Best Games Like The Forest

Those looking for new and terrifying open-world survival crafting experiences need only play the best games like The Forest on PC and console.

Much like Endnight Games’ hit indie survival title these games provide a plethora of trials where players must use every resource at their disposal to stay alive.

In this list, we’ll highlight the top-tier games like The Forest on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch platforms to add to your collection.

Make sure to check back in the future to see fresh recommendations for games similar to The Forest!

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Any fan of The Forest is likely already acquainted with the upcoming sequel currently in development at Endnight Games.

Touted as an audacious successor, Sons of The Forest builds upon the original with new characters and a story set on yet another cannibal-infested hellscape.

Players will get to work with their friends to explore the world while reaping the benefits of improved combat, survival mechanics, and graphics.

Next up on our list of the best games like The Forest is Odd Woods, a survival crafting game that takes place in a mysterious forest with a vicious day/night cycle.

During the day, players must hunt for food, gather resources, and build a shelter to withstand nights filled with attacks from terrible creatures.

While barebones in its Early Access state, developer Matt has been consistent with adding fresh content and bug fixes via regular updates.

Survival fans searching for more Steam games like The Forest are welcome to pick up Urge, an immersive open-world crafting game that comes courtesy of EnDrew.

In it, players on the role of a survivor tasked with fighting, building, and exploring in an unpredictable world shrouded in a hazardous fog that’s infected every living creature.

Like The Forest, every choice made in this game can make or break your chances of surviving an onslaught of lethal wildlife and unforgiving environments.

Dying Light 2 casts you and your friends as agile survivors fighting for their lives in a post-apocalyptic vast world infested with zombies.

Expanding on the original Dying Light, it features improved animations, physics, and enemy AI along with a host of new traversal tools for exploring the world.

While it’s admittedly less demanding than The Forest in terms of survival mechanics, both games prioritize player decision-making equally.

When it comes to open-world PlayStation games like The Forest, Days Gone is a sturdy alternative that’s since been ported to PC via Steam.

In it, players assume control of Deacon St. John, a rogue biker forging his own path in the Oregon wilderness following a zombie outbreak.

To stay alive, he’ll have to forage for supplies while crafting new weapons and traps to deal with enemies in addition to parts and fuel for his motorcycle.

Moving along, V Rising is one of the finest survival games like The Forest that casts you as a blood-thirsty vampire on a mission to grow their empire in a dreary world.

Similar to The Forest, this entails a substantial amount of open-world exploration, base-building and crafting, and action-driven combat with formidable enemies.

Additionally, V Rising features a day/night cycle that influences the world and activities made available to the player.

Replacing vampires with Norse warriors, Valheim is among the top Steam games similar to The Forest that provide open-world exploration and robust crafting systems.

In it, you take on the role of one of Odin’s fallen warriors who ends up in a legendary Norse world teeming with natural resources and beasts.

To get by, players must explore their surroundings while gathering raw materials to craft weapons, tools, shelter, and other equipment vital for survival.

Consistently ranked among the top survival games like The Forest, The Long Dark is a single-player-driven survival game set in a desolate frozen wasteland.

Assuming control of a bush pilot whose plane crashes on a sprawling remote island during an especially harsh Canadian winter, it’s up to you as the player to try and stay alive.

Like The Forest, this requires managing your time efficiently to prevent your character from succumbing to exhaustion, hunger, and thirst as well as countless other threats.

Our next suggestion for the best games like The Forest is the PvP-focused survival game Rust, which sees you competing with other players to stay alive.

This is done by first spawning onto a nearby shore as a “naked,” with nothing but a rock to your name before heading off to explore the vast world and gather resources.

Along the way, there’s a good chance you’ll encounter other players who can either be friendly or hostile depending on how the situation plays out.

Green Hell is another game that’s often compared to The Forest as the two share many resemblances in terms of gameplay and world design.

Instead of mutated cannibals, players must deal with untrusting tribespeople while navigating the extreme conditions of the Amazon jungle.

This requires a keen sense of judgment to know which areas are safe and which are off-limits as well as how to find materials for crafting weapons and shelter.

For some people, the thought of exploring underwater worlds is just as frightening if not more as anything The Forest has to offer.

To prove it, look no further than the renowned survival crafting game Subnautica, which has garnered a loyal following of fans over the years.

In it, your ship crash-lands on a submerged alien planet with a rich ecosystem of both prey and predators that must be leveraged or avoided to stay alive.

ARK is another well-known survival game that offers similarly open-ended gameplay as The Forest while putting its own sci-fi spin on the genre.

The game tasks players with building a home and exploring an enormous world overrun with giant dinosaurs and advanced technology.

Both of which can be molded to your will through research, resulting in new tools, weapons, and means of traversal that will help you uncover novel mysteries.

Rather than contesting with cannibals, tribespeople, or marine nightmares, what if you had to face enormous insects in your own backyard?

This is the premise set forth by Grounded, a survival sandbox game by Obsidian Entertainment that tasks you with fending for yourself after being shrunk down to the size of an ant.

Coming to grips with your newfound perspective, you’ll live out your days scavenging for food, water, and other resources while exploring the yard in search of secrets.

Considered one of the finest co-op games like The Forest, Raft has you and your crew working together to build and maintain a home on the vast seas.

Standing in your way are powerful ocean currents and a lethal shark that’s prone to tearing off parts of your raft and any nearby players.

Over time, you’ll transform your vessel into a powerful stronghold with all the amenities and resources one could ever hope for, thereby enabling you to chart a course for new lands.

Rounding out our list of the best games like The Forest, Stranded Deep is a comprehensive survival crafting game about struggling for your life in the untamed wilderness.

After their plane crashes in the middle of the ocean, your character is tasked with constructing shelter on a beach and finding food both above and underwater.

With sufficient effort and progress, you’ll eventually gain the ability to travel to nearby islands to gather more resources, craft better tools, and take on powerful bosses.