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dkirschner's The Forest (PC)

[February 10, 2023 03:12:58 PM]

After playing Subnautica, the first survival/crafting type game I've ever really liked, I decided to give The Forest a try. It has about 400,000 reviews on Steam averaging Overwhelmingly Positive (95%). There's got to be something exciting here. Well, I didn't last very long. It opens like a standard survival game. You've been in a plane crash. You awaken to find a man taking your son. You stumble out of the wreckage. You need to meet your basic needs: food, water, shelter, protection. Collect things, like rocks, sticks, and leaves (exciting!), build things like a hunter's lean-to, a wooden fence, and a fire (thrilling!), try to hit birds with your axe so you have meat (not tedious at all!).

Okay, okay, I'm being a bit sarcastic. The horror piece of this is immediately evident. You're not just alone and isolated in the wilderness. There are cannibals, and they immediately begin harassing you (I've read the plot and understand that it takes a left turn later). They make weird noises, run toward you, stop, retreat. They're very strange, and it makes trying to do basic tasks unnerving. I built a shelter, some basic defenses, figured out how to meet all the basic needs, and started exploring the area. I found a giant sinkhole, fresh water, snowy mountains (need cold-resistant gear to pass), and a several other deceased passengers. I survived a few nights after exploring farther and farther from camp during the day.

Finally, I went too far, as always happens in survival games, and died. My destroyer was an alligator or a cannibal, I can't remember. Maybe an alligator cannibal. To my surprise, it wasn't game over. I woke up hanging upside down in a cave. I died for real a second time and quit before I made it out of the cave. The cave was very dark. I could barely see. I feel sort of bad for not investing more effort into The Forest, but the thought of chopping down another tree or gathering more sticks and rocks makes me cringe. Let this be a lesson to future David. Unless there is REALLY something different in the gameplay, don't buy another survival game. You don't like them.