Sons of the Forest servers seem destined to burn as fans count down to the new survival game

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Steam's most-wishlisted game is going live soon; what's the worst that could happen?

Sons of the Forest screenshot
(Image credit: Endnight Games)

Sons of the Forest, Steam's most-wishlisted game, is finally launching in Early Access later today, and fans couldn't be more excited. While it's great to see the survival game launch after several delays, those poor servers will likely take a pounding. 

For some context, Sons of the Forest's predecessor, The Forest, has remained popular since launching in alpha in 2014. According to SteamDB, the open-world survival game hit an all-time concurrent peak of 76,226 players on Steam around four months ago - a good five years on from leaving Early Access and being available as a full launch. 

You can probably see why, then, that plans for a follow-up have generated oodles of buzz. Sons of the Forest has been a mainstay in Steam's chat of top wishlisted games, recently claiming the top spot after another open-word survival game got the boot over trademark issues. 

just_sitting_here_waiting from r/TheForest
today_is_the_dayy from r/TheForest

If you've been out of the loop, Sons of the Forest build upon the original's pitch. You head off to find a missing billionaire on a remote island, instead finding a "cannibal-infested hellscape". Alongside figuring out what's going on, you'll need to craft and build to survive, which can be done solo or with friends.  

A sense of excitement also comes from the wait to play the new survival game. We've seen Sons of the Forest delayed several times, and even today's Early Access release was initially supposed to be a full one. Instead, the developers decide to go the Early Access route to avoid more delays. 

All of this to say, there's a good deal of hype around today, so you may want to keep your expectations in check. You'll get to play Sons of the Forest eventually, though you may bump into some server issues first. Even the biggest studios - Activision Blizzard, Bungie, you name it - aren't immune to launch wobbles. At this point, it's just a normal part of online and service gaming. Sons of the Forest developer Endnight Games could absolutely stick the landing, though we wouldn't be surprised by several days of limited access as everyone crams into the game as we go from the launch date to the weekend.

If you fancy jumping in yourself, here is the Sons of the Forest release time translated to where you are in the world. Just keep those poor servers in your thoughts. 

Iain Harris
Iain Harris
News Editor, Games

I joined GamesRadar+ in May 2022 following stints at PCGamesN and PocketGamer.Biz, with some freelance for Kotaku UK, RockPaperShotgun, and VG24/7 thrown in for good measure. When I'm not running the news team on the games side, you'll find me putting News Editor duties to one side to play the hottest JRPG of 20 years ago or pillaging the depths of Final Fantasy 14 for a swanky new cloak – the more colourful, the better.