Sons of the Forest

1. Summary

Sons of the Forest is a well-liked survival horror sandbox. Reviewers keep returning to playing it with friends, to the freeform building where you place and cut individual logs, and to an island that looks good and feels tense, with creepy caves and seasons that change the landscape. Kelvin and Virginia, the two companions, draw a lot of affection and jokes, and many reviewers call the game a clear step up from The Forest in mechanics, visuals and building. A fair number say it runs well even on modest PCs.

The story, and the ending in particular, is the complaint negative reviews raise most often: players call it confusing, rushed and disconnected from the survival game. Other reviewers are frustrated by having no direction (item-locked caves that send people to wikis and YouTube), an obtuse inventory and build interface, bugs and crashes that cost hours of progress because there is no autosave, and nightly raids that wreck bases. Some find solo play far weaker than co-op, and a small group of later reviewers say updates stopped long ago.

2. What keeps coming up

What players praise

Playing with friendsHigh

Many reviewers recommend it as a game to play with friends: 13% of all reviews bring up friends, co-op or multiplayer, usually as the best way to play. They describe chaotic, funny sessions with up to eight players, shared scares in caves, and building big bases together. "It's so good that you can ignore the story completely and still have a great time with friends." Solo play gets a more divided response. Some reviewers say alone it is boring, lonely or too punishing ("with friends, absolutely! with nobody? pack your bags pal, yer done."), while others say Kelvin and Virginia make solo runs perfectly enjoyable. A handful note that multiplayer removes some of the fear, and that dying in co-op means little: "Fun, but death is meaningless in multiplayer since you don't lose your stuff and can get captured infinitely."

Freeform buildingHigh

Building comes up nearly as often as co-op, and much of that talk is praise. Players like placing individual logs, cutting them to size and building anything from a tarp shelter to cliffside villages, treehouses and lake fortresses, and several call it the best building they have seen in a survival game ("The building system in this game is my favorite out of any game out there"). Some long-time players say building is what keeps them playing after the story ends. The same feature draws criticism too: snapping points that refuse to connect, pieces that can't be removed without dismantling the ones next to them, a build book with confusing modes, and hauling two logs at a time for hours. One reviewer who recommends the game still lists "Building system feels too creative/advanced for its own good" among its downsides.

Atmosphere, visuals and horrorHigh

The island itself gets steady praise: dense forests, lighting, weather and seasons, and the dread of dark caves and things watching from the trees. "Very beautiful island. Too bad it wants to eat me." Many reviewers describe being genuinely scared, especially underground, and several mention the sound design and the way cannibals stalk and observe before attacking. A smaller group finds it more gory than scary, and some say the fear fades once you have guns.

Kelvin and VirginiaMedium

Most of the talk about the two companions comes as jokes. Kelvin gathers logs, sticks and stones and builds for you, which some solo players call a lifesaver; one reviewer says Virginia, who brings gifts and fights with a gun, becomes "the most overpowered bodyguard" in gaming. The jokes also describe real problems: Kelvin chopping down the tree holding up your house, walking into fires, getting stuck in buildings and ignoring commands, and both companions dying permanently. "Kelvin is either the most loyal, helpful companion or a complete dipstick who chopped down my treehouse with me in it."

Vehicles and traversal toolsLow

The golf cart, glider, Knight V monowheel and zip lines get a lot of love, often as the point where the big map becomes fun to cross. Several reviewers joke that the golf cart is the best weapon in the game. Some complain that vehicles stop dead on hidden pebbles and bushes.

Smart, unpredictable enemiesLow

A smaller set of reviewers praise the cannibal AI: groups that watch from a distance, flank, retreat, react to fallen members and test your defences before attacking. Others find the enemies silly or glitchy, clipping through walls and terrain.

Where players are split

Better or worse than The ForestHigh

The first game comes up throughout the reviews. Many players who compare the two call Sons of the Forest a big improvement in graphics, building, weapons, enemy variety and quality of life. A vocal minority prefer the original, and negative reviews often measure the sequel against it: they miss its tighter map, connected caves, clearer story, log sled and hotkeys, and some call the sequel a downgrade. Not everyone who prefers the first game dislikes this one: "Unpopular opinion - I prefer the first game over this. Not bad tho. Fun especially with a friend." Several reviewers on both sides say the first game had the better story.

Combat and difficultyMedium

Players disagree sharply about how hard the game is. One group finds the early game brutal and unfair: enemies that take many axe hits but kill in two, stun-locks, mutants in caves, and death loops where you respawn tied up in a cannibal camp and get speared again. "Even on normal, which is supposedly the easiest, has zombies or whatever they are that just combo insta kill you." Another group finds it too easy once you have the pistol, shotgun or katana, calls the final boss trivial, and says guns turn it into an action game. "Combat is tough at the beginning but can be somewhat trivial later after getting better gear". The fighting itself splits players too: some call it satisfying, especially with limb damage, while others call it clunky and weightless and complain about aiming the bow without a crosshair. Some players point to the custom difficulty and peaceful settings as a way to tune all this.

PerformanceMedium

Reports on performance point both ways. A fair number of reviewers say it runs smoothly on mid-range or older hardware ("this game is great and runs smoothly on a 400 dallar laptop i bought from wallmart"). Others report stutter, frame drops in heavily built areas or when hosting, a laggy menu, poor FOV on ultrawide monitors, and occasional crashes on launch.

