Think of The Forest as Minecraft, but deadlier. After a plane crash, your son is taken away by some sort of creature and you have to survive by collecting materials to build a shelter that protects you from various cannibals and mutants. And I guess you can look for your son if you really want to (I never did).
Listen. I'll admit, I scare easily. Jump scares get me all the time. But I never screamed while playing a game, until The Forest. It was daytime in the game and I was working on a fortress with my ex, trying to keep the cannibals from attacking us at night. I walked outside the large fence to where he was standing and all of a sudden, when I turned back around, there was a cannibal standing right behind me. I screamed. The enemies in this game stalk you. They sneak around. You can see them running and hiding behind things. They can climb trees. I've read that they won't attack you unless you're aggressive first, but that is a lie. I can't predict what they'll do. That's what makes The Forest so scary.
And! The other thing that made it absolutely terrifying was the first time I went in the water to try to swim to a boat. All of a sudden, I lost health. I didn't know why. So I looked it up. There are sharks. I never went back in the water without a raft after that.
I rarely ventured out of the safety of the fortress we built, but on the rare occasion that I did, I was killed almost immediately. Once, I made it to a cave. That was awful, too. It's dark, you can barely see. I think I found bones in there. I did not survive. The Forest is an extremely difficult game. It's truly survival horror and I highly recommend it if you want a challenge.
I'm not going to lie, this game also freaked me out due to the unpredictable enemy AI.
ReplyDeleteIt has moments of serenity where you can be harmlessly minding your own business hunting/gathering and then all of a sudden you're under assault and forced in to scrambling to safety by the islands inhabitants.
Though the game certainly took simple concepts and made them work a treat, it's fun to explore and build, but it also makes you apprehensive about taking a step out of your comfort zone to try and forage for new resources or risk your chances to venture inside caves.
I've really enjoyed reading your horror list so far and certainly plan on diving in to Dark Corners of the Earth after reading your thoughts.
Did you ever manage to find the MC’s son? How far did you get in the game? Every time I left my base, I was overwhelmed within minutes, I couldn’t survive.
DeleteTruth be told, no I never did locate the protagonists son, the game was just about to come out of Early Access last I played.
DeleteI'm not entirely sure how to measure how far I got in the game, but I can say that I had ventured in a fair few caves and acquired a good amount of items and equipment, my base was well maintained but did eventually get completely overrun by a large assault from the islands inhabitants.
The game can be very overwhelming and quite stressful, it's something you feel like you have to mentally prepare yourself for, it's definitely not a cosy Sunday game.
Have you tried the multiplayer mode? Perhaps having the comfort of another person around would help you tackle the island and put the game to rest.
Do you think you'll be willing to try Sons of the Forest after your experience with the first game?
I tried multiplayer with my ex and honestly, I think that's the best way to play the game. It's not as much fun playing solo. Does Sons of the Forest have the same gameplay? If it does, I'd definitely try it.
DeleteI'm glad you found the multiplayer experience to be the best, it's always more fun playing with a friend, especially when you're working together to achieve the goal of simply surviving.
ReplyDeleteSons of the Forest has the same style of gameplay, there is actually a very short gameplay trailer on YouTube, it's clear they're being even more innovative with what you can create and do to survive.