By: Amir Salaad

WARNING: This review talks about some major parts of the game’s storyline and characters from the game and has some spoilers.

‘Sons of the Forest’ is an amazing horror survival game. The game was made by Endnight Games and first released as early access in February 2023, later releasing fully one year later in February 2024. It’s actually a sequel to an earlier game that’s called ‘The Forest’, but you don’t have to play that to play ‘Sons of the Forest’. ‘Sons of the Forest’ takes everything from ‘The Forest’ and turns it up. The world is way bigger, scarier mobs, higher graphics, and there’s way more things to build. It’s one of those games that grabs you and doesn’t let go because of how thrilling it is.

The story of ‘Sons of the Forest’ puts you in the shoes of a guy named Jack Holt. He’s a journalist and he’s also a personal friend to this wealthy guy named Edward Puffton, who’s the CEO of a company called PuffCorp. Edward, his wife, and daughter go missing on this remote island and Jack joins this team of military contractors that gets sent to that island to go find them. But, things go wrong almost immediately. The helicopter they fly in on gets shot down and you wake up on the island alone, and you’re surrounded by cannibals and mutants. You have to survive and find out what happened on the island. The story has some interesting and creepy lore if you take the time to explore the island and find notes and things that are all over the map.

The two companions you get in this game is what makes me like it. The first one is Kelvin, a soldier from your team who survives the crash but has brain damage and is mute and deaf. He can’t speak or hear you so you have to give him orders on paper and hand it to him. He can gather food, help you build, and just does whatever you tell him to do. The second companion is actually Edward’s daughter, named Virginia, but she’s been mutated by something on the island and has 3 legs and 3 arms. When you first see her in game she runs away, but if you’re patient and don’t try to scare her off, she slowly but surely warms up to you. Eventually she’ll fight by your side with a pistol in one hand and a shotgun in another.

The survival and building aspect in this game is also something I really like. You can build basically anything you want, like small little shelters or big log cabins that have more than one floor. You can collect logs, rocks, sticks, and other types of materials and put things together with a simple and easy building system. It does take time to learn but once you figure it out it gets really satisfying. On top of the building, you also have to keep things like your hunger, thirst, rest, and temperature in check. When it hits winter on the island it’s pretty brutal and if you aren’t prepared then you’ll probably die.

Exploring the caves and bunkers on the island is probably one of the scariest parts of the game. Above ground is actually not that bad and the scenery is pretty beautiful. But the second you are inside either a cave or bunker, everything changes. It gets darker, space gets tighter, and genuinely more terrifying. Some of the mutants that live in these types of places are disgusting and hard to look at, and the lighting makes it so much worse. But the loot you get inside kind of makes up for it. That is if you’re willing to go inside.

Overall, ‘Sons of the Forest’ is a really nice survival/horror game with some deep building mechanics, interesting story, and amazing visuals. Endnight Games really did something with this, right here. It’s one of those games that you still think about even after a while of playing it. I would give ‘Sons of the Forest’ an 8.8/10. It’s exclusively on PC through Steam.