PriceLow

A recurring piece of advice is to wait for a sale. Some newer reviewers say they bought it cheaply in a sale and call it a bargain; others say it isn't worth full price.

What frustrates players

The story and endingHigh

Negative reviews raise the story or ending more often than any other complaint: it comes up in 23% of them. Players describe a plot told through scattered notes and a few cutscenes that only makes sense after a YouTube explainer, a final act that feels rushed, sci-fi turns that don't fit, and an ending slideshow some found creepy. Positive reviews criticise it too: "Worst story I have ever encountered in a game, narrowly beating out the first game (seriously hire a writer)." Others say the story feels disconnected from the survival game: "Seems like the game cant decide if it wants to be sandbox survival or a linear story game." A minority enjoy the lore and environmental storytelling and look forward to a sequel, and some players say they simply ignored the story.

No direction and an obtuse interfaceMedium

Players get lost. Key items like the shovel, rope gun and rebreather sit in specific caves with no hint about which to explore first, so players wander or look things up: "Many times left wondering what missing piece we needed or what we were supposed to do." Reviewers also report no tutorial, a GPS with no waypoints or full map view, a crafting mat that is hard to search under pressure, no hotkeys, and controls that newcomers fight in their first hours. Reviewers with only a couple of hours played raise these problems more often than others, sometimes alongside talk of refunds. Some reviewers defend the lack of hand-holding and recommend going in blind.

Bugs, crashes and lost savesMedium

Bug reports cover building pieces that won't place, falling through the world, enemies stuck inside walls, companions stuck, items vanishing on load, softlocks, bugged collectible achievements, and a final-cave exit prompt that never appeared for one player. Crashes hurt more because there is no autosave and you can only save at a shelter or bed: "no automatic saving means any issue causes you lose hours of progress, terrible game". In multiplayer, reviewers report "Host not responding" disconnects, non-host players losing their progress, and missed cutscenes: "only my friend got to see the cutscenes properly while I was able to move freely and pretty much missed every single one except the first and final cutscene."

Constant raids and base damageLow

Raids are a sore point for players who build. Reviewers describe cannibals attacking several times a day, enemies spawning or clipping inside bases, mutants tearing through walls, and difficulty that keeps scaling over time. "Took the enemies 40 seconds to destroy what took me 16 hours to build." Others feel that because you are always travelling to caves, building a base barely matters at all.

A huge but empty mapLow

Several reviewers say the island is too big for its content, with long walks before the golf cart or glider and few interesting places above ground. "The map is way too big for the amount of content that exists in the game."

Updates stoppedLow

A small group of reviewers say the game stopped receiving updates while bugs remained, and some say the studio moved on to its next game. A few added edits to older reviews to say the game had been abandoned, and one negative review reads, in full, "was abandoned and left in broken state".

Missing platforms and modesLow

A few reviewers ask for a console release, Steam Deck support and VR (which The Forest had), and some ask for more recipes, bone arrows and a censorship option for nudity.

3. The player conversation

The tone is affectionate and jokey. A large share of reviews are one-liners or memes about naked cannibals, Kelvin's misadventures, Virginia and the golf cart. The longer reviews, positive and negative, describe much the same game: a strong sandbox with building players enjoy, a good-looking horror island, a weak story and little guidance. Positive reviewers tend to forgive the story because the survival loop carries the game; negative reviewers say the story, bugs and tedium outweigh it.

What players write about shifts with how far they got. Players with only a few hours write about the interface, the controls, early deaths and confusion about what to do. Players who finished the game write about the ending and the final act. Long-time players write more about building and about the lack of new updates. Co-op players are enthusiastic, and solo players split between those who find the game lonely or grindy and those who enjoy it with the companions.

Sentiment held steady over time. Reviews written during early access were less positive (82%) than the slice as a whole, and some of those reviewers later edited them, a few to say the 1.0 release fixed their concerns and others to say it didn't. A large wave of new reviews arrived from March 2026 onward, some of them from players who say they bought the game cheaply in a sale. Weekly positive shares stayed between roughly 87% and 93% throughout that wave.

4. What the developers could do

1. Add autosave and sync multiplayer progress for every player. Reviewers describe losing hours to crashes because saving needs a shelter, and non-host players say their progress isn't kept.
2. Point players toward their next step. Reviewers describe wandering the island or reaching for a wiki because key items sit in unmarked caves with no hint about the order.
3. Give the story clearer delivery and a stronger ending. The story and ending are the complaint negative reviews raise most often, with players calling the final act rushed and confusing.
4. Fix building placement and stop enemies clipping into bases. Builders report pieces that refuse to snap, parts that can't be removed, and cannibals stuck inside walls during raids.
5. Fix crashes, falling through the world and multiplayer disconnects. These bugs come up often in negative reviews and cost players whole sessions.
6. Rebalance early combat and raid frequency. New players describe one-shots and death loops at cannibal camps, while builders say constant raids wreck hours of work.
7. Improve companion pathing and tree-felling near structures. Kelvin chopping trees onto bases, walking into fires and getting stuck are the companion problems reviewers keep running into.
8. Resume patches or say clearly what support remains. Some reviewers who came back years later say the game hasn't been updated in a long time, and a few edited older reviews to say so.