Upon seeingForest Reigns, I was immediately sold on the concept. A (seemingly) dedicated single-player survival FPS set in a massively overgrown version of Paris? Inject it into my veins, please. Thing is, there may be reason to worry aboutForest Reigns‘ future based purely on the developer’s track record.
Now, to be perfectly clear, I’m all for second and third chances when it comes to game development. It’s a tough industry to exist in, let alone break through in, and everyone makes mistakes regardless of personal skill and capabilities. At the same time, as consumers, we need to be aware of who’s making the things we buy, andForest Reigns‘ developer VG Entertainment has a heck of a track record to keep in mind. More specifically, VG was formerly known as Vostok Games, which you may remember if you playedSurvariumand/orFear the Wolves. If that doesn’t ring a bell, some extra context may be necessary.
Forest Reigns is being developed by the people behind Survarium and Fear the Wolves
In a zesty turn of fate, it’s downright astonishing that the Ukrainian Vostok Games’Survariumfailed to crystallize into a proper multiplayer shooter whereasSTALKER 2ended up releasing to considerable acclaimin the end. Vostok Games is a studio consisting largely of staff from the old GSC Game World, who set off to make their own fate afterthe old 2012 build ofSTALKER 2fell through. Post-GSC breakdown, some of the studio’s talent went off to found Vostok, while others proceeded to found 4A Games and work on the then-obscureMetrofranchise. I’m sure you’venever heard of it.
The gist of it was that Vostok wanted to produce a multiplayer spiritual successor toSTALKER, while 4A went all-in on a finely tuned single-player experience. WhereasMetrofound massive fame and acclaim, the same cannot be said aboutSurvarium, the development of which stopped back in 2022 amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Note, too, that Vostok also releasedFear the WolvesalongsideSurvarium, which was simply a different take on the same old trope of survival multiplayer gameplay against the backdrop of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. ThoughFear the Wolvesdid technically release from Early Access, it did so in a rather shoddy state.Survarium, on the other hand, yetlanguishes in Early Access with a “Mostly Negative” review rating.
All of this is to say that even thoughForest Reignsappears to be the project of an all-new team, it’s not, and the developer sadly doesn’t have a stellar track record to speak of. That being said… I do think there’s merit inForest Reigns, even with all of VG Entertainment’s pedigree in mind. The fact that it’s a dedicated single-player (and presumably offline) experience speaks to a paradigm shift in how the studio approaches game dev, and though there’s no release window to speak of just yet, I’ve got my hopes up.
I’m definitely in love with the idea behindForest Reigns. It riffs onsome of my favorite New Weird mediain a way that just works, and if the featured 20-minute gameplay video is anything to go by, there’s merit in this production for sure. The third time’s the charm, as they say, and this may well be the game to finally solidify Vostok Ga- sorry, VG Entertainment’s legacy in the gaming industry. Fingers crossed, then!
