The Forest (2014)

 PC
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 650 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 400 out of 650
  2. Mixed: 179 out of 650
  3. Negative: 71 out of 650

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  1. Tk4Bullet
    Mar 7, 2020
    5
    Was a decent game, but it feels unfinished and abandonded till this day. Building was long and boring, you couldnt destroy your building to get at least some of the materials back. I don't recall many bugs to be honest. Maybe when multiplayer mode was first introduced. Still, it was nice going back to build a base but was boring after a few hours and there was no incentive to go back and continue.
  2. Shimmeywill
    Feb 20, 2020
    5
    Good graphics and light spooks make this a novel game for a while. Ultimately a mediocre experience.
  3. ryanparkes100
    Feb 18, 2020
    10
    It has a fun vr mode, It is a lot of fun gameplay, the gameplay never gets boring and the lore is fresh and interesting
  4. DJKrimson
    Feb 10, 2020
    7
    Played this in multiplayer with 1 friend, Had a really good time. It was a fun, mysterious adventure with some cool crafting/building options and relatively fun combat, though there was a few things that was a bit annoying:
    - Spent a looot of time making a base in the beginning that we ended up returning to like once, all other nights we just built temp-camps.
    - The caves are dark as    Played this in multiplayer with 1 friend, Had a really good time. It was a fun, mysterious adventure with some cool crafting/building options and relatively fun combat, though there was a few things that was a bit annoying:
    - Spent a looot of time making a base in the beginning that we ended up returning to like once, all other nights we just built temp-camps.
    - The caves are dark as hell and very confusing, the times we died and had to restart from last save we noticed that it's really easy to miss collectibles and other "important" stuff. Also when it comes to the caves, the torch is terrible and won't help you as much as you'd like.
    - A bit buggy at times.
    - The map is really hard to interpret and it won't show you the marker points you place out, you can only see the direction to them in your field of view which can lead to being messy if you have a lot of them,

    Overall though, fun co-op game with a few flaws. Would recommend.    … Expand
  5. turkayngravay
    Jan 7, 2020
    9
    This game is survival horror at its very best. My first night on the island I forgot to build a fire, so I sat huddled in a corner for the entire night out of sheer terror of what might see me. The story is great, does NOT hold your hand, and requires deep exploration of the islands intricate cave system. Be prepared to starve, get captured, get lost, hide in your base camp, and eat aThis game is survival horror at its very best. My first night on the island I forgot to build a fire, so I sat huddled in a corner for the entire night out of sheer terror of what might see me. The story is great, does NOT hold your hand, and requires deep exploration of the islands intricate cave system. Be prepared to starve, get captured, get lost, hide in your base camp, and eat a lot of deer.… Expand
  6. lostsol
    Dec 16, 2019
    10
    The forest is one of the few games that I anticipated before the official release, and when I finally got my hands on it, I wasn't disappointed at all. I really enjoyed this game, and I appreciate the effort the small development team and artists put into it.

    Keep the good work guys (We just want more please!)
  7. kwk9k
    Dec 12, 2019
    6
    I was playing about 4 hours on PS4. Crafting is highly developed but fighting mode is too weak in my opinion. It is hard to win with enemies, hiding is the best choice. I am sorry but it was a waste of money.
  8. rafaelblack
    Dec 9, 2019
    10
    its funny and good !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  9. tobivv
    Nov 26, 2019
    8
    A horror survival game with a story element full of twists. The survival element becomes trivial in the later stages of the game, but it remains engaging by challenges presented in the story aspect.
  10. HSuke
    Nov 11, 2019
    9
    I'm playing the full and final release of the game. This is a very brutal and stressful survival-horror game. All the caves in this game are super-dark, and it makes "The Descent" movie look like daylight-mode. The very-subtle story is actually pretty good, but it doesn't shine until the very ending. That's a lot of gameplay required for the reward of the satisfying ending. If you'reI'm playing the full and final release of the game. This is a very brutal and stressful survival-horror game. All the caves in this game are super-dark, and it makes "The Descent" movie look like daylight-mode. The very-subtle story is actually pretty good, but it doesn't shine until the very ending. That's a lot of gameplay required for the reward of the satisfying ending. If you're afraid of the dark or of caves, this game will drive you insane. Difficulty-wise, it's slightly harder than "The Long Dark" and much harder than "Subnautica"… Expand
  11. gustavonld
    Sep 15, 2019
    8
    The game is pretty cool and entertaining, but, it's very hard do play alone so, you must have a friend (or more) to have the complete experience! I reccomend the game and i hope that you enjoy!
  12. Dco326
    Aug 20, 2019
    8
    It was really fun at begining with crafting and what not, ali ubrzo nisam imao sta vise da pravim to me smorilo, borba je smor, prica mi je sranje mada ajde kraj je kao okej :D zanimljiv je jel :D ali sve u svemu ne bih vise igrao. mozda je multiplejer bolji ali ja igram samo single.
  13. jokreg
    Jun 7, 2019
    9
    After just 20 hours of gameplay, I think The Forest is one of my favorite games of all time. Absolutely beautiful for so many reasons. I hope this game will be constantly updated and developed even more. If you love survival games, true survival games, that's for you. On ultra it's stunning and really intense, great immersion. Best 11€ (Steam Summer Sales) ever spent on a game of this genre.
  14. LesPaul
    Jun 1, 2019
    10
    A great single player experience, with an atmosphere somehow reminescent of Half Life 2. There are several different ways to cope with the cannibals and great fun to find out what works and doesn't work.
  15. winzentween
    Mar 31, 2019
    9
    Amazing !

