Games Like The Forest

Sent to find a missing billionaire on a remote island, you find yourself in a cannibal-infested hellscape. Craft, build, and struggle to survive, alone or with friends, in this terrifying new open-world survival horror simulator.

Why similar: Survival 28%, Open World 18%, Survival Horror 12.1%, Crafting 10.7%, Horror 10.3%

Why You'll Like It: It is the closest match by far, expanding The Forest’s first-person survival, base-building, mutant horror, and cave exploration with a very similar feel.

Plunge into the open-world survival simulation set in the extreme conditions of the uncharted Amazon jungle. Use real-life survival techniques to craft, hunt, fight, and gather resources, set a makeshift shelter, or raise a fortress. Survive alone or team up with your friends and challenge the jungle together.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 52.7% ★, Survival 17.5%, Open World 7.9%, Crafting 7%, Survival Horror 3.4%

Why You'll Like It: Like The Forest, it throws you into a hostile wilderness where realistic survival systems, crafting, and constant danger create a tense isolated experience.

Take the role of a plane crash survivor stranded somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Come face to face with some of the most life threatening scenarios that will result in a different experience each time you play. Scavenge. Discover. Survive.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 54.5% ★, Survival 17.2%, Open World 8.7%, Crafting 7.5%, Building 3.7%

Why You'll Like It: If you love the crash-survivor fantasy of The Forest, this delivers a similarly immersive first-person struggle to scavenge, craft, and stay alive in the wild.

Descend into the depths of an alien underwater world filled with wonder and peril. Craft equipment, pilot submarines and out-smart wildlife to explore lush coral reefs, volcanoes, cave systems, and more - all while trying to survive.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 46.8% ★, Survival 15.5%, Open World 9.6%, Horror 8%, Crafting 7.3%

Why You'll Like It: It trades forests for an alien ocean, but its lonely exploration, survival crafting, and constant fear of what might be lurking nearby feel very familiar.

The world is a vast, beautiful and dangerous place – especially when you have been shrunk to the size of an ant. Can you thrive alongside the hordes of giant insects, fighting to survive the perils of the backyard?

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 48.2% ★, Survival 22.8%, Crafting 8.8%, Open World 8.4%, Horror 5.2%

Why You'll Like It: Its first-person survival loop of gathering, building, and exploring a deceptively deadly world captures the same vulnerable-yet-curious energy, just with less horror.

7 Days to Die is an open-world game that is a unique combination of first-person shooter, survival horror, tower defense, and role-playing games. Play the definitive zombie survival sandbox RPG that came first. Navezgane awaits!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 43.6% ★, Survival 21%, Open World 10.8%, Building 6.8%, Horror 6.2%

Why You'll Like It: This is a great fit if your favorite part of The Forest was fortifying a base, scavenging under pressure, and surviving relentless horror threats.

Raft™ throws you and your friends into an epic oceanic adventure! Alone or together, players battle to survive a perilous voyage across a vast sea! Gather debris, scavenge reefs and build your own floating home, but be wary of the man-eating sharks!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 52.9% ★, Survival 21.2%, Crafting 8%, Open World 7.7%, Building 5.5%

Why You'll Like It: While lighter in horror, it nails the cooperative survival-crafting rhythm of building a home, managing resources, and exploring dangerous locations.

MIST SURVIVAL is a Single-player, survival stealth sandbox game Players will experience the Apocalypse stimulation in the form of virus pandemic, the players have to deal with it to survive through the difficulties such as finding shelter and food, threats from the environment and climate: wild animals, bandits, infected, and dense mist t

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 46% ★, Survival 21.2%, Open World 11.3%, Crafting 5.8%, Zombies 3.5%

Why You'll Like It: Its lonely atmosphere, open-world scavenging, and constant pressure from hostile enemies make it one of the more direct indie alternatives to The Forest.

THE LONG DARK is a thoughtful, exploration-survival experience that challenges solo players to think for themselves as they explore an expansive frozen wilderness in the aftermath of a geomagnetic disaster. There are no zombies -- only you, the cold, and all the threats Mother Nature can muster.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 55.7% ★, Survival 19.5%, Open World 9.6%, Crafting 4.6%, First-Person 2%

Why You'll Like It: Although it lacks base-building depth and mutants, it captures the same feeling of being alone against a cruel wilderness where every outing matters.

