The survival game genre is suitably competitive. You’ve got The Long Dark, DayZ, Rust – in such a packed ecosystem, only the strongest can prevail. Back in 2014, The Forest dominated the survival world thanks to its intuitive base building and convincing first-person horror. In 2024, Sons of the Forest became a huge hit. Since then, however, enthusiasm for Endnight’s sequel seems to have faded, and as it stands, the original Forest consistently gets more players on Steam than its younger sibling. But Sons of the Forest is far from finished. A gigantic new update is the perfect reason to once again get lost in the woods.
It’s not that Sons of the Forest is struggling. On the contrary, it’s got a ‘very positive’ rating based on Steam user reviews and in the last 24 hours has achieved a concurrent user high of more than 17,000. But the original Forest, despite being ten years older (if you account for the time it spent in alpha) is still doing better: ‘overwhelmingly positive,’ and with a 24 hour player high of 25,052. Endnight has one of those ‘good problems.’ The survival game sequel might not have reached its full momentum yet, but people clearly still love the series and its core conceits. The latest Sons of the Forest update, however, may lure more people towards the newer game.
First up, the accuracy of a number of ranged weapons, including the crossbow, compound bow, crafted bow, shotgun, and slingshot has been improved. You can now build three types of raft as well as a mooring post to keep them tied to the shore close to your base. Speaking of water, if you’ve ever had that annoying moment when your co-op buddy dies during swimming and you can’t rescue them then worry no longer – you can now revive fellow players even when they’re mid-swim.
A new secret outfit has been added and hidden somewhere, then there’s a fantastic upgrade to Sons of the Forest’s already intuitive building system. Now, if you want to create a defensive wall, you can just paint an outline and your pal Kelvin will get the resources and fill it in, making it much easier to keep the horrifying hordes out of your home.
The new update also includes 128 (I’ve counted them) bug fixes, tweaks, and balancing changes, affecting almost every aspect of the game. One of the main remedies applies, once again, to ranged weapons – if you’ve got a laser sight equipped, the projectile path is now more accurate.
A bothersome bug where you get stuck in the inventory screen after consuming an item has also been squashed. So, if you haven’t played Sons of the Forest yet, or you’re considering going back after a hiatus, it should be better than ever.
Otherwise, try some of the other best horror games, or perhaps the best co-op games available on PC.
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