20 Best Games Like Sons of the Forest 

Sons of the Forest, the sequel to the survival horror video game The Forest, was set to release in May. The developer pushed back the release date to October, meaning we will have to wait some more before discovering the new enemies and challenges of this new game. To pass the time until this game comes out, here are the 20 best games like Sons of the Forest.

#20 Five Nights at Freddy’s Security Breach

• Developer: Steel Wool Studios
• Publisher: ScottGames
• Platform: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows
• Release Date: December 16, 2021

If Sons of the Forest is not scary enough for you, Five Nights at Freddy’s Security Breach may be a good fit. Just like the previous games in the series, Five Nights at Freddy’s Security Breach likes to play with our nerves. This time, we don’t play as a security guard watching over creepy animatronics. The main character is a child, locked in a mall for the night. And of course, the mall is full of animatronics who would like to catch and kill you. Five Nights at Freddy’s Security Breach is full of jumpscares and will make you avoid malls near their closing time.

#19 Don’t Starve Together

• Developer: Klei Entertainment
• Publisher: Klei Entertainment
• Platform: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
• Release Date: April 21, 2016

Don’t Starve Together is the coop version of the popular survival game Don’t Starve. As its name suggests, the goal of Don’t Starve Together is to avoid starving… with someone else. Each replay is different, as the map is procedurally generated to feature various biomes, resources, and threats. To avoid starving, you will need to grow crops and harvest materials across the map. But there are many threats lurking around, either trying to kill you as you venture outside of your shelter or robbing you of things you managed to gather by breaking into your camp.

#18 State of Decay 2

• Developer: Undead Labs
• Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
• Platform: Microsoft Windows, Xbox One
• Release Date: May 22, 2018

In 2013, State of Decay put us in charge of a small group of survivors in a world infested by zombies. Five years later, this game gets a sequel with State of Decay 2. This new opus introduces cooperative multiplayer with up to three other players. The goal is to manage a community of survivors, scavenge for materials, build a shelter and improve it to protect the survivors from the hordes of zombies roaming around. On top of protecting everyone from the undead, you have to make sure the survivors have enough food, medicine, and ammo to stay alive.

#17 Stranded Deep

• Developer: Beam Team Games
• Publisher: Beam Team Games
• Platform: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• Release Date: January 23, 2015

Stranded Deep begins with a plane crash. Luckily, you find a lifeboat nearby with a compass and some rations. After some time floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, you may find an island to build a shelter and drink some coconut water. But don’t overdo it with coconut water: it can cause diarrhea, and deplete your hydration quickly. Stranded Deep not only does a great job of being a Cast Away simulator, but it also features a large variety of aquatic life forms. There are plenty of different fish, turtles, sharks, and whales, as well as three mythical creatures: a megalodon shark, a giant squid, and a giant eel.

#16 Amnesia: The Dark Descent

• Developer: Frictional Games
• Publisher: Frictional Games
• Platform: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android
• Release Date: September 8, 2010

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a scary game. It takes the survival aspect of games quite literally – you don’t need to keep up with your basic needs such as hunger or thirst, but you need to survive against a bigger threat. The main character, Daniel, wakes up in a dark and empty castle. He doesn’t remember anything from his past, except that someone, or something, is hunting him. And he is right: a monster is lurking in the shadows. Daniel has no way of fighting back, he must hide to survive. But staying in the dark too long makes him lose his sanity, causing some visual and auditory hallucinations. Finding the right balance to stay alive while not going crazy is the key to surviving in Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

#15 Subnautica + Subnautica Below Zero

• Developer: Unknown Worlds Entertainment
• Publisher: Unknown Worlds Entertainment
• Platform: Microsoft Windows, macOS, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: December 16, 2014

Subnautica is an open-world survival game set in the depth of an alien ocean. At the beginning of the game, your spaceship crashes on a remote ocean planet. You now have to survive in these dangerous waters while completing missions to find a way out of this planet. The game is available on most platforms and also supports VR headsets. Subnautica: Below Zero is the sequel to Subnautica and takes place two years after the events of the original game. While this sequel features the same core survival mechanics as the first game, it also dives deeper into the alien planet’s backstory.