    Seriously half the people including myself initially don't understand this game. Anyone who claims there isn't enough crafting is wrong , as after 55 days in im still finding cool stuff from a secret evil church to a full on glider. It's not minecraft but once you finish it you'll get that mode which is cool. Or the horde mode that's crazy. Because its not Ark it    Amazing !

    Seriously half the people including myself initially don't understand this game. Anyone who claims there isn't enough crafting is wrong , as after 55 days in im still finding cool stuff from a secret evil church to a full on glider. It's not minecraft but once you finish it you'll get that mode which is cool. Or the horde mode that's crazy. Because its not Ark it actually works and works well which means it's a scary horror story which has two endgames based on choices.

    The optimisation isn't great and there's a few glitches but nothing bad considering how much is going on.
    The music is none existent outside of musical tapes but the sound is terrifying ..truly scary.
    The gameplay is high mearning curve and finickity at times bur plenty of options.
    Lastability is months or years as every time you play its different with random starts and locations and new updates. No microtransactions at all.

    The combat isnt destiny but its brutal and fast with awesome weapons.
    Overall the attention to detail is spectacular with many stories told through the environment as much as the lore through collectibles.
    The multiplayer is a little buggy but amazing fun and an entirely different experience.
    So i'd say buy it as it's cheap and play it and dont give up.
    Use your second device as a game support tool as there are interactive map apps. And the wiki is cool though don't spoil many of the brilliant secrets and surprises.

    I've played games for 20 plus years on all formats and across every genre and i was amazed to find it is one of the best game experiences i've every played and beyond value for money. Give it a chance and you won't be disappointed.    … Expand
  16. Mcgavyn
    Feb 24, 2019
    0
    I think you should take the private parts out and change the girl cannibals desine and you should make it split screen on ps4 and xbox but other than that i think that it is the best game i have ever played
  17. ZaPaAl
    Feb 10, 2019
    9
    It has a rough and confusing start, but once you have the basics of survival down you can have many, many hours of base and network building, a typical survival game. Until you discover the caves ...
    Cave are really interesting and fun (and horrifying) to explore, requiring many hours and progression by unique items. Best done by marking explored areas with self built lamps, and with    It has a rough and confusing start, but once you have the basics of survival down you can have many, many hours of base and network building, a typical survival game. Until you discover the caves ...
    Cave are really interesting and fun (and horrifying) to explore, requiring many hours and progression by unique items. Best done by marking explored areas with self built lamps, and with constant reacquiring resources.
    Finally in the end you discover a unique area where you discover the background and immensely deep story.

    Atmosphere with visuals and sound are nice, but not perfect with latest technology. It runs extremely well on older hardware.
    Building is not always perfectly under control, but quite workable. Some minor bugs and no save point for the end (which was difficulty wise not needed and gave the final decision impact. But made for a very long final run).
    It has some useful mods you should look into.
    Prepare to study up on game basics and look into it's wiki, or else you likely will have some quite frustrating experiences.

    In summary it was a very impressive experience.    … Expand
  18. wakimani
    Jan 14, 2019
    9
    I played the game back in 2016 and as a single player experience I was fairly satisfied with the result. But the multiplayer experience make it a real hidden gem for coop fans. I'd been looking a loooong time for a captivating multi of the likes of this one. Yeah it's buggy as hell and there aren't many added features from the singleplayer, but roaming around with four of my best gamerI played the game back in 2016 and as a single player experience I was fairly satisfied with the result. But the multiplayer experience make it a real hidden gem for coop fans. I'd been looking a loooong time for a captivating multi of the likes of this one. Yeah it's buggy as hell and there aren't many added features from the singleplayer, but roaming around with four of my best gamer buddies charting caves and unveiling the island misteries is just something that I was longing for for a long time! Give the developers credit and get the game (if you convince some friends to do the same, of course)… Expand
  19. leaveit
    Jan 3, 2019
    6
    Pros:
    - Relatively unique building mechanic feels more immersive than the deluge of voxel games
    - There are several avenues for survival to where you don't have to do anything too contrived to survive - though as usual it is apparent that the developers are not survival experts - Many basic tasks are made more immersive than the usual fare, like chopping down trees or spearing fish -    Pros:
    - Relatively unique building mechanic feels more immersive than the deluge of voxel games
    - There are several avenues for survival to where you don't have to do anything too contrived to survive - though as usual it is apparent that the developers are not survival experts
    - Many basic tasks are made more immersive than the usual fare, like chopping down trees or spearing fish
    - The game strongly encourages risky exploration
    - Not much tutorial is needed
    - Coop!

