Insider Gaming reports that Sons of the Forest is now the most highly wishlisted game on Steam.
It is the sequel to The Forest, a survival game that pits you against cannibals and mutants while isolated deep in a forested peninsula. Released in 2018 for PlayStation 4 and Windows, The Forest sets itself apart from other survival games with its narrative open ended gameplay. Without any missions or quests laid out for you, you are free to go about surviving and finding out why you ended up there.
Developer Endnight Games was able to craft a story, and build the game in such a way that you could find your way through that story, without the structure of a traditional video game quest. It’s testament to very strong game and map design that they were able to make the idea work.
For Sons of the Forest, the story has been shifted to the search for a missing billionaire. That makes it possible for you to forget about the story entirely if you want to, and play the game as a survival horror. There is also online multiplayer, where again you and your friends can choose to just play a survival game as is, or work towards the story.
While The Forest was certainly a huge success upon release, the sudden popularity of Sons of the Forest is certainly surprising. Other previous wishlist chart toppers like Dead Space Remake and Hogwarts Legacy have already released. The Day Before takes a unique distinction of having lost popularity, after recent developments have led fans to losing trust in the game and its developers.
However, there are still many other big name titles coming to Steam in the future. That certainly includes Microsoft’s big budget titles Redfall and Starfield, but also big third party titles, like Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Star Wars Jedi Survivor, and Alan Wake 2.
It can certainly be speculated that part of this game’s sudden rise was an interest in fans who were looking forward to The Day Before, but now find themselves looking for something similar to play. It’s also possible that the simple fact that the game is coming soon suddenly drove consumer interest.
The most unique thing about this situation is just that it seemed that gamers forgot this game was coming for the better part of three years when it was announced on 2019’s The Game Awards. Still, better late than never if it means people are going to get it in time for launch.
Sons of the Forest will be releasing on PC via Steam on February 23, 2023.
