The second large content patch for The Forest released yesterday. v0.03 brings a couple big changes, and quite a few small ones. Still, it’s encouraging that the game’s Devs have been keeping good on their counter and adding/fixing things on a consistent basis. I have faith that this game is going to be phenomenal when it’s finally done. Here’s the release notes:

Version 0.03 Changelog:

Features/improvements:
No enemies mode! Type “veganmode” on title screen to activate (without the “”)
Player head added! And held items now correctly cast shadows
New suprise item added to plane
Yacht location is now random
Bats now correctly fly out of cave entrances
Partially built structures are now saved
Fixed water not accumulating on terrain when raining
Cassette player can now be turned off by clicking it a second time if it’s already playing
Log Cabin now has a floor, a door with hinge and a sleeping/saving spot
Birds will now land on window ledge of your built log cabin
Molotov will extinguish if in contact with water
Improved sunset/sunrise lighting
Two new effigies buildable, simple head on stick and arms pointing to sky
House boat buildable (Warning : buggy!! – especially with sharks. Also, may sink)
Stick marker added to custom building, quickly build yourself waypoints
Coral and seaweed added under water (rough)
New buildable item : Stick holder
Inventory can now carry 1 additional stick (to make shelter construction easier)
Small texture tweaks/improvements
Shadow distance increased for High and mid settings
Improved motion blur on held items
Hanging rope pick ups added to deep in caves
New cave lighting prop: Laptop
11 new filmic inspired grade options added to graphic options menu
Bench now buildable via book section ‘Furniture’
Single bat prefab added to parts of caves
Improved lilypad pop-in
Med pickups now go direct to inventory instead of being eaten on pickup

Sounds:
Improved cannibal village track implementation
‘Lake’ track added to Geese Lake
Bash pass at all ambient sound implementation, better transitions, better positioning, fall off and ranges
Thunder and rain sounds randomized
Cave audio pass, adding reverb and echo, better balancing
Underwater sound filter added
Water footsteps sounds now play when you walk into water

Performance:
More memory optimizations should improve stability
Lowered memory usage further if 32bit windows is detected, should fix crash on opening if less than 4gbs of usable memory is available (note: 4gb usable is still recommended)

Bugs:
Head no longer pokes through collision!
Fixed some items missing from inventory when game was loaded
Fixed collision where you could wall walk out of plane
Fixed can’t carry more raw fish message that would appear when you had too many rocks.
Fixed pond covered in logs
Fixed left hand held conflicts between lighter, torch walkman etc
Removed gleam on inventory coins and flares
Fixed floating garden
Fixed leaf vertex colors on small leaf hut
Fixed flare gun falling through yacht
Fixed log going to -1 if you died whilst holding a log
Fixed small effigy construction shader being too faint
Removed grass cutting from opening inventory (was causing crashes on some pc’s)

So, as the beginning of the notes implied, being able to play the game without cannibals is one of the biggest features implemented. My initial reaction to this being so often requested by players was that is defeats the purpose of the game. But, being something new I had to try it, just to see what it might be like not having to constantly look over your shoulder. I also thought this might give me the opportunity to build some stuff without dying before I finished it. Can also give me a chance to explore the island which could lead to an advantage when I’m playing the actual game. I suppose there are people out there who would only play this game on its “easy” mode, but for me, this is just a mini-game to look at stuff. Typing in veganmode at the title screen drops the zombie effigy for a plant, and adds the word calm to the the title. From there, you enter the game in the same way, and for some reason your boy still gets carted off by a cannibal in the beginning. I think they need a separate intro for this mode if they intend to keep it, because having that cannibal there just breaks the idea.

I can confirm that this is the “mystery item” added to the plane. A pedometer. Or it’s a smart phone, but displaying a pedometer seems to be all it does, and I’m not sure of the purpose. I can also confirm that there is a head on your character now. A miracle!

I spent the bulk of my time gathering stuff and attempting to build new things. I didn’t do much exploring. I decided to just make a camp right next to the plane, because, well, it doesn’t really matter where camp is when you’re not worried about assholes messing with you. Again, this mode seems pretty pointless, but I guess it does allow for some different experiences. I did notice that hunger seems to strike more often, so getting on top of a good fire and some animals is a must, as the bits of food around the plane will only last so long. I guess survival is the name of the game, and the horror part disappears when playing The Calm Forest.

By the first night I already had a shelter, a large camp fire and a standing fire. I almost died while cooking some rabbit, but it finished in the nick of time. Sad that I still almost died that quickly with no cannibals to contend with. I really hope that co-op becomes one of the next priorities, because I already know a certain bearded dwarf who can be my partner.

#theforest #thecalmforest #survival #survivalhorror #patchnotes