Developer Endnight Games says Sons of the Forest, the sequel to The Forest, which mixes the Survival genre with the Horror genre, will be released on February 23, 2023, but the game won't be in full release. Sons of the Forest will be released in Early Access instead of the full version. (Not that the developers prefer it that way, but to avoid another huge release date delay)
Endnight Games made in the statement “'Sons of The Forest' has been a long journey since we started development and it has become the most complex game we've ever made. There is much more we would like to add; items, new mechanics, game balance and more. We didn't want to delay the game again and instead decided to involve the community in the ongoing development of this project and keep our pre-set February 23 date."
After several years marked by massive delays in games of all kinds, it's a different path than most other developers have taken. The sequel, Endnight, won't be its first Early Access debut, as The Forest has achieved one of its first major Early Access successes.
Sons of the Forest will be a world in what Endnight calls the Survival Horror simulator, where you must survive both hostile terrain and the onslaught of a society of terrifying, cannibalistic mutants. Our character will be stranded on a remote island after he goes in search of a missing billionaire, so you'll have to craft, harvest, build, hunt and all the other normal Survival game stuff, but be careful not to get yourself prey, either.
The Sons of the Forest community seems to be responding quite well to the news, all things considered, with some welcoming the decision while others urging developers to take their time. Still, a sizable minority dislikes this choice and are concerned that it will not only increase development time before a finished game is released, but also mean that the resulting game will be of lower quality.
Regardless of the result, the new game of the beloved series seems to excite us in 2023.