The Forest is a needs-based survival game that distinguishes itself from its contemporaries with some unique takes on the genre's basic aspects, such as resource gathering. It is, however, quite sparse in content, and it's clear to me that The Forest is a more goal-driven experience, and does not support ongoing survival shenannigans to the same degree as other titles.

🎮The Forest can be played with both keyboard/mouse and controller.🎮

Players will be forced to deal with hunger, thirst and dangerous temperatures. Less obvious stats such as sanity and sickness exist, but have little effect on gameplay when playing on normal difficulty. A small variety of animals exist in the world for players to hunt, with most being no threat to the player. The real threat comes from the cannibals who occupy the area.

Resource gathering and inventory management have a unique spin in The Forest; rather than items being placed in a player or object's inventory, they are full-sized, tangible objects. Cutting down a tree, for example, will produce logs that have to be carried on the player's shoulder or transported in a log sled, and stored in a large rack.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2158540995
I enjoyed the more satsifying and tangible nature of these systems, though it has some irritating quirks, such as not being able to take cooked meat from a fire; it has to be eaten then and there.

The Forest features passive stats such as strength and athleticism that level in the background as players fight, run and generally survive. I noticed very little tangible difference in gameplay during my playthrough on normal difficulty.

Gear progression is handled partially by crafting, but mostly by finding superior equipment tucked away in the corner of a cave somewhere. I like that this incentivises exploration, but crucial items for full cave exploration and story progression are also hidden this way, effectively halting progress unless players either look up the locations, or are lucky enough to stumble upon them.

Little progression exists in the crafting and building systems; you'll be using wood and stone from start to finish.

Equipment is crafted in the player's inventory by combining various carried items, but the U.I. is a little unintuitive, and would benefit from a short tutorial. Structures and furniture are created via a survival book, which allows one to place and construct blueprints in-world.

Options range from individual walls, roofs and floors that can be placed freely to create custom structures, to prefab structures like log cabins. Building is quite fun, and allows creative players to construct some pretty unique bases.

Players will frequently run into groups of cannibals; hostile and primitive humans. To dispatch them, one can make use of a variety of melee weapons including axes, clubs and spears, as well as throwables and a bow. For protection, armour can be crafted from animal skins, bones and other, less … sanitary materials.

Cannibals can be somewhat challenging to fight at first, but soon become fairly trivial as players acquire armour. Higher difficulties will change this, though some enemies are already annoyingly tanky on normal. A few cannibal variants exist, with slighty different appearances and stats, as well as some rarer and more powerful mutated enemies.

Gameplay feel is pretty good; animations are decent, and hits feel impactful and satisfying. Ranged weapons can be awkward to aim due to the lack of a reticle or sights, but practice helps. Enemy and creature A.I., however, can be pretty bad. It's not unusual to see cannibals or animals running in circles as they fail to pathfind over terrain.

The Forest is set on a peninsula surrounded by ocean and impassable snowy mountains. Variety on the surface is relatively small, as is the map itself, with the real exploration value being the cave systems that spread across much of the area. Many caves are interconnected, and all are dark, creepy and full of nasties. I explored them with a friend, and we had a great time working our way through the depths, fighting mutants and cannibals and experiencing the ominous atmosphere, enhanced by frequent displays of gore and death.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2158544089
The Forest features a more fleshed-out story than most survival games, though that's not to say it's especially deep, either. After a short, scripted sequence, players are on their own to discover the lore of the world and rescue their kidnapped son. Many lore items such as photographs can be found in the world, offering some insight into past events on the peninsula.

The story continues in this loose fashion until the very end, when it suddenly becomes much more focused. I was surprised to see such a degree of depth appear at the end of a game that had, until then, been almost exclusively focused on survival gameplay.

This game was played with the following PC specs:
Intel i5-4440 3.10 GHz
16GB DDR3 RAM
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB
1680x1050 resolution
HDD
Windows 10

Something that stuck out to me as I played the game with a friend, is how many singleplayer elements are present. For example, players can save progress, and then exit the server and rejoin to resume that last save, despite the game also featuring a traditional death/respawn system.

