Sons of the Forest is a bizarre survival adventure in a world of cannibals and mutants. At every turn, I feel the awe of this evil sandbox, and as I play, the story is being created, even if I have to tell parts of it myself.
The rescue mission turned into a disaster. With Kelvin, my deaf partner who can’t fight but who is a great fisherman who helps me build, I found myself on an island infested with cannibals and mutants. You cannot imagine what is happening here.
Dear Diary, it was the first day on the island…
Survival requires weapons: a makeshift spear made of a stick, duct tape and a knife quickly became my weapon of choice and was immediately put to use. There were natives in the area, and he wasn’t sure if they were cannibals or other harmless inhabitants of the island. They didn’t fight back, so there’s a chance it wasn’t the cannibals. GOOD. What is there to do? Maybe get rid of the traces? Kelvin, light a fire. Let’s burn the bodies. Just in case, we weren’t there, we didn’t do anything wrong.
Sleeping under a tarp is not very comfortable, but for the first night it will be fine. On the second day, however, we have to start building adequate shelter. The treehouse looks promising, so we’ll try to untangle the tangled threads later. Except that I can’t find the stupid string anywhere, and it’s essential! I searched and found the tents of other survivors, who are probably already dead. The cannibals look at me. (by the way, I saw their camp earlier, you can see they like raw human meat), expressing their displeasure at my presence with a loud roar. Kelvin shows them where they belong; you literally point your finger the other way and expect them to follow you. It’s not very efficient.
Children of the Forest, Endnight Games, 2023
Maybe I’ll chop down this forest, because cannibals are some kind of tree-hopping ape-men like Tarzan. I will also bow and get them from a distance. But first, I need that damn rope. I’ll try on the beach, there must be trash there. The enemies prevent me from reaching the place and I have to scare them away with my makeshift spear.
Near the beach, on some kind of cliff, I decide to build a new shelter, usually on the ground, so the rope may not be needed (it turned out, but I soon found it anyway ). Now we will work with Kelvin. Suddenly, I see miracles: a beautiful, poorly dressed girl with three legs and arms appears and begins to dance. What…?
Learn, Build, Explore, Survive
Sons of the Forest immerses us in the deep end, which requires learning enemy behavior and terrain structure. It’s a full-fledged survival game, with a building system and spiced up with danger, which makes me cringe. You don’t have to say words for emotions to work. Part on screen, part in the imagination: the story of survival unfolds by itself.
The world seems huge and probably hides many interesting secrets. I can already sense the potential for very rewarding exploration. Although there are a few scenes (e.g. at the start when we crash), I suspect we’ll learn more from the environmental storytelling.. We have to carefully research the information to combine it and draw the right conclusions. Not everyone will like this way of telling, because it requires more involvement and, at the same time, it does not allow entering the plot through the dialogues (there are not too many of them) .
Children of the Forest, Endnight Games, 2023
Sons of the Forest is worth a try as it offers a truly immersive experience. Creates plenty of room to show off, lets you play however you want; here, all solutions are good, as long as they ensure survival. And since it’s still only early access, it’s easy to overlook bugs or the general state of the game. However, if that scares you, wait for the full release and then see if you can survive in the hostile environment dominated by cannibals and mutants and learn the nature of the events taking place on the remote island.