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The Forest has almost 500,000 reviews on steam, it is absolutely massive, so its audience is eager for more.

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You surely have heard of The Forest, this is the sequel. I think the trailer featured in one of the big events like the Game Awards, you surely have forgotten at this point.

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Yes, I said it looks like The Forest. My point is what’s the difference here?

Frankly, I don’t see much difference with all of these survival/crafters. They all seem to have similar setups and gameplay loops.

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Are you suggesting that sequels need to look radically different at first glance by a non-player?

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Heck, this is why Company of Heroes 3 is getting poorly reviewed on Steam right now, isn’t it?

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Yeah, my question was facetious, because of course sequels are, by definition, supposed to be very similar to their predecessors. That’s the point of them being sequels. If you are not immersed in the IP it could, in fact, look totally identical to you, where someone who is would see the subtle differences and improvements.

Likewise, it’s possible that most shooters look pretty similar to someone who doesn’t play shooters. You got a gun in the middle of the screen, a health meter, possibly a shield meter, an ammo counter, and some objectives. It’s not until you explore the genre in some depth that you start to understand the differences.

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I guess I wonder where the line is between a sequel and a map pack with a patch? Or in the case of sports games, a roster update?

Like, the difference between Call of Duty: MW2 and Call of Duty: Vanguard is pretty apparent to even non-fans. Here, I look at this:

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And this:

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Coupled with what I know about all survival/crafters being pretty similar mechanically and I shrug.

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Fair enough. Not every game is made for every gamer. There are lots of options, and if you don’t like that Madden '24 looks a lot like Madden '23, you shouldn’t buy it.

And if you’re at all interested in the genre, you only have to buy one game, not all of them.

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And I’m not just being an argumentative ass, at least not purposefully. I really don’t know what Sons of the Forest is offering above and beyond The Forest. I’ve watched a couple of videos now, and I still couldn’t figure it out.

Take something like No Man’s Sky versus The Forest, or The Long Dark versus The Forest and I get it.

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You named two games that are not sequels to The Forest and are comparing them to the literal sequel to The Forest.

And No Man’s Sky has survival elements, but it is not even remotely a similar genre as The Forest.

The Long Dark is tangentially similar, but again, not really the same type of game.

I mean The Sims also doesn’t look at all like The Forest.

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Sigh. I’m apparently not being clear, so I’ll just drop it.

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I think what the sequel offers over the first game is new map, new story, better graphics and animations and probably some new mechanics. As most sequels do. But yeah on vids it looks very similar. Kinda like e.g. Mass Effect 3 compared to 2 compared to 1.

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I don’t understand The Forest’s success. It felt pretty niche to me. Like the later Green Hell. Is it because of The Forest’s horror elements which are good for streamers or are specific horror games in general very popular?
I really have liked The Forrest though. The crafting was fine, the atmosphere creepy and the setting interesting enough - and with a better than expected narrative I heard. I remember we have some fans here. It was just too dark, scary and chaotic in the tunnels for me.
More ontopic: very affordable 3D-horror-games seem to be a sensible business decision. Add crafting on top of it and you get a hit.

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a couple of my nephews, the ones i got into minecraft and terraria, they are SUPER EXCITED for this game. They played the original… and i futzed around in the first forest game during the holidays in coop a few years back… i dont get it, just another crafting game to me with some cannibals in a cave. The kids who grew up loving minecraft… that generation has such different tastes!

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From what I can tell, better graphics, more involved and realistic building system (you can cut logs in different ways, you can sharp one end to make a fence, you can join logs in different ways, etc), more immersive animations (things are less abstracted, for example you see yourself sharpening a stick realistically), friendly npcs with a new order system, better AI with a more systemic approach, new tools like a 3d printer, seasons that affect more the gameplay new enemies, new weapons, and a much larger game world.

So it seems a normal sequel, a mix of more of the same, bigger scope and some new features.

3262

Thanks. That’s what I didn’t know!

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Ubisoft Montpellier has been working on BG&E2 in some shape or form for over a decade now. The follow-up to the original 2003 cult hit starring photojournalist Jade has turned into one of the most notoriously beleaguered productions at Ubisoft and in the games industry in general. Now, with the game still not even technically in full production, it faces a personnel shakeup among its core team and an investigation by the Inspection du Travail in Montpellier, France, according to three sources familiar with development who wished to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak about it.

“The health and wellness of our teams is an ongoing priority,” a spokesperson for Ubisoft told Kotaku in an email. “Given the length of the development cycle with Beyond Good & Evil 2, the Montpellier development team is undergoing well-being assessments through a third-party for preventative measures and to evaluate where additional support may be needed.”

The studio told staff last week that managing director Guillaume Carmona, who had previously been absent since the beginning of the year, would not be returning and had left the company. No reason was provided citing legal confidentiality. Carmona, a nearly two-decade veteran of Ubisoft who began in marketing, left its Paris office in 2019 to become head of the studio best known for creating Rayman. Carmona declined to comment when asked about why he was not longer at Ubisoft.

His departure comes after a year which saw dozens of developers at Montpellier going out on extended leave for stress or sickness, including many leads, according to three sources familiar with the studio’s operations. Some came back, while others eventually left the studio altogether, eventually sparking a visit from the French labor inspection office last December. Kotaku understands that a third-party entity has now been tasked with interviewing employees at Montpellier and providing a full report on the health and well being of the teams. A representative of the labor inspection office declined to comment, citing confidentiality.

It also coincided with BG&E2’s most recent shift in direction, which among other changes saw senior creative director Jean-Marc Geffroy removed from the project. Kotaku understands that he has been replaced by Emile Morel, previously the game’s associate director. Charles Gaudron, meanwhile, has become the new game director following the departure of Benjamin Dumaz. Guillaume Brunier remains the game’s executive producer, though some wonder if he will eventually be replaced as well.

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Sounds like they have the “Evil” part nailed down at least.

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