Sons of the Forest looks gnarly and it just got a May 2022 release date

The PC version is launching on May 20

Status updates have been few and far between for Sons of the Forest, the sequel to the freaky mutant survival game The Forest, but Endnight shared a big one today. After a lot of wondering, it turns out that it’s got a pretty close release date, at least in terms of the initial PC launch. Sons of the Forest is on track for May 20, 2022, which isn’t crowded yet.

There’s something about things going bump in a cave that really sets off my paranoia, to say nothing of trees and bushes rustling suspiciously. That said, after securing a base and enough weapons — and a gun-toting companion — the fleshy freakos start to lose their fear factor a bit. It’s not a mark against the game so much as a reassuring inevitability. I want to be scared, unsettled, and caught off-guard, but considering this is still a survival game, I also want to eventually overcome those moments so I can, you know, chill a bit.

Last we heard from a tweet at the end of October, Sons of the Forest ideally would’ve been a late 2021 release, but the team needed more time. The developers tucked a few screenshots into that message, including the nicely-lit item stockpile pictured above, another grisly one with a head missing its body, and an image showing a spear about to strike a pair of sea turtles. I’ll do a lot of depraved stuff in video games, but I won’t do that.

Curiously, Sons of the Forest still doesn’t have a Steam page — or an Epic Games Store listing, for that matter — so we’ll have to circle back to see how the launch might shake out. The Forest built up a substantial audience on PS4, but right now, it’s looking like PC is the priority. I’m also wondering about early access; are they skipping to a full release?

We’re coming up on two years since the sequel was revealed at The Game Awards, and fans of The Forest are more than ready to team up. “Fight demons,” indeed.