I highly recommend The Forest to anybody. At first I was somewhat skeptical because at the core the game appears to be just another survival game where you have to survive as many days as possible. I also have gotten the game awhile back when it was either in early stages after release, or may have been in the preview stage.
Stylistically the game seems to have been inspired by some movies such as the Italian Cannibal Holocaust movies. The movie The Descent, especially when you are under the ground in some caves, and maybe the more recent movie called Green Hell (2016), and by the stories of the European ocean explorers.

When I picked The Forest up again in 2020 after getting a new PC started it again I was pleasantly surprised. First of all the graphics are very excellent. There are many settings you can tinker with which make the game look fresh and exciting without getting tired of the visuals. The forest and nature itself look very realistic and immersive. Its similar to those games where you just want to explore and take a look at everything.

First of all, to fully enjoy the game you should plan on playing it on a good computer with a good video card. I tried running it on a weak one, but then it just runs slowly. Even if it runs, you cannot experience many things when you get slow framerates or have to turn off graphics effects just to make it run.

One thing that is really good is the aspect of The Forest is that while it is a actually a survival game like others, it offers enough gameplay elements that are unique to the game and which are sometimes done very well. These range from small adjustments to simple actions to big components of gameplay. For example I very much like how you can chop down a tree and see it fall. The tree becomes big logs and you have to carry them to places where you need them to construct something. Could be a fence, a cabin, etc. I just don't remember this kind of thing in other games done so well. You get to catch animals with many traps.

The thing I like the most is probably what many other players like as well, which is the enemies. They attack and run away in interesting ways. The AI seems to be pretty well written to recognize when they are in groups, or alone. They run away, but then circle around and attack you. There are many cool examples. The enemies are also very terrifying. I won't describe what they look like, but its just plain scary. Especially when you try to crawl through caves underground. You could get attacked by some enemies whom you realize you cannot kill. So, your only option becomes to run away. But then you just get lost and then you can starve or die of dehydration.

Combat with the enemies is pretty well done as well. It is not always consistent, but usually it is pretty fun to see enemies dodge out of your way, blocking their attacks, using different weapons strategically, using the environment. Some weapons like the spear have high attack rate, but no blocking. Others, like a club, have large damage, can block, but are slow.

Catching and harvesting animals is also overall fun because you catch them in different ways, and need some of them to make specific essential items. The problem is some things are too easy to kill. Birds, for example. You see one and sneak up to it thinking it will fly away when you see that the bird is very slow to react, and slow to fly. Once you hit it, whether killing it or not, another one immediately takes its place as according to script. Fish are too easy to catch. Turtles are easy. But something like rabbits are significantly more difficult. Its still fun, but inconsistent.

The game isn't by any means ideal. Apart from the many excellent elements, some seem to just be missing, or ignored. For example you cannot dig the ground, sometimes you need too many basic things that you need to find. To find a bunch of sticks you have to find them either on the forest floor or by cutting down a bush, but you cannot just get them from the branches of big trees. You can still cut down a tree, but there aren't sticks from it for some reason. There is no smoke or interaction with it. Some plants have seeds, and then the same plant has only berries, but no seeds. You cannot cook a bunch of meat and then carry the cooked meat with you. YOu can carry a bunch of pieces of raw meat, but not after you cooked it. I also wish it had more different things to craft, more different creatures.

I highly recommend The Forest to anybody. At first I was somewhat skeptical because at the core the game appears to be just another survival game where you have to survive as many days as possible. I also have gotten the game awhile back when it was either in early stages after release, or may have been in the preview stage. Stylistically the game seems to have been inspired by some movies such as the Italian Cannibal Holocaust movies. The movie The Descent, especially when you are under the ground in some caves, and maybe the more recent movie called Green Hell (2016), and by the stories of the European ocean explorers. When I picked The Forest up again in 2020 after getting a new PC started it again I was pleasantly surprised. First of all the graphics are very excellent. There are many settings you can tinker with which make the game look fresh and exciting without getting tired of the visuals. The forest and nature itself look very realistic and immersive. Its similar to those games where you just want to explore and take a look at everything. First of all, to fully enjoy the game you should plan on playing it on a good computer with a good video card. I tried running it on a weak one, but then it just runs slowly. Even if it runs, you cannot experience many things when you get slow framerates or have to turn off graphics effects just to make it run. One thing that is really good is the aspect of The Forest is that while it is a actually a survival game like others, it offers enough gameplay elements that are unique to the game and which are sometimes done very well. These range from small adjustments to simple actions to big components of gameplay. For example I very much like how you can chop down a tree and see it fall. The tree becomes big logs and you have to carry them to places where you need them to construct something. Could be a fence, a cabin, etc. I just don't remember this kind of thing in other games done so well. You get to catch animals with many traps. The thing I like the most is probably what many other players like as well, which is the enemies. They attack and run away in interesting ways. The AI seems to be pretty well written to recognize when they are in groups, or alone. They run away, but then circle around and attack you. There are many cool examples. The enemies are also very terrifying. I won't describe what they look like, but its just plain scary. Especially when you try to crawl through caves underground. You could get attacked by some enemies whom you realize you cannot kill. So, your only option becomes to run away. But then you just get lost and then you can starve or die of dehydration. Combat with the enemies is pretty well done as well. It is not always consistent, but usually it is pretty fun to see enemies dodge out of your way, blocking their attacks, using different weapons strategically, using the environment. Some weapons like the spear have high attack rate, but no blocking. Others, like a club, have large damage, can block, but are slow. Catching and harvesting animals is also overall fun because you catch them in different ways, and need some of them to make specific essential items. The problem is some things are too easy to kill. Birds, for example. You see one and sneak up to it thinking it will fly away when you see that the bird is very slow to react, and slow to fly. Once you hit it, whether killing it or not, another one immediately takes its place as according to script. Fish are too easy to catch. Turtles are easy. But something like rabbits are significantly more difficult. Its still fun, but inconsistent. The game isn't by any means ideal. Apart from the many excellent elements, some seem to just be missing, or ignored. For example you cannot dig the ground, sometimes you need too many basic things that you need to find. To find a bunch of sticks you have to find them either on the forest floor or by cutting down a bush, but you cannot just get them from the branches of big trees. You can still cut down a tree, but there aren't sticks from it for some reason. There is no smoke or interaction with it. Some plants have seeds, and then the same plant has only berries, but no seeds. You cannot cook a bunch of meat and then carry the cooked meat with you. YOu can carry a bunch of pieces of raw meat, but not after you cooked it. I also wish it had more different things to craft, more different creatures.