Sons of the Forest, the sequel to the popular The Forest, recently surpassed Starfield to become Steam’s most wish-listed game. It’ll enter early access on February 23 and include up to 8-player multiplayer on day one.
While Sons of the Forst is expected to be in early access for about 6-8 months, multiplayer will be here from the start. Earlier today, IGN released an exclusive multiplayer trailer showing a mashup of gameplay focused on base-building and defending it.
Multiplayer is a massive draw for survival games like Sons of the Forest, but the folks at Endnight Games are also looking out for solo players. At the 25-second mark in the trailer, we get a glimpse of the AI companion that can follow around and help you build your base. And it won’t be limited to solo players either. Here, we can see at least two players and the AI companion.
You can issue it quick-select commands via a notepad. Want it to collect logs and deliver them to a specific location? Just select those commands, and it’ll start doing it. Other commands include following you, gather supplies, and building.
It sounds like this AI companion could tackle the more tedious aspects of survival games while players focus on building or exploring. I’m crossing my fingers this feature delivers. It could shake up how survival games play and make the genre more enjoyable for folks who prefer to play solo.
As for how much of the game is here at the start of early access? Here’s how the devs describe the state it’ll launch in:
“The game is playable in both single-player and multiplayer with up to 8 players. There are caves to explore, a story to uncover, a brand-new building system, crafting system, a new arsenal of weapons, dynamic weather and seasons, terrifying enemies and lots more.”
And throughout the rest of 2023, the devs will implement the usual bug fixes and improvements to the core gameplay while adding more items, crafting, building, and “additional game mechanics and lore.”
While a price isn’t showing on the Steam page yet, the devs have previously said on Twitter it’ll cost $29.99 when it launches on February 23.