The Forest released in 2018, but had been around in early access a few years prior, and uses the Unity engine. As such, the graphics are not top notch. There were a couple of pretty landscape and lighting moments, but overall it's just adequate.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2158542077
Using the specs listed above I got a relatively consistent 50-60fps in most areas, on high-highest settings. Areas with a lot of objects would drop it to the 40's.

Environmental audio is one of the things I liked most about The Forest; the wind rushing through the trees, heavy rain and especially waterfalls in caves sound fantastic. Caves also feature a very nice echo effect, which really adds to the immersion. Other sound effects and the music are adequate, but nothing stood out aside from the rare echo of distant cannibal war-cries.

We encountered a couple of minor visual bugs such as deer spawning bloodied, as if they'd been attacked, but nothing major on that front.

There are some hilarious physics bugs involving the log sled, such as it launching players into the sky if they hit an obstacle the wrong way. Frankly, I love physics wackyness so I am totally okay with this.

Finally, there seems to be an issue with steam achievements; there are several I didn't get, despite fulfilling the requirements.

The Forest is an enjoyable little survival game that's good for a few dozen hours, but it is a goal-driven game, and not really of the same nature as titles such as ARK: Survival Evolved and 7 Days to Die.

I'd recommend to anyone who likes a mix of sandbox-survival and horror, but have to reiterate that it isn't as good an endless-fun sandbox as other survival titles.

This review comes courtesy of the R³ curator.

