The Forest

routine survival game with generic horror trappings, boring aesthetics and pervasive jank. i appreciate that it has more interest in narrative than much of the genre, but it didn't do much for me.

There's only some good and a lot of bad when it comes to The Forest. As long as you play with at least one friend, the game can bring you about 10 hours of fun. The building mechanics are poor, the movement mechanics are poor, and the combat is poor making the gameplay pretty sub par. The horror aspect is pretty cool though.

So yeah, the critiques you hear of this game are pretty much all correct. The combat is clunky, survival and crafting mechanics are fairly shallow, doesn't really do anything innovative in a fairly crowded genre, and the base building provides a decent amount of options considering this is an indie title but it's nothing to write home about. Despite all this, I really enjoyed my solo playthrough. The game's greatest strength is definitely in its atmosphere, sound design, and ambiance. The little sounds like walking through grass, chopping wood, background cave sounds, filling up your pot with water, etc. are incredibly satisfying and the enemy noises continue to unsettle even into the late game when you've accumulated enough weaponry and resources to not be super worried about fighting (at least on normal difficulty). It's a very immersive experience and lends the island you spend your time exploring a very defined sense of place. It looks pretty nice for a photorealistic indie title too, though there are definitely some bugs. The narrative is nothing too original but it's fun to piece together as you progress along. I started a co-op playthrough with a friend before tackling it solo and we were having a blast stumbling our way through the beginning not knowing what we were doing but we fell off and never got around to continuing, which is really too bad because it's definitely a fun multiplayer experience, though you do lose out on some of the tension you experience in a solo run. Considering it regularly goes on sale for less than $10 on the Playstation store I would say this game is totally worth a rip.