Early Access Review: Sons of the Forest

destructoid.com:

The Forest was a terrific “get off my lawn” simulator. You built up your cabin in the woods, then spent most of the trying to keep cannibals from waking you up at night. This must be how all those gated community suburbanites see the world.

Released in 2018 (as long as you don’t count all those years in Early Access), it was and remains an indie darling. It was one of the big success stories in the post-Minecraft open-world survival boom.

I got into it a bit too late, I think. By that, I mean after it finished its run in early access. Having already experienced a lot from that trend, a lot of what made The Forest special, I had already seen enough of the sub-genre. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it, it just would have likely made a larger impact if I tried it much earlier. However, I earmarked the sequel because I wanted to see what an update could do. Sons of the Forest is that sequel, and it definitely has trees.

Sons of the Forest (PC)Developer: Endnight GamesPublisher: NewnightReleased: February 23, 2023MSRP: $39.99

While The Forest started with a plane crash, Sons of the Forest opens with a helicopter crash. A helicopter full of very quiet people, including you! And Kelvin!

Kelvin is amazing. Something got rattled around upstairs in the crash, and he’s left dazed with impaired hearing. Despite the two of you being stranded on an island covered in mutant cannibal nudists, the dude is just a ray of sunshine. You write directions on a notepad to get him to do stuff, and he just smiles, nods, and goes to work. He doesn’t necessarily stay with you, instead just wandering in your general direction. But if anyone hurts him, they will pay.

You and Kelvin are on the island to try and locate three missing rich people. You