The Forest will flee Early Access this April

The Forest, one of many survival games to hit Steam's Early Access over the past four years, will launch into 1.0 this April. The announcement was made in a new Steam Community post, where studio Endlight Games also outlined what the launch will entail.

First of all, the current price of $14.99 will rise to $19.99, so for those eager to make the most of that five dollar difference, now's probably the time. In addition to simply launching, the game will get official controller support (useful, since the game is coming to PS4 this year as well). As far as game improvements go, "new reasons and resources" for killing the game's ubiquitous AI foes, the creepies, will be implemented.

Elsewhere the cold and warmth system will be addressed, most notably with a new warm suit. New buildables are incoming, as well as performance optimizations for both "late game saves" and "multiplayer save games". On the topic of multiplayer, the clothing system will be "improved and expanded with a new system to allow you to switch outfits."

Finally, there will more details regarding a VR game mode "closer to release", as well as more information on other changes, additions and improvements.

The Forest is a survival game about surviving a passenger jet crash and, as you'd expect, fending off diabolical zombie-like creatures on a mysterious forest-coated island. For mine, it's among the most fun of the survival games out there at present.

Shaun Prescott

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.