Sons of the Forest will be coming to Early Access instead of being delayed again

After “one final” delay for Sons of the Forest late last year, developer Endnight Games has announced that the horror will be releasing into Early Access later this month, rather than being delayed again.

Endnight says it made the decision to release Early Access in order to “engage the community in the evolution of this project” – which reportedly led to the “massive success” of its predecessor, The Forest – while “maintaining it[ing its] Release date February 23”.

“It’s been a long road since we started development on Sons of The Forest and it has grown into the largest and most complex game we’ve ever made,” said the team in a opinion posted on Steam.

“There is so much more we want to add: items, new mechanics, gameplay balance and more. We didn’t want to delay again, so instead we decided to involve the community in the further development of this project and keep our February 23rd release date but release in Early Access instead.

“The Forest has proven to be a huge success, largely due to the amazing community and the suggestions, feedback, and bug reports that players have shared with us,” the statement concludes. “We’re really excited and hope players will want to join us on this new journey to make this the ultimate survival horror simulator.”

Sons of the Forest is the direct sequel to Endnight’s well-received The Forest, which released its version 1.0 in 2018 after four years in Early Access. As Ed describes, it combined the survival genre’s penchant for looting and crafting with truly unnerving horror as protagonist Eric Leblanc searched the eponymous cannibal-infested forest for his son after a harrowing plane crash.

Sons of the Forest, which this time sees players tracking down a missing billionaire on a remote island, was originally slated for release in May last year, but Endnight made the decision to delay the release until October to reflect its “vision for the next step in Survival.” -Play”.