Just last week, Children of the Forest launched into Early Access on Steam. So, of course, the highly anticipated survival horror game will have its problems. Its predecessor, The Forest, met a similar fate when it launched in 2014, remaining in early access for four years before fully releasing; in the end, it was awesome.
I expect the same to happen with Children of the Forest. After all, the basis for another horror game from Endnight Games already exists (Log Carts aside). In fact, Children of the Forest sold 2 million copies in just 24 hours…you could say that’s pretty successful.
Ultimately, Children of the Forest is a great time in its current state, even with its many glitches. I’ve witnessed friends take advantage of the game in countless ways that would have ruined our immersion in any other situation. In Children of the Forest, however, what really counts is having an unapologetic fun time.
Whether it’s roaming beneath the map, essentially inventing a new way of fast travel, or using a stick to access normally inaccessible areas, Children of the Forest is as much about survival as it is about discovery. Of course, I think the point of Endnight is for players to discover things differently, but discovering game-breaking bugs and other glitches is almost as much fun.
It’s also a voyage of online discovery. Since I’ve been writing a guide for Children of the Forest, there are a lot of questions that remain unanswered at the moment. Will log carts come back? Do fish traps really work? When will we build gates to our currently useless walls? Endnight Games’ communication isn’t great, but the community makes up for it. After all, we are all trying to survive and escape this island together.
Every problem that arises in Children of the Forest has some sort of “solution” found by the community; players come together to learn about the various alternatives to doors that might protect our base, new ways to get water, and keep Kelvin from completely ruining your hard work. The tricks of the job. Everyone is pooling their survival skills to make the most of this beautiful but multi-vehicle island.
Speaking of which, let’s not overlook our beloved sidekick Kelvin. Suffering some form of brain damage during a helicopter crash, the guy can’t speak or hear. Instead, he took orders in his notepad, sat by the fire, and made our lives harder. That said, no matter how much chaos and destruction Kelvin caused, most of us couldn’t bear the thought of saying goodbye to him.
All in all, these moments of unexpected chaos almost feel like part of the perils of surviving on an island full of cannibals, mutants, and general horror. In any multiplayer game with a survival scenario, there’s always one member who doesn’t seem to care about being alive and is just here for the ride; usually me, but in this case, Kelvin.
Of course, I didn’t expect my own allies to bring down our treehouse (fuck you, Kelvin), but I can’t be mad at Kelvin. No one can. Despite my friends and I constantly cursing our dear AI buddy for throwing logs at us, stalking us, or just staring into our souls, no one has the heart to hurt him.
Kelvin is part of the team now, and while I hope Endnight finally fixes the issues prevalent in the Children of the Forest soon, I sincerely hope Kelvin isn’t affected; he’s perfect, if a little kludgy.
