I always feel a little bad when I see developers watching drag races. They spend years on these games, perfecting the environments, the pacing, the balance, and here we’re running around trying to smash everything and finish all their work as fast as possible. However, the developers of Endnight, creators of upcoming horror game and Steam wishlist favorite Sons of the Forest, are clearly “excited” for a lightning-fast run of the original forest, which beats a little survival simulation. more than 20 minutes. As we get closer to the release date of Sons of the Forest, Endnight reflects on some of the ideas and technology behind Steam’s huge success.
Akaya Kaito, also known as “Akaya”, holds multiple speed records for The Forest, beating multiplayer by 19 minutes 55 seconds in hard mode and 19 minutes 52 seconds in the “peaceful” category, in which players are not authorized. to damage any enemy NPC. Watching one of Akaya’s races, Endnight’s testing manager Evan Haley and Sons of the Forest project manager Rod Green observe some extremely clever strategies and exploits.
After starting on the crashed plane, Akaya quickly picks up a variety of chemicals and alcohol, which will later be needed to craft health and energy packs. As Haley and Green pointed out, since the items on the plane are randomly generated, in order to get the right gear initially, Akaya must have reset her run through the forest multiple times.
Upon exiting into the forest of the same name, Akaya begins jumping like a rabbit to increase her speed. “It definitely brings me back to trying the first game, where you did this so much that you just run it, like on instinct,” Haley says. Akaya then heads into the caves to grab the rebreather and the underground lab keycard, before performing perhaps the most incredible stunt of the entire run. Spoilers for The Forest follow below.
To complete The Forest, you must find your missing son who is in an underground laboratory, hidden at the bottom of a huge chasm. Typically, most of the game consists of gathering the necessary equipment to cross the base of the chasm unscathed.
But it takes time. Akaya and the developers at Endnight know a better way. Due to a quirk in game design, if you land on certain leaning objects, all fall damage is negated. Akaya simply jumps into the chasm, plummeting about 300 feet, landing safely on a tilted piece of rock. Made work.
“It’s always fascinating to see someone play something that you’ve worked on and put so much time and love into,” says Green. “Even when it takes 20 minutes to play,” adds Haley, saying they’re “excited to see someone take the critical path, not use too many exploits, just play.” You can watch the full race and commentary via IGN.
Akaya’s masterpiece, however, is the final fight against Megan, the young mutant girl you fight in The Forest’s underground lab. By using a single spear (they haven’t had time to collect any other weapons), Akaya exploits another idiosyncrasy in The Forest’s design.
According to Green, Megan records and executes attacks based on an invisible square grid: if the player stands on the square in front of her, she attacks frontally; if they stand in the right front square, she attacks the right front.
Akaya, however, finds the perfect spot between two grid squares, which means Megan never really knows where to aim her tendrils. They throw the spear, run forward, rip it from Megan’s body, throw it back at her, and repeat this process until she drops dead.
Heading to the elevator to complete the game, Green explains that there were “a lot of bugs” when Endnight was originally trying to get it to work. Also, the elevator doesn’t move, it just teleports to its destination and then locks you inside to create the illusion of a ride. “He actually goes (to the top floor) instantly,” says Green. “We just needed to queue for a bit to load.” You can watch more of Forest’s sprint races on Akaya’s YouTube channel.
Now that you’ve had a quick tour of the original game, take a look at the Sons of the Forest map to know where to look when you land. You’ll also want to meet the mutants in Sons of the Forest and familiarize yourself with Sons of the Forest crossplay, so you can survive alongside your friends from other platforms.