- Last Updated on
Fans of The Forest rejoice! Endnight Games has long been working on a sequel to the immensely popular game, and it’s shaping up to be a good one. Titled Sons of the Forest, it has been subject to the rumor mill since 2019, when whispers of the project first emerged. Now in 2022, we have some solid information, including the Sons of the Forest release date, a few trailers, and a decent idea of what we’ll be getting into when it drops. Here’s what we know so far.
Sons of the Forest release date
First off, an answer to the most important question – when is the expected Sons of the Forest release date? Initially, a tweet posted on November 30 2021 announced that the game was set for release on May 20 2022. However, the developers later considered that date to be “overly ambitious,” as detailed in another tweet, resulting in a delay. The revised Sons of the Forest release date is October 2022, with no specific day mentioned just yet. While the delay isn’t great news, Endnight Games is a relatively small development team. If a few extra months let them put the finishing touches on the game, it’s not too bad after all. Here’s hoping this delay is the only one.
Sons of the Forest release platforms
We’ve got a date penciled in, but what about the platforms? Well, we know for certain that Sons of the Forest will release on PC in October. What we don’t know is whether consoles will come further down the line, or if Sons of the Forest will be a PC exclusive.
Though it can’t yet be confirmed, there is some safety in speculating a console release, at least for Playstation. The Forest was released on Playstation 4 on November 6 2018, roughly seven months after the PC release. While this doesn’t mean history will repeat, the precedent is there, so we may well see a similar staggered release play out. While this is great news for Playstation, if Sons of the Forest follows a similar rollout to the previous game, it doesn’t look good for Xbox. Despite the developers wanting to release the Forest on Xbox, it wasn’t to be. Whether this is the case for Sons of the Forest or not remains to be seen.
Sons of the Forest story
It’s tough to say exactly how Sons of the Forest will tie into the previous game, and what track the story will take. What we know so far is what we can piece together from announcements and trailers, which is to say, not a whole lot.
That said, we do have a few details. Judging by the trailers and the description on Steam, it looks like we can expect to play as a member of a rescue team sent to find a missing billionaire. It’s possible that this billionaire is Eric Leblanc, the playable character from the first game, his son Timmy Leblanc, or both. However, this assumes that The Forest’s first ending is canon, which isn’t explicitly known.
There is a bit more evidence for this opinion. At the end of this ending sequence, we can see that Timmy has some side effects, to say the least, from his time at the Peninsula. This caused him to investigate the Peninsula and Sahara, leading him to discover “Site 2.” He marks the location on a map of an island, which likely depicts the setting of Sons of the Forest.
Judging by the third trailer, he seems to reach it, seemingly with his dad, Eric. We can see him shooting a mutant, later being helped by his dad. This likely means we won’t be playing as either of the Leblancs, but instead as one of their rescuers. Ultimately, this is all speculation, but I’d say it’s a safe enough bet considering our current information.
Sons of the Forest gameplay
While the story sounds interesting so far, the main attraction is the gameplay. It looks like Endnight has opted for a “don’t fix what isn’t broke” approach, keeping the foundation of what made The Forest great, but with some additional improvements. You’ll be surviving on the island just as you did in The Forest – exploring, resource gathering, chopping down trees, building campsites, and of course, fighting mutants.
On the topic of mutants, there seems to be a whole new batch of them, along with some regular old cannibals. There are mutants with a body covered in fingers, a conjoined twin mutant, and a giant mutant, though we’ve only seen its hand. There’s even something that looks like a Virginia, though she seems to have her humanity intact.
To fight these new mutants, we have an updated armory to make use of. Sons of the Forest will have a range of guns, hefty sticks, a knife, an ax, a crossbow, and a taser. There’ll likely be a few carry-overs from the previous game, like a makeshift bow and some melee weapons.
When we aren’t busy fending off the cannibals and mutants, we’ll be able to build our ideal camp and craft a slew of new items. Both systems seem to have received a massive overhaul, both mechanically and graphically. Building looks much more involved and varied, with digging, log cutting, stake sharpening, and more. The cannibals look more destructive, too, with the trailers showing them breaking down walls and attempting to steal some materials.
The inventory shown off in the third trailer shows a whole load of items, many of which are new. The trailer also shows a snippet of crafting, with a character taping sticks together. Who knows exactly what we’ll be able to make, but we’ll probably have a lot more options than the first game. All things considered, we have a whole lot to look forward to.
Sons of the Forest trailers
I’ve mentioned the trailers a bunch so far. They’re all more than worth watching, as they show off what we can expect from the upcoming release. If you haven’t already, check out each one below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QgeS5dUiOc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsGVzf-2I5I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6mTyKyCuTE
And that wraps up everything we know so far about Sons of the Forest. There isn’t a whole lot of time left until the slated release, so we may well see new information drop in the near future. Until then, stay tuned for updates!