The Infected is a sandbox, first-person, open-world survival game. Build bases, craft, farm, hunt, and survive changing seasons. Choose whether to face the hybrid “Vambies” or turn them off for a pure survival experience.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 38.1% ★, Survival 11.9%, Open World 9.2%, Crafting 8.1%, Building 6.7%

Why You'll Like It: Its solo-friendly open-world survival loop of gathering, crafting, building, and dealing with monstrous enemies feels very aligned with The Forest.

'Night of the Dead' is an open-world game that combines elements of exploration, tower defense, survival, and crafting. Traverse a world dominated by zombies while collecting various resources and powerful equipment. Build a fortress to survive the hordes of zombies that swarm every night!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 42.3% ★, Survival 12.5%, Open World 9.6%, Crafting 8.6%, Building 6.9%

Why You'll Like It: It scratches the same base-defense and hostile-world itch, with heavy emphasis on fortifying your shelter before nighttime threats arrive.

A first-person survival game set on a post-apocalyptic, ecologically ruined Earth. Play solo or with up to 3 friends as you build, upgrade, and fly a high-tech airship. Scavenge resources, craft tools, and face dangers on the surface as you hunt for a cure to save humanity.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 44.1% ★, Survival 15.7%, Open World 11.4%, Crafting 10.3%, Building 7.1%

Why You'll Like It: It offers first-person survival crafting, exploration, and eerie environmental storytelling in a lonely, high-tension world that rewards careful preparation.

A brutal exploration and survival game for 1-10 players, set in a procedurally-generated purgatory inspired by viking culture. Battle, build, and conquer your way to a saga worthy of Odin’s patronage!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 50.8% ★, Survival 16%, Open World 10.8%, Crafting 8.2%, Building 7.3%

Why You'll Like It: Even with a different perspective and mythic setting, its satisfying shelter-building, exploration, and survival progression strongly overlap with The Forest.

The only aim in Rust is to survive. Everything wants you to die - the island’s wildlife, other inhabitants, the environment, and other survivors. Do whatever it takes to last another night.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 37.2% ★, Survival 25.9%, Open World 11.7%, Crafting 11.3%, Building 6.7%

Why You'll Like It: Rust captures the same paranoia of building a shelter in a hostile world, though it shifts the threat more toward other players than environmental horror.

Project Zomboid is the ultimate in zombie survival. Alone or in MP: you loot, build, craft, fight, farm and fish in a struggle to survive. A hardcore RPG skillset, a vast map, massively customisable sandbox and a cute tutorial raccoon await the unwary. So how will you die? All it takes is a bite..

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 41.1% ★, Survival 22.8%, Open World 11.6%, Crafting 5.5%, Zombies 4.3%

Why You'll Like It: Despite the isometric view, its brutal survival systems, base security, and constant tension make it a natural fit for players who enjoyed surviving against overwhelming threats.

ICARUS is a solo or multiplayer PvE survival game. Explore a savage wilderness in the aftermath of terraforming gone wrong. Complete narrative quests as either Open World operations or Individual Missions. Explore, build, craft and hunt while seeking your fortune and prospecting for exotic matter.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 48.7% ★, Survival 17.8%, Open World 9.3%, Crafting 8.8%, Building 6.3%

Why You'll Like It: This focuses on high-pressure survival crafting and building in a dangerous wilderness, with co-op sessions that echo The Forest’s teamwork appeal.

Winter Survival is a story-driven survival game where trauma turns reality into a reflection of your breaking mind. Battle cold, hunger, hallucinations, and adapt to the wilderness as it adapts to you.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 43.3% ★, Survival 14.9%, Open World 10.5%, Crafting 6.3%, Survival Horror 6%

Why You'll Like It: This leans harder into psychological stress and harsh wilderness survival, making it a strong recommendation for players who liked The Forest’s fear and vulnerability.

Subsistence is a sandbox, first person, solo or co-op, PvE open-world survival game. Struggle through changing seasons to build a base, develop technology and gear-up in the hostile environment. Defend yourself from wildlife, the elements and AI hunters (who also build bases in the world).

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 55.1% ★, Survival 17.2%, Crafting 9.1%, Open World 9%, Building 5.3%

Why You'll Like It: Its moment-to-moment focus on gathering, crafting, and defending a vulnerable base matches the practical survival side of The Forest very well.

Get ready for a Waterworld-themed survival game with modular base building, sunken city scavenging, crafting, base defense, and invasions of NPC clans for resources and territory. Ready for the water apocalypse?

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 57.8% ★, Survival 17.5%, Crafting 8.3%, Open World 8.2%, Sandbox 2.9%

Why You'll Like It: Its scavenging, base construction, and hostile world design make it a strong pick for players who liked The Forest’s survival progression and exploration.