[h1][i]The dangers of the wilderness are always watching, but hey, you can build a log cabin![/i][/h1] [h2][i]-[u]Overview[/u]-[/i][/h2] [i]The Forest[/i] is a needs-based survival game that distinguishes itself from its contemporaries with some unique takes on the genre's basic aspects, such as resource gathering. It is, however, quite sparse in content, and it's clear to me that [i]The Forest[/i] is a more goal-driven experience, and does not support ongoing survival shenannigans to the same degree as other titles. [quote]🎮[i]The Forest can be played with both keyboard/mouse and controller.[/i]🎮[/quote] [h2][i]-[u]Gameplay[/u]-[/i][/h2] [h3]Basics:[/h3] Players will be forced to deal with hunger, thirst and dangerous temperatures. Less obvious stats such as sanity and sickness exist, but have little effect on gameplay when playing on normal difficulty. A small variety of animals exist in the world for players to hunt, with most being no threat to the player. The real threat comes from the cannibals who occupy the area. Resource gathering and inventory management have a unique spin in [i]The Forest[/i]; rather than items being placed in a player or object's inventory, they are full-sized, tangible objects. Cutting down a tree, for example, will produce logs that have to be carried on the player's shoulder or transported in a log sled, and stored in a large rack. https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2158540995 I enjoyed the more satsifying and tangible nature of these systems, though it has some irritating quirks, such as not being able to take cooked meat from a fire; it has to be eaten then and there. [h3]Progression:[/h3] [i]The Forest[/i] features passive stats such as strength and athleticism that level in the background as players fight, run and generally survive. I noticed very little tangible difference in gameplay during my playthrough on normal difficulty. Gear progression is handled partially by crafting, but mostly by finding superior equipment tucked away in the corner of a cave somewhere. I like that this incentivises exploration, but crucial items for full cave exploration and story progression are also hidden this way, effectively halting progress unless players either look up the locations, or are lucky enough to stumble upon them. Little progression exists in the crafting and building systems; you'll be using wood and stone from start to finish. [h3]Crafting/Building:[/h3] Equipment is crafted in the player's inventory by combining various carried items, but the U.I. is a little unintuitive, and would benefit from a short tutorial. Structures and furniture are created via a survival book, which allows one to place and construct blueprints in-world. Options range from individual walls, roofs and floors that can be placed freely to create custom structures, to prefab structures like log cabins. Building is quite fun, and allows creative players to construct some pretty unique bases. [h3]Combat:[/h3] Players will frequently run into groups of cannibals; hostile and primitive humans. To dispatch them, one can make use of a variety of melee weapons including axes, clubs and spears, as well as throwables and a bow. For protection, armour can be crafted from animal skins, bones and other, less … sanitary materials. Cannibals can be somewhat challenging to fight at first, but soon become fairly trivial as players acquire armour. Higher difficulties will change this, though some enemies are already annoyingly tanky on normal. A few cannibal variants exist, with slighty different appearances and stats, as well as some rarer and more powerful mutated enemies. Gameplay feel is pretty good; animations are decent, and hits feel impactful and satisfying. Ranged weapons can be awkward to aim due to the lack of a reticle or sights, but practice helps. Enemy and creature A.I., however, can be pretty bad. It's not unusual to see cannibals or animals running in circles as they fail to pathfind over terrain. [h3]World Design:[/h3] [i]The Forest[/i] is set on a peninsula surrounded by ocean and impassable snowy mountains. Variety on the surface is relatively small, as is the map itself, with the real exploration value being the cave systems that spread across much of the area. Many caves are interconnected, and all are dark, creepy and full of nasties. I explored them with a friend, and we had a great time working our way through the depths, fighting mutants and cannibals and experiencing the ominous atmosphere, enhanced by frequent displays of gore and death. https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2158544089 [h2][i]-[u]Story[/u]-[/i][/h2] [i]The Forest[/i] features a more fleshed-out story than most survival games, though that's not to say it's especially deep, either. After a short, scripted sequence, players are on their own to discover the lore of the world and rescue their kidnapped son. Many lore items such as photographs can be found in the world, offering some insight into past events on the peninsula. The story continues in this loose fashion until the very end, when it suddenly becomes much more focused. I was surprised to see such a degree of depth appear at the end of a game that had, until then, been almost exclusively focused on survival gameplay. [h2][i]-[u]Technical[/u]-[/i][/h2] [quote][b]This game was played with the following PC specs:[/b] Intel i5-4440 3.10 GHz 16GB DDR3 RAM GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB 1680x1050 resolution HDD Windows 10[/quote] [h3]Observations:[/h3] Something that stuck out to me as I played the game with a friend, is how many singleplayer elements are present. For example, players can save progress, and then exit the server and rejoin to resume that last save, despite the game also featuring a traditional death/respawn system. [h3]Visuals:[/h3] [i]The Forest[/i] released in 2018, but had been around in early access a few years prior, and uses the Unity engine. As such, the graphics are not top notch. There were a couple of pretty landscape and lighting moments, but overall it's just adequate. https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2158542077 [h3]Performance:[/h3] Using the specs listed above I got a relatively consistent 50-60fps in most areas, on high-highest settings. Areas with a lot of objects would drop it to the 40's. [h3]Audio:[/h3] Environmental audio is one of the things I liked most about [i]The Forest[/i]; the wind rushing through the trees, heavy rain and especially waterfalls in caves sound fantastic. Caves also feature a very nice echo effect, which really adds to the immersion. Other sound effects and the music are adequate, but nothing stood out aside from the rare echo of distant cannibal war-cries. [h3]Issues:[/h3] We encountered a couple of minor visual bugs such as deer spawning bloodied, as if they'd been attacked, but nothing major on that front. There are some hilarious physics bugs involving the log sled, such as it launching players into the sky if they hit an obstacle the wrong way. Frankly, I love physics wackyness so I am totally okay with this. Finally, there seems to be an issue with steam achievements; there are several I didn't get, despite fulfilling the requirements. [h2][i]-[u]Summary[/u]-[/i][/h2] [i]The Forest[/i] is an enjoyable little survival game that's good for a few dozen hours, but it is a goal-driven game, and not really of the same nature as titles such as [i]ARK: Survival Evolved[/i] and [i]7 Days to Die[/i]. [b]I'd recommend to anyone who likes a mix of sandbox-survival and horror, but have to reiterate that it isn't as good an endless-fun sandbox as other survival titles.[/b] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40044632/][quote]This review comes courtesy of the [b]R³[/b] curator.