The Forest VR is the virtual reality version of the survival horror game The Forest developed by Endnight Games. After a plane crash, you find yourself alone on an island filled with mutant cannibals, with your only goal being to survive, explore, and find your missing son. The VR version increases immersion by placing you directly in this hostile world through realistic physical interactions and an oppressive atmosphere that intensifies every cave exploration and every night spent around the fire.
Game Overview
The Forest VR is the virtual reality adaptation of The Forest, developed by Endnight Games, originally released in 2018 on PC. This open-world survival horror game puts you in the shoes of a plane crash survivor on a mysterious and wild island. Very quickly, you discover that the island is inhabited by mutant creatures and hostile cannibals. Your goal: survive, gather resources, build your shelter, explore deep caves, and find your missing son.
This VR version keeps the core gameplay while adding the physical immersion of virtual reality, making every exploration and every encounter with enemies even more intense and oppressive.
VR Gameplay
In VR, The Forest transforms its classic gameplay into an immersive experience where you directly use your hands to interact with your environment. Lighting a fire, chopping trees with an axe, drawing a bow, or consulting your survival guide are done using natural gestures, adding a physical dimension to every action.
The user interface is adapted for VR: you check your health, hunger, and stamina using a wristwatch, and open your 3D inventory in front of you to manage your resources. Cave exploration, shelter building, and hunting become more tense thanks to the VR perspective, making every sound in the forest and every shadow between the trees much more stressful than on a flat screen.
The game is fully playable solo or in co-op multiplayer with other players in VR or on flat screen, allowing you to share the survival experience with your friends.
Strengths
- Enhanced immersion
VR amplifies the tension in The Forest, making nights in the forest, sudden noises, and cave exploration far more oppressive than on a flat screen. - Physical interactions
Lighting a fire, using an axe, drawing a bow, or checking your survival guide are done with your hands, adding realism and a physical dimension to every action. - Broad compatibility
Compatible with Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift S, Quest 2 and 3 via PCVR, and HP Reverb G2, making it playable on many headsets. - Well-crafted atmosphere
The dense forest environments and dark caves are even more immersive in VR, increasing the sense of isolation and vulnerability in this wild setting. - Co-op experience possible
Playable solo or in co-op multiplayer with other players in VR or on flat screen, making exploration and base building more strategic and fun.
Limitations and Drawbacks
- Variable performance
Even on good setups, frame rate drops and resolution issues can occur depending on the areas explored, which can impact VR comfort. - Unpolished port
The VR version is in beta, and some elements feel unfinished or unintuitive, including an inventory system that can be awkward to handle and bugs during interactions with certain objects. - Lack of updates
The last major patch was in 2019, and the VR mode has not received recent optimizations, leaving some issues unresolved. - Not playable standalone
It cannot be played standalone on Quest or Pico; a VR-ready PC is required to run and play the game. - Basic VR interface
Elements like crafting and inventory management would have benefited from a complete redesign in VR, which can break immersion during longer sessions.
Setup and Technical Tips
- PC required for VR
The Forest VR requires a VR-compatible PC with a powerful graphics card (RTX 2060 minimum recommended for smooth high-resolution gameplay). - Settings to optimize
Lowering resolution, reducing shadows, or disabling motion smoothing can help stabilize frame rates, which is essential to avoid motion sickness in VR. - Wired connection or Air Link
On Quest 2/3, the game only works via PCVR using a cable or Air Link, requiring a stable Wi-Fi 6 or 6E connection for a smooth stream. - Missing standalone support
No standalone support, no cross-save with Quest versions, and the game remains in VR beta with no official update roadmap. - Controller compatibility
Compatible with Valve Index Knuckles, Meta Touch Controllers, HTC Vive, though may require custom mapping for optimal comfort.
Conclusion
The Forest VR is an intense and immersive survival horror experience that radically transforms the original game through virtual reality. Its oppressive atmosphere, physical interactions, and free exploration appeal to those looking for a realistic and brutal survival adventure in VR. However, its beta port, variable performance, and lack of recent updates require accepting some technical compromises. For those seeking a demanding and memorable VR survival experience despite its imperfections, The Forest VR remains a striking adventure.
