The Forest

The Forest is a single-player and cooperative multiplayer survival horror game. The player assumes the role of a lone survivor of a passenger plane crash who awakens in a dense and isolated forest. While searching for their missing child, the player must find food, build shelter, and craft tools in order to endure the dangers of the wilderness and the presence of hostile inhabitants.

The game world is fully open and explorable, with forests, shorelines, lakes, and a vast cave network. Survival is based on resource gathering and crafting: trees can be felled for wood, plants collected for medicine, and animals hunted for food and materials. The player constructs shelters, fires, traps, and defenses, while crafting items such as spears, bows, and armor from scavenged resources. Hunger, thirst, stamina, and health must all be managed to remain alive.

The island is inhabited by cannibalistic tribes and mutated creatures who patrol the land. Their behavior is not entirely scripted: some groups stalk the player or investigate structures, while others attack in force, especially at night. Combat can be approached with melee weapons, ranged weapons, or avoidance, and dead enemies can be looted for crafting resources. Exploring caves reveals more aggressive mutants, valuable supplies, and clues about the larger mystery of the island.

Progression is player-driven rather than quest-based, with survival mechanics at the core. Tools, weapons, and structures gradually expand through experimentation and crafting. Base building plays a major role, with defensive walls, watchtowers, and storage facilities available for protection against raids. Environmental hazards, such as weather changes and resource scarcity, also affect survival strategy.

The game can be played alone or cooperatively with others, with up to four players in online multiplayer. In cooperative mode, players share building and survival tasks, but threats scale accordingly.