Experience a big adventure on a tiny scale! Enjoy multiplayer survival in a vast, hazardous world. Preparation is key when you're this small & at the bottom of the food chain. Craft weapons & armour, tame & ride creatures, build encampments & explore a strange new land.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 46% ★, Survival 16.2%, Open World 10.1%, Crafting 9.2%, Building 7.6%

Why You'll Like It: It captures the joy of building, exploring, and surviving in a hazardous natural world where ordinary environments feel threatening and mysterious.

Stranded on the shores of a mysterious island, you must learn to survive. Use your cunning to kill or tame the primeval creatures roaming the land, and encounter other players to survive, dominate... and escape!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 54.1% ★, Survival 17.1%, Open World 9.9%, Crafting 7.4%, Building 5.9%

Why You'll Like It: This is a good pick if you mainly want more open-world crafting, base-building, and dangerous creature encounters in a large survival sandbox.

This is a multiplayer cooperative open world construction survival sandbox game, where you and your friends must find supplies and build shelters in this world. You have to keep an eye on your character's needs state at all times, a bad state is likely to lead to death.

Why similar: Survival 30.9%, Open World 19.4%, Crafting 12.7%, Survival Horror 10.1%, Building 8.6%

Why You'll Like It: It delivers a familiar open-world survival-crafting loop centered on scavenging, shelter-building, and staying ahead of deadly threats.

Traverse punishing environments, looting, crafting and evading the constant threats to your life. The unprecedented levels of character customization and progression are your ultimate tools for survival.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 48.6% ★, Survival 16.1%, Open World 12%, Crafting 8.8%, Sandbox 3.9%

Why You'll Like It: If you want a deeper sandbox take on open-world survival with crafting and constant danger, SCUM offers a more simulation-heavy alternative.

Fight, Farm, Build and Explore Together in the standalone multiplayer expansion to the uncompromising wilderness survival game, Don't Starve.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 69.8% ★, Survival 23.4%, Open World 2.5%, Crafting 1.9%, Sandbox 0.7%

Why You'll Like It: Though far more stylized, it captures the same core loop of cooperative survival, resource gathering, crafting, and trying to stay sane in a dangerous world.

Miscreated is a multiplayer online hardcore survival game set in a post-apocalyptic future. You will need to survive against mutants, players, and even mother nature herself.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 57.2% ★, Survival 18.7%, Open World 10.7%, Crafting 5.4%, Zombies 2.8%

Why You'll Like It: Its bleak open world, survival systems, and threat-heavy exploration make it a decent choice for players who like tense scavenging and base defense.

Choose your path across a primeval continent shaped by the Mask's power. From lush rainforests to scorched sands, recruit and lead unique tribesmen, build automated production lines, and construct everything from local bases to colossal airships, uncover the secrets of the Mask

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 48.6% ★, Survival 15%, Open World 11.2%, Crafting 9.8%, Building 9%

Why You'll Like It: Its tribal survival, crafting, base-building, and dangerous open-world exploration make it a good next step if you want a bigger systemic sandbox.

You are Flameborn, last ember of hope of a dying race. Awaken, survive the terror of a corrupting fog, and reclaim the lost beauty of your kingdom. Venture into a vast world, vanquish punishing bosses, build grand halls and forge your path in this co-op survival action RPG for up to 16 players.

Why similar: Survival 32.7%, Open World 26.8%, Crafting 16.7%, Building 10.6%, Sandbox 5.2%

Why You'll Like It: It is less punishing but still delivers satisfying exploration, construction, and forays into ominous hostile zones that echo The Forest’s risk-reward adventures.

SurrounDead is an open world survival game. Taking place in a world ravaged by an apocalyptic catastrophe. The dead reign free and will stop at nothing to kill you.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 37.3% ★, Survival 28.7%, Open World 19.6%, Zombies 7%, Exploration 2.3%

Why You'll Like It: Its scavenging-heavy survival loop, open environments, and constant danger from undead threats line up well with The Forest’s survival pressure.

The Wild Eight is an intense survival action-adventure set in the frozen wilderness of Alaska. Team up with friends in online co-op or go solo, explore the mysterious land, craft weapons and fight to live another day.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 53.6% ★, Survival 20.5%, Open World 9%, Crafting 6.6%, Survival Horror 2.6%

Why You'll Like It: Its mystery-tinged wilderness survival and crafting make it a worthwhile option if you mainly want more harsh-environment survival with a strange undertone.

