The Forest (video game)

The Forest
Developer(s) Endnight Games
Publisher(s) Endnight Games
Composer(s) Gabe Castro
Engine Unity
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4
Release 30 May 2014 (alpha version)
Genre(s) Open world, survival horror, survival
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

The Forest is a first-person open world-survival video game developed by Canadian company Endnight Games for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4. The game's pre-alpha version was released through Steam Early Access on 30 May 2014. The game takes place on a heavily forested island where the player character and a young child are the survivors of a plane crash. The game features nonlinear gameplay, with no set missions or quests, empowering the player to make their own decisions for survival. Early reviews for the pre-alpha version were highly positive.[1][2] The alpha is currently in a playable state with additional gameplay features planned and in development.

Gameplay

In The Forest, the player must survive on a forested peninsula after a plane crash, during which a "cannibal" is seen taking the player's son away. The player survives by creating shelter, weapons, and other survival tools. Inhabiting the island, along with various woodland creatures, are a tribe of nocturnal, cannibalistic mutants who dwell in villages on the surface and in deep caves beneath the peninsula. While they are not necessarily always hostile to the player, their usual behavior is aggressive, especially during the night.[3] However, the developers want players to question whether the island's cannibalistic tribe is the enemy of the player, or vice versa.[3] For example, when first encountering the player, the cannibals may hesitate to attack and instead observe the player from a distance, attempt to communicate with the player through effigies, and send patrols around the player's base camp. In combat, they regularly attempt to protect one another from injury, remove torches, surround the player, hide behind cover, drag wounded tribesmen to safety, keep their distance, use tactical decisions, not overextend into unknown territory, and occasionally surrender out of fear. They are also afraid of fire, and will sometimes refrain from approaching the player if there is a campfire or torch nearby. Though there are no set missions, there is an optional conclusion to the game.[4] As the player progresses through the game and explores the caves underneath the forest surface, he will encounter increasingly bizarre mutations, including deformed babies and mutants with several extra appendages.

The game features a day/night cycle, with the player able to build a shelter and traps, hunt animals and collect supplies during the day, and defend themselves against the mutants by night.[5]

Plot

The game begins with the player Eric Leblanc riding in an airplane with his son Timmy Leblanc when the plane mysteriously crashes on a remote island. The player and his son manage to survive the crash, but the player watches helplessly as his son is kidnapped by a man in red war paint. In addition to trying to survive in the wild and fending off hostile wildlife and feral, cannibalistic mutants, the player searches the peninsula for his son. The forest surface leaves clues to help the player puzzle out the story, but the majority of the plot takes place in the caves that riddle the underside of the peninsula.

Eventually, the player discovers an abandoned underground lab complex that was studying an artifact capable of bringing the dead back to life, but requires the sacrifice of a child. The player discovers that the kidnapper intended to sacrifice the player's son in order to revive his daughter. However, the player discovers that the daughter had mutated into an aggressive, cannibalistic monster, similar to the other mutants that roam the peninsula. The player confronts the child, who seizes and mutates further before attacking him, leading to the daughter's death. The player then attempts to use the daughter's body to revive his son, but the process is a failure, since a live sacrifice is needed. The player explores the lab further and discovers a second artifact that functions as a type of EMP device capable of bringing down nearby planes, implying that it is the cause of his own plane crash. The player then uses the artifact to cause another plane to crash, intending to find a sacrifice to revive his son.

One year later, the player and his son have apparently been rescued, and they are invited onto a talk show to promote a book that the player wrote, chronicling his experiences. However, during the show, the player's son collapses and begins to have a seizure, implying he is undergoing the same mutation that the daughter had.

Development

The Forest was inspired by cult films such as The Descent and Cannibal Holocaust and video games like Minecraft and Don't Starve,[5][6] and was accepted as part of Steam Greenlight in 2013.[7] Developers Endnight Games have said that Disney was an inspiration for the game, commenting that they do not want the whole game to be entirely "dark and depressing."[5] The game is being developed to be compatible with the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.[8] The development team has released a patch for a multiplayer mode, and have said that a co-op mode could add to the sense of randomness in the game, though they wish to stay away from the massive multiplayer feel of DayZ or Rust.[4][5]

The development team has a background in film visual effects, having worked on films such as The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Tron: Legacy. The game was developed initially using Unity 4[9] although on 15 April 2015, v0.16 was released, upgrading the engine from Unity 4 to Unity 5.[10]

On 10 November 2014, a patch was released on Steam for The Forest that allowed multiplayer; however, the developers stated that this is their first pass at implementing multi-player into the game, so bugs and glitches are to be expected. As of the latest Alpha version, there is full integration of Steam to play online and online playing is continuously worked on by the developers. Multiplayer currently supports 2-8 players. On 6 December 2014, it has been announced that The Forest is coming to the PlayStation 4. There are unknown features of multiplayer for the PlayStation 4, and has yet to be announced, but will most likely use PlayStation Network's services.

References

  1. ↑ Jeffrey Matulef (8 May 2013). "First-person open-world survival horror game The Forest looks brilliant • Eurogamer.net". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  2. ↑ "The Forest early look: scavenging and survival in a land of clever cannibals - PC Gamer". PC Gamer. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  3. 1 2 Savage, Phil (28 May 2013). "The Forest interview: survival, horror and the VR wilderness". PC Gamer. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  4. 1 2 Matulef, Jeffrey (13 January 2014). "Ambitious open-world horror game The Forest detailed". Eurogamer. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Robertson, John (29 January 2014). "The Forest: survival, horror and the guilt of killing – interview". VG247. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  6. ↑ Matulef, Jeffrey (8 May 2013). "First-person open-world survival horror game The Forest looks brilliant". Eurogamer. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  7. ↑ Savage, Phil (11 November 2013). "The Forest trailer shows continued survival, panicked combat and questionable effigies". PC Gamer. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  8. ↑ Hinkle, David (24 January 2014). "Explore virtual reality horror game The Forest in new screens". Joystiq. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  9. ↑ Nunneley, Stephany (25 March 2014). "The Forest looks creepier with every set of screenshots released". VG247. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  10. ↑ "v0.16 Patch notes". The Forest official website. Endnight Games. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
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