Survival games tend to pair well with the horror genre, and one of the best examples of this is The Forest from Endnight Games. In The Forest, players take on the role of Eric Leblanc, who survives a plane crash in a dense forest with his son Timmy. Unfortunately, Timmy is kidnapped by a mysterious man, and so players spend the rest of the game trying to not only survive the elements, but find their missing son as well.
Players have to utilize their survival skills to stay alive in the face of more than just the elements and dangerous animals roaming around, however. As it turns out, the forest is also populated by mutant cannibals, who pose a serious threat to Leblanc's life. Leblanc's conflict with the cannibals in The Forest gives the game a vibe very similar to the classic found footage horror movie Cannibal Holocaust, and in fact, the developers took inspiration from that movie when developing the game.
Another horror movie that directly inspired development on The Forest is 2005's The Descent. For those unfamiliar, The Descent is about a group of cave spelunkers who wind up lost in a complex underground cave system that just so happens to be populated with deadly creatures. While the bulk of The Forest takes place in the titular forest, players will also find themselves exploring a similar cave system, and that's where The Descent inspiration becomes apparent.
While these are elements that have been heavily explored by horror movies, they haven't been as thoroughly explored in video games, which helps The Forest stand out from the many other horror titles available. Ultimately, The Forest was able to earn mostly positive reviews from video game critics, seeing it hailed as one of the best horror games of 2018 in the process.
Horror fans who enjoyed The Forest should note that the series is continuing with a new game. As announced at The Game Awards 2019, Sons of the Forest looks like it will feature a similar premise as the original game, but with even more grotesque creatures that players will have to deal with. Concrete details are hard to come by at the time of this writing, but hopefully the developers have more to share soon.
And while horror video game fans wait for more information on the upcoming Sons of the Forest from Endnight Games, they can check out the original The Forest game this Halloween season.
The Forest is out now for PC and PS4.