An online multiplayer survival game, now with sorcery, set in the lands of Conan the Barbarian. Survive in a vast open world sandbox, build your home into a kingdom, and dominate your enemies in single or multiplayer.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 41.7% ★, Survival 20.9%, Open World 13.1%, Crafting 8.8%, Building 8.1%

Why You'll Like It: It offers robust building, crafting, and survival progression in a brutal open world, even if it is less horror-focused than The Forest.

Don’t Starve is an uncompromising wilderness survival game full of science and magic. Enter a strange and unexplored world full of strange creatures, dangers, and surprises. Gather resources to craft items and structures that match your survival style.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 47.1% ★, Survival 26.6%, Crafting 9.4%, Open World 5.5%, Sandbox 3.7%

Fight, build, explore, survive, while the dynamic player-caused hazardous fog is slowly changing the rules of the world around you.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 39.2% ★, Survival 11.3%, Open World 7.8%, Crafting 7.3%, Survival Horror 7.3%

Escape to an enchanting, living sandbox surrounded by wildlife and nature. Scavenge materials and craft tools to turn your small cabin into a warm, well-supplied home. Survive by fishing, cooking and growing your own food. Be careful though, the forest is as dangerous as it is wonderful.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 45.2% ★, Survival 14.6%, Open World 10%, Crafting 7.7%, Building 5.8%

Dive into a freezing underwater adventure on an alien planet. Below Zero is set two years after the original Subnautica. Return to Planet 4546B to uncover the truth behind a deadly cover-up. Survive by building habitats, crafting tools, & diving deeper into the world of Subnautica.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 48.2% ★, Survival 14.9%, Open World 9.4%, Horror 7.1%, Crafting 5.9%

Your fight for survival begins on the frozen shores of Tarvhas, where bitter cold and vicious creatures conspire to defeat the unprepared. Uncover the land’s dark history as you and fellow explorers traverse an unforgiving and hostile world to tame the Savage Lands.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 55.2% ★, Survival 16.4%, Open World 9.9%, Crafting 7.6%, Sandbox 3.4%

A realistic open-world survival experience. After a harrowing plane crash, you find yourself stranded in the wilderness. Battling freezing temperatures and hunger, you face an unknown virus that slowly paralyzes muscles, leaving its victims motionless and at the mercy of the unforgiving cold.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 43.4% ★, Survival 16%, Open World 11.2%, Crafting 7.3%, Survival Horror 5.5%

Radiation Island is a survival adventure game where you craft your own destiny in a huge open world environment. As part of the Philadelphia Experiment you have become stranded in a parallel, alternate reality. Discover this new and mysterious world, with all its surprises.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 56.7% ★, Survival 20.3%, Open World 7.5%, Crafting 5.1%, Horror 2.9%

Nowhere: Mysterious Artifacts is a Multiplayer Survival Horror game for up to 4 players. Set in the Middle of the Unknown, you can craft, build, explore and discover secrets in the exciting first chapter from EFNSOFT.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 40.2% ★, Survival 12.9%, Open World 9.5%, Crafting 7.7%, Horror 6.8%

Vortex: The Gateway is an open world survival horror game with two game modes. If you want to survive then be alert, sneak, build and fight. Meanwhile life back on Earth changes dramatically. What changes? You will get bits of information through your adventure. Prepare for the worst!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 53.5% ★, Survival 16.7%, Open World 8.8%, Crafting 7%, Survival Horror 4.8%

A solar flare has struck and every living soul is turning into a rotting and aggressive ghoul.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 44.1% ★, Survival 15.4%, Open World 9.3%, Crafting 9.2%, Building 7.8%

CastleMiner Z is an infinite world filled with deep places to explore, and horrifying monsters to slay. Build structures out of blocks, craft weapons and tools from raw materials, and explore the vast and frightening world around you.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 52.4% ★, Survival 16.3%, Open World 7.7%, Crafting 6.3%, Sandbox 3.8%

⚗️ Project Cobalt is a survival action game set on a hostile island 🌴. Scavenge containers, mine resources, craft tools, hunt animals, and endure storms as you fight hunger, disease, and exhaustion all while uncovering the dark truth behind a failed experiment.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 37.1% ★, Survival 14.6%, Open World 10.6%, Crafting 9.7%, Building 7.3%

A survival open-world game, where you can gather resources, Hunt, Craft tools and armor, Tame Animals, Ride Animals, Build, and defend your base from creatures, and other players.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 45.3% ★, Survival 13.4%, Open World 9.3%, Crafting 9%, Building 8.2%

Hostile Planet: Survival is a harsh adventure on an uncharted planet that full of danger and trials.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 41.8% ★, Survival 18.8%, Open World 10.9%, Crafting 10.7%, Building 7.5%

Crash-landed on a surreal, low-poly world filled with freakish inhabitants, choose between permadeath and non-permadeath modes and embark on an epic (and ridiculous) survival adventure. Will you manage to stay alive as you unravel the mysteries of Wrongworld and search for a way home?