#14 Empyrion

• Developer: Eleon Game Studios
• Publisher: Eleon Game Studios
• Platform: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS
• Release Date: August 5, 2015

Empyrion puts you at the commands of your own spaceship. And since you are the commander, you can do pretty much anything you want: warp between planets, discover new moons, meet alien fauna and flora. Or kill everyone you see, humans and aliens alike. If it may look like No Man’s Sky, Empyrion puts a bigger emphasis on survival. There are dangers everywhere in the universe, from hostile aliens to biological hazards. The game also features a multiplayer mode with PvP combat on persistent planets. You can gather resources and build your own base, before rushing over to destroy the constructions of other players.

#13 Ark

• Developer: Studio Wildcard
• Publisher: Studio Wildcard
• Platform: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Stadia
• Release Date: June 2, 2015

Ark is a dream come true for all dinosaurs lovers. In this survival game, you are left stranded on a map filled with various dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. Of course, they aren’t all nice, and a T-Rex may chase you down on your first run. But as you get more familiar with the game, you can build your own base and tame over 80 unique dinosaurs. Besides fulfilling a dino fantasy, the goal of Ark is to survive in this foreign land. You will need to get food and water, build a shelter, and craft some protection against environmental damage. All while avoiding getting killed by other players, if you opt for the multiplayer mode.

#12 Valheim

Developer: Iron Gate AB

Publisher: Coffee Stain Publishing

Platform: Microsoft Windows, Linux

Release Date: February 2, 2021

If your favorite aspect of Sons of the Forest is to craft your settlement and survive in an unwelcoming territory, then Valheim could be a good fit for you. The game takes place where the deceased Vikings go to prove themselves worthy of reaching the halls of Valhalla. To reach the Norse mythology heaven, you will need to defeat various enemies, from your neighbor troll to wolves and deathsquitos. To prepare for these challenges, you can build your own farmstead or even an entire village with a port for your boat. Valheim supports coop gameplay with up to ten players, but PvP isn’t a core feature of the game.

#11 Dying Light 2 Stay Human

• Developer: Techland
• Publisher: Techland
• Platform: Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows
• Release Date: December 7, 2021

In the original Dying Light, a virus turned humans into hyper-aggressive zombies. They were all quarantined in a city, but everyone ended up dying. Despite this accident, scientists continued working on the virus. A mutated version escaped one of the labs, causing a second pandemic that spreads even faster than the first one. Dying Light 2 Stay Human picks up the story 15 years after this outbreak. Most humans are dead, leaving only a few survivors to fight against hordes of zombies. We play as Aiden Caldwell, who leaves the comfort of his shelter to look out for his missing sister.

#10 SCUM

• Developer: Gamepires
• Publisher: Gamepires
• Platform: Microsoft Windows
• Release Date: August 29, 2018

In Scum, you are stranded with up to 64 players in a prison somewhere off the coast of Croatia. Your goal is to break free from jail and escape the island with your fellow inmates. But this is no small feat: the island is pretty large, with dense forests, abandoned towns, and rundown airfields. To survive in this hostile environment, players can fortify existing buildings or craft new shelters using scavenged materials. Scum goes pretty far in the realism of its prison riot survival game. If you ever get knocked out and lose a tooth, you will need to find a way to liquefy food to keep on eating. And you don’t simply need to eat – you also have to check the level of each vitamin, as well as your muscle mass, and even the volume of your stomach. 

#9 Rust

• Developer: Facepunch Studios
• Publisher: Facepunch Studios Ltd, Double Eleven, Koch Media
• Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS
• Release Date: December 11, 2013

The most dangerous enemies in Rust are not cannibalistic mutants or zombies, but other players. You start your adventure naked in the woods and have to gather materials to dress up a bit and build a shelter. As you get better stuff, you will venture to bigger places in hopes of finding rare materials. But you are not the only one wanting to find these resources, so you may encounter other players. Or get sniped from a distance and die without even understanding why. The best way to enjoy Rust is to play with friends or find a community of players to build a base and conduct raids together.

#8 Raft

• Developer: Redbeet Interactive
• Publisher: Axolot Games
• Platform: Microsoft Windows, Linux
• Release Date: May 23, 2018

Raft is an open-world survival game set, as its name suggests, on a raft. At first, you only have a hook to help you survive. With that hook, you can catch objects floating in the ocean, like wood, plastic, or palm fronds. You can also swim around, but be careful as the ocean current will move the raft away and you could become a shark’s snack. As you progress in the game, you eventually upgrade your raft and discover the game’s storyline. Why are you alone in the middle of an ocean? Where is your family? You better not be afraid of the deep sea if you want to play this game. 

