The Forest - Preview of the Open World Horror Game

The Forest has been in development a little over a year and the guys at Endnight Games have created a really special open world horror game in that time. The 3rd trailer which was released in March really encompassed what The Forest has to offer. The graphics are absolutely stunning, the horror aspect is straight out of a classic Resident Evil game and the open world mechanics look polished enough to give DayZ and H1Z1 a run for their money.

The story

'The Forest' leans heavily towards the whole 'Lost' approach - you're on an plane, it crashes, and you're now trying to survive on an island full of mystery and death. The exact story is still a mystery but thats the whole point of The Forest. You're left to fend for yourself while you unravel the secrets of the island you've just crash landed on.

The Forest - plane crash

It's a single player experience that means to draw you in and give you a satisfying conclusion, should you choose to complete the game rather than explore the open world, the choice is yours.

Cannibals

As you'd expect from a horror game you're not alone! There's creepy looking indigenous cannibals and mutants roaming the island, and they're not too friendly. Thankfully your character has a solid melee attack and you can even craft new tools from raw resources and debris from the plane wreck.

The Forest - mutant corpses

Using these scavenged items you can craft many new weapons, tools and even traps to help you along the way. Some of the more interesting of these are the flamethrower, spike trap and shelter.

The Forest - flamethrower

Interactive Environment

Endnight Games have used some imaginative techniques to make sure the island is truly alive. As you'll see, the weather varies, plants grow and die, tides roll in and out and there's a day/night cycle. Vast networks of caves and underground lakes just waiting to be explored but you might want to avoid venturing too far at night. The island contains complex caves, boggy swamps, lakes and mountains, all of which reveal a piece of the puzzle behind the islands inhabitants.

The Forest - shelter

Traps

Apart from using weapons to kill cannibals, players can also snare enemies using imaginative traps. The traps we've seen in the Alpha are one trap, one kill but that doesn't make them any less effective. You see, the cannibals are primitive beings who are influenced by your actions. They run from dead corpses of them own kind and build mysterious artwork from dead bodies.

Unity Engine looks beautiful

Taking a moment to mention the wonderful in game engine, the graphics are absolutely beautiful, running off the Unity engine. You'll be mesmerized by the swimming fish in the rivers, flying geese and even birds that perch on your hand. The forest is so realistic that it's almost alive as you venture deeper and deeper. Of course it all looks great but you'll need a decent graphics card to make the most of the visual feast on offer.

The Forest - beautiful graphics

Out May 2014 for PC

So that's just a smidge of what The Forest has to offer. Take a look at the official trailer to see gameplay for yourself. See our other posts for gameplay and guides.