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 56.8% ★, Survival 13.9%, Open World 7.8%, Crafting 6%, Building 5%

The Island - "Island") - a computer game with an open world and a first-person view in the genre of survival.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 49.4% ★, Survival 16.2%, Open World 11.2%, Crafting 9%, Building 8.2%

Scavenge abandoned ruins, craft gear from scrap and salvaged materials, and fight the environment itself as hunger, exposure, and exhaustion push you to your limits. There are no second chances—only adaptation or death.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 48.4% ★, Survival 15.5%, Open World 10.9%, Crafting 10.3%, Building 7.7%

Brave a savage and unforgiving procedurally-generated world where extreme weather and the nightmares of the dark are your greatest enemies. Alone or in co-op, survive, build, and explore to transform a cursed hellscape into your sanctuary of light.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 44.1% ★, Survival 14.1%, Crafting 9.3%, Open World 9.1%, Building 7.2%

First-person action survival game set in a post-apocalyptic open world overrun by flesh-hungry zombies. Roam a city devastated by a mysterious virus epidemic. Scavenge for supplies, craft weapons, and face hordes of the infected.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 40.9% ★, Survival 13.8%, Open World 11.6%, Survival Horror 10.7%, Horror 10.2%

DESOLATE is a first person horror survival experience. Form a research team with up to 4 players and explore an open world filled with mysteries and unsolved questions, or do it all on your own.

Why similar: Survival 34.6%, Open World 23.3%, Horror 17.1%, Zombies 4.8%, First-Person 4.6%

THE HIGHRISE is a first-person survival game set in a high-rise building that has been sealed off by an alien monster invasion. Gather resources to make fighting weapons and survival tools. You must find and send a rescue signal at the end of your desperate survival.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 37.8% ★, Survival 12.2%, Open World 10.5%, Crafting 9.4%, Survival Horror 9.2%

Crushed — is an Singleplayer and Multiplayer First-Person Survival Sandbox in an Open World! Challenge the wild and be ready to survive in harsh conditions. Explore the world, get resources, cook food, build a house, farm, hunt, and enjoy nature.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 46.8% ★, Survival 14.8%, Open World 10.6%, Crafting 8%, Building 6.3%

Survival: Fountain of Youth is a challenging single-player open-world adventure game set on the Caribbean islands. Survive as a shipwrecked 16th-century explorer, craft tools and shelter, and uncover the secrets of both an ancient civilization and your own fate.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 45.7% ★, Survival 15.7%, Crafting 9.3%, Open World 8.6%, Building 6.1%

The Gold River Project™ invites you and your friends on an open world camping trip gone wrong. Alone or together, you must explore, craft, build, and survive the increasingly harsh environments of the Pacific Northwest wilderness as you uncover the experiment trapping you inside.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 52.1% ★, Survival 14.5%, Open World 12.3%, Crafting 8.5%, First-Person 3.3%

Miasmata is a first-person survival/adventure game, developed from the ground-up by brothers Joe and Bob Johnson. You play as Robert Hughes, a plague-stricken scientist on a journey to discover a cure. Your adventure begins on the shores of a remote and mysterious island.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 39.7% ★, Survival 28.7%, Open World 10%, Horror 4.9%, Exploration 3.6%

Want to survive? - Arm yourself and survive. Crafting, shooting, transport and much more awaits you in the Survival game. What happened to the world around and why he died - you may find out. But is this the main question now?

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 58.7% ★, Survival 18.8%, Open World 9.5%, Crafting 5%, Building 2.6%

Force of Nature is a Sandbox game that combines Action, Adventure, RPG, Strategy and Management genres

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 51.6% ★, Survival 15.6%, Crafting 10.6%, Open World 8.6%, Building 5.5%

The award-winning Far Cry franchise returns with its innovative open world gameplay, bringing together massive beasts, breathtaking environments, and unpredictable savage encounters. Welcome to the Stone Age, a time of danger and adventure.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 39.7% ★, Survival 22.4%, Open World 19.7%, Crafting 7.8%, First-Person 3.6%