work to be done with the crafting in this game. Some things simply don’t work as they are explained in the book, the variety of options for housing is incredibly limited, and just the overall status of the building needs to be improved. Also, when it specifically comes to GPS markers, they don’t keep the icon that you change it to before placing it down. Everything on my map is the same green icon right now and it would be nice if it would hold the proper icon I tried to set it to, but at least they work for now.

Kelvin is a huge help to this game and I hope that at some point we can do something to make him have a character growth moment. This is a long shot and a small ask, so chances are it won’t happen, but he is an incredible asset to the survival process in this game.

So far, the few special areas I’ve come across don’t have a lot of lore in them and just kind of hint that there is something more. I hope that more of the facility-type locations get notes and other details added to them so that lore is steadily learned throughout the adventure.

Any fan of The Forest knows that the longer you survive on the island, the crazier the enemies become. I am thoroughly looking forward to finding out what happens when you mess around for too long! I just hope it isn’t another structure-destroyer monster like last time and something that holds fear in every encounter, including in the wild - and not just fear for my things.

Verdict

Sons of the Forest has, so far, proven to be exactly what I was hoping for in a sequel! I’ve already put a bunch of hours into it and I can’t wait to explore the island more. It is intriguing and mysterious while also being a fun, combat-fueled survival simulator. The addition of a helpful AI was something I didn’t think I wanted before, but it turned out to be an aspect I needed because Kelvin is a top-tier assistant. I can’t wait for the finished version of this game and am likely to keep playing it through each update it gets until then!

Sons of the Forest is available now on PC via Steam’s Early Access.