#7 The Long Dark

• Developer: Hinterland Studio
• Publisher: Hinterland Studio
• Platform: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: August 1, 2017

Just like The Forest, The Long Dark begins with a plane crash leaving you in unwelcoming territory. But this time, it is not a forest filled with cannibals. Instead, The Long Dark takes place in the frigid Canadian wilderness. Surviving in this territory is not easy. You will have to pay attention to your body temperature, caloric intake, hunger, thirst, fatigue, all while avoiding the hostile wildlife. The Long Dark features three game modes: survival, story, and challenge. The goal of the survival mode is to survive as long as possible in this wilderness. The story mode is an episodic game that follows the story of the crash-landed pilot. The challenge mode brings new objectives to the game that you have to complete in a specific time frame. 

#6 Outlast

• Developer: Red Barrels
• Publisher: Red Barrels
• Platform: Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: September 4, 2013

Outlast follows the story of Miles Upshur, a freelance investigative journalist that receives an anonymous tip about inhumane experiments conducted in a psychiatric hospital. While most people would avoid venturing into a place like that, it would take more for Miles to drop the case. The patients of this psychiatric hospital are homicidal and butchered the staff. They escaped and now freely wander in the corridors. As he is a journalist, Miles has no way to fight against the inmates. All he can do is hide and hope not to get killed. Whether Miles survives this hell or not will depend on your actions.

#5 Soma

• Developer: Frictional Games
• Publisher: Frictional Games
• Platform: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• Release Date: September 22, 2015

In 2015, Simon Jarrett, the main character of Soma, gets in a car accident. While he manages to survive, he sustains severe brain damage that leads him to undergo an experimental brain scan. He blacks out during the intervention and wakes up 89 years later. Since then, a comet struck the Earth and wiped out most of humanity. The only survivors are in an underwater research facility, where Simon wakes up. But dangers lurk in every corner: most humans were turned into monsters that Simon needs to avoid. Soma was developed by the same team behind Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and uses psychological horror to make you feel uncomfortable during your entire playthrough.

#4 Darkwood

• Developer: Acid Wizard Studio
• Publisher: Acid Wizard Studio
• Platform: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Steam OS, Ubuntu, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia
• Release Date: August 17, 2017

The main character of Darkwood is trapped in a dark forest somewhere in the territory of the Soviet Bloc. But this forest is not like any other: a strange plague is killing everyone in it, turning them into monsters. And escaping the forest is not an easy task, as it seems to be ever-growing. During the daytime, the main character can go out, scavenge for supplies, and reinforce their shelter. But the night is a whole other story. The monsters awaken and try to break into the hideout. Laying traps to survive the night is key to having enough time during the day to explore the forest and find a way out of this nightmare.

#3 7 Days To Die

• Developer: The Fun Pimps
• Publisher: The Fun Pimps
• Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux
• Release Date: December 13, 2013

Besides the cannibalistic mutants of The Forest, another type of creepy creature than would like to bite your head is zombies. 7 Days To Die has plenty of those, from ramping zombies to feral ones that would kill you in a split second. Every seven nights, a special red moon lights up the sky and unleashes hordes of zombies. You better be ready and have a solid shelter protected by traps, because these zombies will destroy everything on their way to reach you. During the day, the zombies are more chill, allowing you to scavenge some materials and upgrade your defenses before the next assault.

#2 Green Hell

• Developer: Creepy Jar
• Publisher: Creepy Jar
• Platform: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Microsoft Windows
• Release Date: August 29, 2018

Green Hell is a survival game that takes place in the Amazon rainforest. Unlike Sons of the Forest, there are no weird mutants out to get you. But the Amazon rainforest is full of dangers, from its dangerous wildlife to poisonous food. Not to mention the occasional hallucinations you may have. If you ever get an infection, you will need to put maggots in the wound so they could eat the dead flesh. Green Hell is a dream come true for gamers who wish they were Bear Grylls but don’t want to leave the comfort of their home.

#1 The Forest

• Developer: Endnight Games
• Publisher: Endnight Games
• Platform: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4
• Release Date: 30 April 2018

The Forest is an obvious pick for this list. It is the prequel to Sons of the Forest, and the entire reason this upcoming game exists. After a plane crash, you are left alone in the middle of a strange forest. Well, not exactly alone: the forest is also filled with cannibalistic mutants. The entire goal of The Forest is to survive by all means necessary. Create your camp, craft some weapons, fend off the cannibals, and uncover the mysteries of the forest. And eventually find Timmy, your son, whom you haven’t seen since the crash.