Forest 3 is Taking the Survival-Horror Franchise in a Shocking and Completely Unexpected Direction

The Game Awards 2025 delivered a couple of surprise reveals that caught many viewers off guard, and one of them was Forest 3, which confirmed a major shift in the plot and gameplay direction. The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley described the trailer as “something completely unexpected,” and it turned out to be just as shocking as he claimed.

After a long early access phase, the first entry in the franchise, The Forest, officially launched in 2018 and quickly became one of the most popular open-world games on PC. Nearly six years later, the second installment, Sons of the Forest, arrived in early access and eventually hit a successful 1.0 release in 2024. Both games captured hundreds of thousands of players while maintaining strong user review scores on Steam. Building on this success, developer Endnight now seems ready to expand the franchise with a third entry, this time shifting the plot direction in a very interesting way.

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Forest 3 Adds Sci-Fi to the Survival Horror Formula

Forest 3‘s world premiere trailer at The Game Awards 2025 revealed a new sci-fi theme that surprised many long-time fans. The short clip shows a spaceship heading toward Earth before crashing, echoing the familiar openings of the previous Forest games. When the pilot steps out, a post-apocalyptic world reminiscent of games like Death Stranding is revealed, filled with roaming mutants. While the exact timeline remains unclear, one could assume these creatures are evolved versions of the mutants from earlier entries that have now become the apex predators of the planet.

Not much is revealed about Forest 3‘s gameplay in the trailer, as the game is likely still in early development. However, from what has been shown so far, it is clear that the upcoming entry features a wider range of enemy types, including monstrous, alien-like creatures. The protagonist also appears to have a robotic arm that helps with grabbing or moving objects. They also seem to be equipped with advanced scanning technology that detects and tracks nearby threats. The trailer does not offer any clues about the astronaut’s purpose or why they were heading to Earth. But based on the previous installments, they might be searching for the same strange ancient artifacts, such as the Cube, that sit at the center of the franchise’s story.

There Were Already Signs of a Timeline Shift in the Forest Games

While Forest 3‘s sci-fi-heavy trailer has sent a shockwave through its community, it isn’t entirely disconnected from the earlier games. Fans familiar with the Sons of the Stars cult and the Cube already know the series includes theories about parallel universes, along with rumors about Gold City, a mysterious place that might have ties to alien civilizations or alternate realities. Gold City is also described as the final destination for members of the Sons of the Stars cult, serving as their heaven. There is even a crashed spaceship that players can come across while crafting the Artifact in Sons of the Forest, which could hint at a potential connection to the events of Forest 3.

For now, one fan theory about Forest 3‘s plot is that the astronaut shown in the trailer is traveling between dimensions. In Sons of the Forest‘s ending, players enter the Cube and catch a glimpse of a futuristic city with spaceships flying overhead. Many now believe the spacecraft in the trailer is visiting Earth from that dimension, possibly for research or scientific reasons. Another theory suggests the person in the trailer is responsible for the creation of mutants in The Forest and Sons of the Forest, which would essentially make Forest 3 a prequel. These ideas are still wild theories and should be taken with a grain of salt. It remains to be seen whether Endnight will reveal more about Forest 3 soon or keep fans in the dark a bit longer.