A survival experience so streamlined it’s scary - Sons of the Forest Quick First Impressions

PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Play it! I’d even go so far as to say that gamers who don’t normally enjoy survival games should give Sons of the Forest a chance. This follow-up to 2018’s much-loved The Forest makes some brilliant strides toward taking some of the tedium out of the survival genre, which allows for more time to focus on the exploration and tinges of horror that the original did so well.

TIME PLAYED

I’ve spent five hours with Sons of the Forest so far, and I expect I’m going to spend a lot more over the next year as it moves through early access. In my time so far, I’ve experimented with both solo and cooperative modes, jumped into a couple random online games, built some very humble attempts at settlements, and begun to familiarize myself with this very strange island.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Kelvin! The surprise breakout sensation of Sons of the Forest, Kelvin is a deaf and mute NPC helper who I encountered shortly after crash-landing on the island. He serves two incredibly important purposes: First, he provided just a little bit of companionship to make the game less lonely when I played solo. He’s just been a nice presence to have around on an island where most of the other relatively human-shaped beings I’ve run into have wanted to kill me.

But second, and much more importantly, I could order him to do basic survival game tasks like starting a campfire, gathering sticks, fishing, or even completing a structure that I’d started to build. Kelvin is one of those additions to an established formula that is so simple that it somehow feels profound, even revolutionary. He’s made those early hours that often feel like a samey slog in survival games just melt away, as I’ve been able to get on my feet much more quickly.

• The island itself. Unlike many survival games—but similar to its predecessor, The Forest—Sons of the Forest does not have a randomly generated landmass that will be different for each player. While this may hurt long-term playability, it comes with a major positive in that the setting is so much more memorable than most games of this ilk. The island has landmarks and set locations that never change but give it a great sense of character. And the caves! Don’t even get me started on this game’s creepy-ass caves.

• Fresh starts. While the island itself is mostly static, Sons of the Forest threw one surprising tidbit of randomness at me: my starting location and circumstances. The game opens with the player character’s helicopter ride crashing into the island, but each time I jumped into a new game on a different server, I experienced a slightly different dramatic entrance.

In one, I got stuck up in the trees and had to cut myself free to experience a painful fall to the ground. In another, the helicopter actually landed in water off the coast of the island, and I had to kick open the window to get out. I don’t know how many alternate openings exist, and they don’t make a major impact on the game beyond switching up your starting location. But they mixed things up just enough to make each server I jumped into feel just a little different.

• Quick structures. Sons of the Forest features two distinct types of building. If you want, you can craft and raise complex structures all by your own design. Or, if you’re lazy like me, you can select the game’s pre-built structures. This allows you to choose where you want to place, say, a simple wood cabin or a lookout post, and then provides a list of necessary resources to gather and dump into the location to slowly build it up. Like Kelvin, this is just a small but smart bit of streamlining for the survival game formula that makes it both faster and more approachable.

• The intriguing story. Don’t get me wrong; Sons of the Forest is not a narrative-heavy game. There’s almost no dialogue, and the game’s vague plot is mostly communicated through environmental storytelling and finding email printouts that drop hints at some sinister backstory. I’ve enjoyed filling in those pieces one by one, though, and I’m curious enough about this weird island and its creepy inhabitants that I want to keep pushing through and figuring out where and how to progress the story.

• Sluggy. Okay, I said I wasn’t gonna get started on the caves, but I’ll just say this much: When you meet Sluggy, you’ll know what I’m talking about, and if you’re like me, you might let out a scream just loud enough to make your upstairs neighbors concerned. 🐌

• Co-op. While you can play Sons of the Forest in full as a single-player experience, it also features online multiplayer for up to eight players at once. This game is an absolute blast in co-op, and I fully expect to rack up most of my time with it in that mode. Obviously the lightheartedness of playing with a good buddy can water down the horror aspect somewhat, but it’s a worthy trade-off for the wonder and hilarity of chopping down a tree and watching as it accidentally falls directly onto your friend’s skull. Oops!

WHAT SUCKS

• Shockingly little, especially for an early access title. Sons of the Forest was originally set to have its full launch this week, but developer Endnight Games chose to make it an early access launch rather than delaying. The developer says that more craftable items and bits of lore are coming, but Sons of the Forest feels surprisingly complete already. I’m on the record as generally preferring to wait until a game is out of early access to play it, but Sons of the Forest is one of those rare cases where I can recommend the early access form with no real caveats.

💬 Are you planning on taking a trip to the spooky island of Sons of the Forest, or is this one a skip for you? Share your thoughts below.