    Cons:
    - Bugs galore - structures disappearing, enemies running in circles, climbing spikes like they're nothing, the ability to fall a mile on a turtle shell and not die, a multiplayer exploit to dupe items that has existed for over 3 years, enemies spawning inside your walls, pots used for drinking water exploding when a fire goes out...
    - The lighting model, in its efforts to produce something cinematic, means your character is more blind than an ordinary healthy human
    - Dedicated servers are supported, but just barely, and by a horrendously barebones application that will have you scratching your head for a few minutes
    - Story strains credulity
    - The world is small and only gets smaller
    - The game was clearly given the 1.0 as a stop-loss so that the developers could quietly abdicate and any new feature takes months or years to be balanced and fixed, if it is ever working

    Overall, it's fairly dignified for a Unity indie early access survival crafting game (what a genre, eh) but most of the trappings are still there, just not as noticeably. On the splash page here you'll see a review from 2014 saying that it's acceptable for it to have bugs because it's an alpha. Well, it's 4 years later, we're several RCs past, the game is "out," and still buggy. Buy it on sale.    … Expand
  20. JMKM543
    Dec 21, 2018
    9
    What can be seen as a difficult and buggy experience at first, quickly evolves into hours of game play and countless questions about the lore. The Forest is an immersive experience that slowly drags players into a sense of comfort only to take it away with new horrors unleashed. Easily one of the best survival/horror releases of this year with an intriguing story to boot.

    Reviewed on PS4
  21. GenuineBruv2021
    Oct 29, 2018
    6
    The Forest is a cool survival game to play when your'e bored. It gets very boring after 30 minutes or so but its been improved a lot since it first came out, but its still nothing special.
  22. havo
    Oct 21, 2018
    10
    okay this game was a big surprise, really good story plot and graphics as well as the multiplayer mode. i would recommend the game for anyone how likes survival games. looking forward to knowing if the story will continue
  23. 21grams
    Oct 21, 2018
    6
    It's not bad survival game, but it isn't great either. While crafting and building has so many options, building in particular is way too grindy. The amount of materials needed for building is totally absurd. Survival games should encourage building, not the opposite and frankly this is the case with The forest. I mean when you need to chop like 30 trees just of a simple hut - you don'tIt's not bad survival game, but it isn't great either. While crafting and building has so many options, building in particular is way too grindy. The amount of materials needed for building is totally absurd. Survival games should encourage building, not the opposite and frankly this is the case with The forest. I mean when you need to chop like 30 trees just of a simple hut - you don't want to bother with that anymore... If you wanted to do some custom more fancy building - we are talking about hundreds of trees to cut - that is absolutely insane.

    The next complaint I have is about story.. First - the game lacks logs, tapes, on other stuff that would suck you into what's going on and make you actually care. The did very terrible job at this and lazy one, because there are very few sources of information and those don't even touch the subject of reasoning behind everything that is going on.

