10 Best Enemy AI In Video Games

The Forest asks one simple question of the player. What if you found yourself in a scenario akin to The Hills Have Eyes but weren't immediately clear of your cannibalistic neighbors' intentions? Eric LeBlanc (and by extension, you) has to navigate that exact conundrum while searching for his son on a remote peninsula and repeatedly questions his morals at every turn.

To deliver on that ambiguous narrative, Endnight endowed The Forest's collective antagonists with varying intentions beyond cold-blooded murder. Hesitation, indirect communication, and other non-violent actions such as surveillance are all observable behaviours — these aren't people driven by primal, violent instincts. They're just different. Well, mostly, at least.

Eric will find himself in escalated circumstances on occasion, but even then, the tribe can be seen displaying care for their own by tending to the wounded or even surrendering if outnumbered or outgunned. Everything coalesces to form an experience that, unlike its contemporaries, makes The Forest feel like a more authentic representation of what would happen should one find themselves in the arse end of nowhere confronted with the unknown.