#Forest Reigns is an Annihilation/Dishonored hybrid that appears promising, however there is a catch

Upon seeing Forest Reigns, I used to be instantly offered on the idea. A (seemingly) devoted single-player survival FPS set in a massively overgrown model of Paris? Inject it into my veins, please. Factor is, there could also be purpose to fret about Forest Reigns‘ future primarily based purely on the developer’s observe file.

Now, to be completely clear, I’m all for second and third possibilities in terms of recreation growth. It’s a tricky business to exist in, not to mention break by in, and everybody makes errors no matter private talent and capabilities. On the identical time, as shoppers, we want to concentrate on who’s making the issues we purchase, and Forest Reigns‘ developer VG Leisure has a heck of a observe file to remember. Extra particularly, VG was previously generally known as Vostok Video games, which you will bear in mind should you performed Survarium and/or Concern the Wolves. If that doesn’t ring a bell, some additional context could also be essential.

Forest Reigns is being developed by the folks behind Survarium and Concern the Wolves

In a zesty flip of destiny, it’s downright astonishing that the Ukrainian Vostok Video games’ Survarium did not crystallize into a correct multiplayer shooter whereas STALKER 2 ended up releasing to appreciable acclaim in the long run. Vostok Video games is a studio consisting largely of employees from the previous GSC Recreation World, who set off to make their very own destiny after the previous 2012 construct of STALKER 2 fell by. Publish-GSC breakdown, a few of the studio’s expertise went off to discovered Vostok, whereas others proceeded to discovered 4A Video games and work on the then-obscure Metro franchise. I’m certain you’ve by no means heard of it.

The gist of it was that Vostok needed to supply a multiplayer religious successor to STALKER, whereas 4A went all-in on a finely tuned single-player expertise. Whereas Metro discovered large fame and acclaim, the identical can’t be mentioned about Survarium, the event of which stopped again in 2022 amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Word, too, that Vostok additionally launched Concern the Wolves alongside Survarium, which was merely a unique tackle the identical previous trope of survival multiplayer gameplay in opposition to the backdrop of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. Although Concern the Wolves did technically launch from Early Entry, it did so in a reasonably shoddy state. Survarium, then again, but languishes in Early Entry with a “Principally Damaging” evaluation ranking.

All of that is to say that although Forest Reigns seems to be the mission of an all-new crew, it’s not, and the developer sadly doesn’t have a stellar observe file to talk of. That being mentioned… I do suppose there’s advantage in Forest Reigns, even with all of VG Leisure’s pedigree in thoughts. The truth that it’s a devoted single-player (and presumably offline) expertise speaks to a paradigm shift in how the studio approaches recreation dev, and although there’s no launch window to talk of simply but, I’ve acquired my hopes up.

I’m positively in love with the concept behind Forest Reigns. It riffs on a few of my favourite New Bizarre media in a means that simply works, and if the featured 20-minute gameplay video is something to go by, there’s advantage on this manufacturing for certain. The third time’s the appeal, as they are saying, and this could be the sport to lastly solidify Vostok Ga- sorry, VG Leisure’s legacy within the gaming business. Fingers crossed, then!