    Final complaint are the endings - there are two and both are complete rubbish. One cuts a massive shortcut and the other one isn't even a proper ending. I think devs were lazy on this department, even for limited budget title they honestly could have done way more.    … Expand
  24. EurosauRuss
    Oct 20, 2018
    8
    Awesome game amazing enviroment great graphics lot of great content
    absoloutly love the island and the chaotic natives and just everything is great here
    But the end game is so stupid and boring and i really hate the ending.
  25. ireviewbadgames
    Aug 12, 2018
    9
    This game was in development for a few years, but these gentlemen did a fine job showing what it really means to be an Early Access Game. Consistent, incremental updates with well-detailed change-logs that really tracked their progress. Now that they're released, I would even support increasing the price by $10 or $15- they have certainly earned it. The end result is a relatively enjoyableThis game was in development for a few years, but these gentlemen did a fine job showing what it really means to be an Early Access Game. Consistent, incremental updates with well-detailed change-logs that really tracked their progress. Now that they're released, I would even support increasing the price by $10 or $15- they have certainly earned it. The end result is a relatively enjoyable game with a few minor flaws that can be easily overlooked. The Forest could have benefited from additional mutated monsters with more advanced mechanics, but overall the game is a solid pick-up.… Expand
  26. Miqht
    Jul 17, 2018
    9
    Remember when we all loved minecraft when we were younger? Now we get to relive that experience in this game.
  27. GenjiZ
    Jul 16, 2018
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. 4 YEARS, 4 YEARS, CARL. We waited 4 years to get out of early access. And so, what happened in those 4 years?
    May 2014 - Steam comes up with a new game in early access. We arrive on a broken airplane and in the cabin lies a woman. Bugs insane amount, impossible to play, optimization "wants the best."
    End of 2016 - The ending comes out and it is not even finished. All we know is that Timi is still sick, playing harder. One bug is removed and a new one appears.
    April 30, 2018 - It comes out of early access, there are still a lot of bugs, it's already impossible to play and now your character is even susceptible to cold.
    It can be interesting to play, especially to have fun with friends, but for those who like the plot and and gamers with serious intentions this game is unlikely to suit.    … Expand
  28. EduardoF
    Jul 4, 2018
    1
    This game is probably one of the worst i have ever played. I played 5 hours when i first bought it in the pre-release and i can tell you they were horrible: no newness, no fun, no balanced challenge. Simply explore generic caves and places with nothing interesting whatsoever. This year, i played it 5 more hours to give it a chance to see if anything had been improved and, alas, it's theThis game is probably one of the worst i have ever played. I played 5 hours when i first bought it in the pre-release and i can tell you they were horrible: no newness, no fun, no balanced challenge. Simply explore generic caves and places with nothing interesting whatsoever. This year, i played it 5 more hours to give it a chance to see if anything had been improved and, alas, it's the same crap! Too many bugs, and no new interesting updates have been added in about 3 years or more. It's still alpha! For 3 years! This is ridiculous. It's a boring, incomplete, full of bugs and a complete waste of time. If you wanna get annoyed by the horrible physics or the stupid sounds, then go ahead and buy this trash.… Expand
  29. ColdAqua
    Jun 9, 2018
    2
    This game always had a lot of potential, but it never really lived up to it. The gameplay is repetitive and the story is uninspiring. The character controls like a tank, and the game runs very poorly.
  30. Techbane
    May 31, 2018
    7
    The Forest gets off to a strong start, throwing you onto an island fraught with cannibals, with naught but an axe, backpack, and a couple TV dinners to your name. The first few nights are spent desperately scavenging materials for tools with which to build, hunt, and defend yourself; construction (or discovery) of emergency shelters is required to be able to sleep or save the game, andThe Forest gets off to a strong start, throwing you onto an island fraught with cannibals, with naught but an axe, backpack, and a couple TV dinners to your name. The first few nights are spent desperately scavenging materials for tools with which to build, hunt, and defend yourself; construction (or discovery) of emergency shelters is required to be able to sleep or save the game, and doing all this while trying to stay out of sight of the roving cannibals is a wonderfully tense and even strategic experience.

    After about a week on the island, you should be well enough equipped to actually take on two or three cannibals in a fight if need be, and begin descending into the island's many cave systems which are dense with more powerful mobs but also peppered with more powerful tools. You start feeling capable of tackling the challenges both above and underground.

    After two weeks on the island, the surface will have gradually become populated exclusively by 12-foot mutants and Dr. Manhattan clones, who can all outrun you like you were standing still and two-shot you once they catch up. Attempting combat is complete suicide, and most of the weaponry you've spent your time building up is now effectively worthless, save your precious limited supply of explosives. Any base you may have built on the surface won't be worth attempting to return to as you are forced underground into a winding array of tunnel mazes, fumbling around in constant near-zero-light conditions as your sole feasible means of egress. God help you if you haven't yet found all the most important equipment by this point.

    It's also still fairly buggy.

    In short it has a strong start, but a lategame that I could only recommend to a C.H.U.D.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

38
#38 Best PC Game of 2018
24
#24 Most Discussed PC Game of 2018
42
#42 Most Shared PC Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. Gamersky
    Jul 16, 2018
    90
    The Forest is an awkward open-world survival game. It's thrilling to play because of the intense atmosphere, but confusing maps and annoying enemies make it really hard for me to immerse into the game.
    Read full review
  2. DarkStation
    Jun 21, 2018
    80
    In a crowded landscape littered with a few too many survival crafting games, The Forest makes a pretty strong case for itself. With an open-ended world balanced by a story that moves forward, The Forest contains both freedom and mounting tension and provides not just the means for the player to survive, but a compelling reason to do so.
    Read full review
  3. GameSpot
    Jun 3, 2018
    80
    There's a lot to think about when it comes to surviving in The Forest, but the balance between each of its interlocking parts keeps the game moving at a riveting pace.
    Read full review
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