It seems that the niche of survival simulators is already saturated with various projects: Valheim, Raft, Rust, V Rising, the first The Forest and others. But judging by the incredible success of Sons of the Forest, audience demand is far from satisfied. The new project confidently follows the well-trodden paths of the genre and does not forget about the qualities inherent in The Forest. This, of course, is a tale full of mysterious motives and elements of horror, interspersed with fights against aggressive denizens of thickets, arranging their hut and, of course, forays into the thickets of the forest for all sorts of goods.
It would be an ideal picnic spot if it weren’t for the bloodthirsty cannibals and other local nuances.
To stay alive
We control one of the fighters of an elite squad who has been assigned an extremely important mission: to find and evacuate Edward Puffton, the boss of the large conglomerate Puffton Industries, as well as his family, who disappeared under very mysterious circumstances. Approaching the spot where Puffton was last seen, the helicopter carrying the battle group suddenly crashes. But the story’s protagonist and his colleague Calvin miraculously survive a terrible accident. Now they must find other members of their squad and continue the mission, delving into the grim secrets that hide the dense forest…
Sons Of The Forest stays close to the original project in terms of horror storytelling, and many plot and contextual elements hark back to the once-popular Lost TV series. After all, outwardly wild thickets are not so simple – behind massive boulders and in the depths of forests are hidden laboratories, shelters and other places of violent human activity. However, it will be difficult to find anyone alive here – the area is deserted, and the complexes’ personnel now serve as an ominous decoration for the terrible events that happened here recently.
A small find can contain a few plot hooks.
The atmosphere of great mystery and deep terror of waiting for something truly terrible is a success – the study of the world inspires a sincere reverence for the unknown and a genuine interest in the events that took place on the island. Too bad the road to the climax is much more interesting than the finale itself, which despite some unexpected (albeit somewhat awkward) plot twists closely related to The Forest is extremely difficult to call verified and spectacular. The story in its current form seems a bit crumpled and too short – I hope it will be expanded and expanded many times over by the time of release. However, I’m sure that for many the storyline is far from being the main dish in Sons Of The Forest.
Eat, pray you don’t catch up, hoe
If you’ve tried at least one project in the survival genre, you’ll be pretty familiar with the gameplay of Sons Of The Forest: battles, resource mining, crafting – you don’t want to change the order. After crashing in one of the three places (in a thicket, in a snowy mountainous area or on a beach), there is room for maneuver: follow a conditional plot or follow any path that interests us. Our main assistant in exploring the area is a trusty GPS navigator, on the screen of which the nearest points of interest such as caches, places with supplies and other important places and objects are marked.
Inventory is well implemented, and creating things here is really convenient. It’s a pity that due to a bug, the ability to interact with objects disappears
Of course, it often happens that one encounters problems when exploring a forest area. This is primarily about those problems that we would like to taste for dinner. At first, it is better to avoid fights with aggressive denizens of the thicket, and if you still get into a brawl, immediately heroically retreat, since the chances of surviving in a collision with a poor starting arsenal are quite low. But with the help of a simple hatchet and knife, you can make a spear or bow that will help keep attackers at a distance. Enough for the first time, but for the future it’s better to get something more convincing. Fortunately, a fairly decent arsenal is scattered around the world – a revolver, pistol, shotgun, crossbow and even a katana – it will allow us to become a thunderstorm of the island.
During the game you will have to fight not only with the locals, but also with hunger, dehydration and fatigue. And this fight is sometimes more engrossing than it is often stabbing. You can refresh yourself with finds like bars or instant noodles or berries that grow right under your feet; an energy bank or the nearest body of water will help quench your thirst; and you can rest on any convenient surface, be it a tent left behind, an ottoman in an abandoned lab, or a makeshift sleeping place put together from a tarp and a few sticks. Or even something more presentable.
At some point they want to give up the fuss about the missing CEO and instead of torture in deadly stinking laboratories, they want to seriously deal with the housing issue. For example, build a cozy hut by the river or a cozy tree house. There will be no problems with this: most of the resources, as a rule, are literally under your nose – I do not want to hack. And a handy book with diagrams and recipes provides important assistance in building a dream home. The crafting and building process in Sons Of The Forest is perhaps one of the most convenient I’ve come across, although one has a feeling this might seem like the infamous “casualization” for someone, and rightly so.
The main thing is not to rely too much on the help of Calvin’s AI companion during the building process – it’s better to invite friends to an exciting building session
But the project also has uniquely unsuccessful sides: for example, the bizarre behavior of AI – both friendly and hostile, which not infrequently spoils the immersion in the game. In general, at the current stage, Sons Of The Forest is far from the technical ideal: extremely long downloads, freezes, an extensive range of bugs and unconvincing performance with constantly falling frame rates (at all graphics settings). All this, and even a crude plot with a crumpled ending, are important reasons for postponing acquaintance with the project until its full release (which, according to the plan, will happen in 6-8 months). Or at least up to a few healing patches.
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