End Night’s The Forest has been in development through Steam Early Access for almost four years, having first launched on May 30th 2014. Though version 1.0 is a significant milestone for the developer, it will continue to improve the experience as time goes on.
In a recent statement on Steam, the studio said that, “Today The Forest moves from early access into a full release. It’s been a crazy ride, made possible only by the players who have supported us for the last four years. To the team here it feels like a game we all made together, us and the community. Your input suggestions and feedback has been invaluable to us.”
However, The Forest won’t be available for VR until May 22nd. It will have all the base game’s features though there are some neat little additions, like mapping your HUD to a smart watch. Cutting trees with motion controls and utilizing a 3D inventory is also possible.
For a survival game, The Forest actually has a very robust story, focusing Eric Leblanc and his son traveling by plane until it suddenly crashes. Despite surviving, Eric sees his son kidnapped by a tribal person and must fend off cannibals, wildlife and so on. The main goal is to explore the caves underground and rescue his son before foul things occur.