The game in question is known as “The Forest,” and it's going to show us what happens when a first person game goes for such immersive quality that it feels like you're there. That's a line that's been heard a few times before, but with “The Forest,” you'll not only feel it...you'll wish you didn't. The trailer kicks off with our hero going to get an axe so as to cut down some trees for raw material to build a fence around a log cabin. Shades of “Minecraft,” huh? Well, “Minecraft” was never like this.
The first sign that all is not well in your sylvan paradise is when you toss an arm onto a pile of limbs overlooking a cliff, and use a cigarette lighter to set the whole affair ablaze. It will not get more inviting or friendly from there, and it becomes abundantly clear that something is rotten in the state of Denmark. That something in question is piles and piles of corpses. And they may not necessarily be human. Going down into caves in the forest, meanwhile, will show the truest extent—so far, anyway—of just what's wrong with this picture.
But while the game itself looks quite impressive—reports suggest it's going to PC, and there's no word as yet about other versions since there's no word about the Oculus Rift coming to other devices—it's only the tip of the iceberg. See, in this trailer, we get both a calm, relaxing experience in the woods, and a horrible mutant-fighting extravaganza of bloodsport. We get a look at the Oculus Rift's full range, and it's a very impressive range at that.
This system will not only open up new possibilities for us—imagine a vacation where you don't have to leave your house to go, convincingly, walking through the streets of Los Angeles or New York or Paris or Rome or any of a dozen other places. Think about the beaches of Acapulco or Barbados without losing luggage or being mugged. Think about the entirety of the original “Total Recall”'s pitch for Rekall—the original, not the remake—and you'll see the possibilities here. Consider being in the midst of your favorite scary movie, able to control the outcome in ways the writer and director never thought possible. Consider how relaxing—and how horrifying—the Oculus Rift and a good PC could present situations.
We can relax, or we can be thrilled. Either option is just as available, and all from a thing we've been using for decades coupled with a thing that we only wish we had 20 years ago. The sheer number of options here is astonishing, and only time will tell just how far this all goes. Either way, there's a lot of room here in which to run, and plenty of exciting possibilities that may come around.
