To make sure you don”t have any question marks hanging over your head when it comes to Sons of the Forest, we”ve got you covered with a recap of what happened in The Forest.

It”s been over six years since the cliffhanger in The Forest made us wait impatiently. But now the time has come: after two release delays, Sons of the Forest, the sequel, will be released on 23 February. So that you are fully in the picture right from the start and know what the mutants, the obelisk, the missionaries and Timmy are all about, we have summarised the entire story for you.

If you are only interested in the survival fun, you can simply ignore the story in Sons of the Forest, as in its predecessor, as it is purely optional. But then you will miss out on a lot: the story in The Forest, which at first seems unimpressive, is more exciting than you might think.

If you don”t want to miss anything about Sons of the Forest, you can find all the information about the survival game here!

The Plane Crash

The beginning of The Forest is probably still well remembered by most players: We are in a plane with our son Timmy by our side when suddenly the systems fail and the plane crashes. Once on the ground, we see a man painted red kidnap our unconscious son. Shortly afterwards, however, we go black again and when we wake up again, there is no trace of either of them.

From there, it”s up to us whether we look for our son or prefer to “enjoy” our existence on Cannibal Island. As we look around the world, we encounter some interesting story snippets and learn more about the mysterious island, but also about ourselves:

• Who are we? We play TV star Eric LeBlanc, whose wife (according to a found magazine cover) died in an accident. Only you and your son Timmy are left behind. How you became famous is not entirely clear. But the community suspects that LeBlanc is a survival expert – which would at least explain your excellent survival skills.
• Where are we? We”re crashing on a fictional peninsula. We don”t know exactly where it is, but judging by the flora and fauna it could be a small part of Canada.

The place and its history

When we look around a bit in The Forest, we quite quickly find more than just a nice piece of forest. Besides the cannibals and mutants, we also come across ancient gates and artefacts made of obsidian. The gates are magical in nature and can only be opened when a sacrifice has been made. The builders of these constructions are called The Ancient Ones but not much is known about them. The artefacts will play an important role later.

But there are also other exciting places on the peninsula. As time goes by, we also come across old campsites with crucifixes and Bibles all around, obviously a camp of former missionaries. Two drawings support this assumption: in Latin script they tell us about the huge sinkhole, the large hole in the ground on the map. They also encountered a four-legged woman, so the mutants already inhabited the island at that time. According to their writings, the crucifixes did not help to stop the monsters.

But the missionaries obviously did not meet a peaceful end, their mummified corpses are scattered all over the island – a catastrophe must have caught the believers cold. What triggered it, however, is impossible to say.

Sahara Therapeutics

Mankind was also drawn to the eerie obsidian buildings in modern times. The US medical company Sahara Therapeutics set up shop both on the peninsula and at the mysterious Site 2 . Underground laboratories were built, the so-called Jarius Project was supposed to cure sick children. With the help of the obelisk, one of the obsidian artefacts, they were able to bring the dead children back to life. However, this came at a price: for each revival, a sacrifice had to be made – a child who was still alive.

The reanimated tots were not who they once were either: Shortly afterwards, they turned into the mutants we know. One day it had to happen: A mutant broke out.

The Red Man

One of the staff at Sahara Therapeutics is a certain Dr Mathew Cross, in charge of the Jarius project. He is himself the father of a sick child, the young Megan Cross. In the outbreak of the six-armed mutant, Megan dies. Many other mutants also break free, throwing the lab into chaos. The apparent sole survivor is Dr Cross.

With the help of the obelisk, he wants to revive his daughter, but he needs a living child as an offering – but all the children in the facility have already died or turned into mutants. However, there is another artefact of the Ancient Ones: a device that releases a powerful EMP shockwave and brings all technical devices to a standstill. So powerful that it could even knock a plane out of the sky …

So that”s why our plane crashed. Dr Cross used the artefact with the hope of getting his hands on a living child. He kidnapped Timmy, the red colour on his skin was a protection against the cannibals, which by the way we can use in the game as well.

Timmy is dead

When we finally arrive at the lab, we discover three things: First, we find Timmy lifeless in the obelisk – the sacrifice has already been made. Dr. Cross, however, did not survive the boy for too long; we find him still dead on the floor, covered in red paint. Pointed chalk sticks protrude from his head, smeared with blood next to it: Daddy”s Dead.

After a little searching, we also find the alleged murderer Megan drawing on the floor. It doesn”t take long either before she transforms into a huge, spider-like mutant. If you defeat her, protagonist Eric tries to revive his son with her as a victim. But that doesn”t work, because Megan died in the fight – a living victim is needed.

Now the game presents us with a choice: Either we say goodbye to Timmy for good, return to the surface and continue living in the cannibal forest. This way we can continue to use this score, but the cannibals are much more aggressive from now on. However, we can also follow the same path as Dr. Cross.

The end including the cliffhanger

We can save our son, just as Dr. Cross tried to save his daughter: By using the artefact to crash a plane. Should we choose to do so, we can still see the falling plane before a black screen greets us.

A time jump later, we are sitting in the middle of a late night talk show – and not alone. Timmy is at our side, alive and kicking. But it”s not long before our son collapses in the hall, twitching and shaking, much like Megan”s transformation into a mutant. We can defuse the situation, however, by moving towards Timmy and giving him a good talking-to. The transformation stops.

A second time jump occurs and little Timmy is now a young adult. In his flat we see a map with an unknown island on it – potentially the legendary place Site 2? However, Timmy suffers another seizure, his hands swell up and … the end. What a cliffhanger.

What happens next in Sons of the Forest?

Not much is known about the story so far. We play an elite soldier who is searching for a millionaire when our helicopter crashes on the new island. Potentially, the missing millionaire is Timmy, who has inherited well from his TV star father. But perhaps we ourselves are playing the young adult who visits this island on purpose. That would explain why we, as half-mutants, are able to befriend the mutant Virginia in the new part.

We still know very little about the sequel. But it seems very likely that the new island is Site 2. After all, there are similar monsters plaguing the island, and we could already spy a laboratory facility or something similar in this trailer. We will know more soon, Sons of the Forest is scheduled for release on 23 February.

Will you play Sons of the Forest or are you not interested in the story at all? Feel free to write it in the comments.