The Forest is a forthcoming survival horror game with Oculus Rift support. A recent trailer leaves us impressed with the game’s visuals and with high hopes for its gameplay. The game launches in alpha through Steam on May 22nd and the developers aim to add virtual reality motion controls in the future.

The Forest developers, Endnight Games, pledged Oculus Rift support early on during their development of the game. From what we’ve seen so far, the game is looking graphically very rich and could be incredible on the Rift. The combination of high fidelity graphics, peaceful and ambient day time moments with frightening and dangerous night time moments could be highly immersive.

The gameplay looks similar to Minecraft, but with an emphasis on horror and survival rather than creation (the visual aesthetic is also decidedly difference). But it won’t be entirely devoid of crafting; The Forest looks to boast craftable items and structures that will allow the player to create a base from which to mount a defense against the game’s enemies.

Here’s how the game’s creators describe the game:

The World

Enter a living, breathing forest with changing weather patterns, plants that grow and die. Tides that roll in and out with the day/night cycle. Below ground explore a vast network of caves and underground lakes.

Complete Player Freedom

Chop down trees to build a camp, or start a fire to keep warm. Scavenge food to keep yourself from starving. Find and plant seeds to grow food.

Build a small shelter or a large ocean side fortress. decorate your home with found items. Lay traps and defenses to keep a safe perimeter.

Gameplay

Explore and build during the day. Defend your base at night. Craft weapons and tools.Bunker down during the evening or bring the fight directly to the enemy.

Fight or Hide

Use stealth to evade enemies, or engage them directly with crude weapons built from sticks and stones.

A New Type of Open World, Survival Horror Experience

Defend yourself against a clan of genetic mutant enemies that have beliefs, families and morals and that appear almost human.

According to the game’s FAQ, motion controls are on the roadmap:

Will you support motion controllers for those actions performed in the trailer? (wood chopping, smashing heads, carrying birds)

We haven’t announced official support for motion controllers yet, but we will be aiming to support the most popular motion controllers as the virtual reality platform develops.

Our hope would be that we’ll see Razer Hydra, Sixense Stem, and PrioVR support.

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The Forest Screenshots

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."