The Forest

The Forest lands cleanly in the honourable mentions because the survival loop, shelter building under constant threat from cannibal tribes, is genuinely compelling and holds up on Deck better than its newer sequel Sons of the Forest. The horror element is more grounded than Darkwood, which makes it a slightly easier recommendation for players who want tension without full psychological horror. It did not crack the top ten because the Deck experience, while good, sits a step below the most polished entries. Still absolutely worth playing if you have been through the main list already.

The original Forest sits at eight because Sons of the Forest exists and is better in most ways. But some groups specifically want the tighter, more focused experience, and this one still delivers it without complaint. Private co-op runs easily, the cave system is genuinely unsettling when you explore it with someone who keeps suggesting you go deeper, and the survival pressure never lets up. If your group has already played the sequel or wants a cheaper entry point into horror survival on PC, The Forest holds up. Just know what you are getting: the sequel is more polished, but this one has a rawness that some groups prefer.

The Forest is older than most games on this list and it shows in places. The presentation has aged, some systems feel less refined than what came after it, and Sons of the Forest on PC has superseded it for players with that option. But Sons is not on PS5, and The Forest still is, which matters for this list. The survival loop works. Resource gathering, shelter building, food management, and the constant creeping hostility of the cannibal-infested island combine into something that genuinely unsettles a co-op group in ways most games on this list do not aim for. If your group wants that tension alongside the survival systems rather than instead of them, The Forest earns its spot here despite the years on it.

The Forest is one of the best survival-horror co-op games available on PS5 and it nearly made the main list. A plane crash survivor on a cannibal-populated island, building shelters and figuring out how deep the cave system goes. The atmosphere is genuinely unsettling in a way most games on this list are not, and it works particularly well with two players where the sense of isolation stays intact. It sits in honorable mentions mainly because its PS5 polish is not quite at the level of the best entries, and Sons of the Forest on PC has somewhat eclipsed it. Still absolutely worth playing for groups who want survival with a horror edge.

The first night in The Forest is still one of the more effective horror moments I have had in a survival game. You have almost nothing, you have built a small fire, and things start gathering at the edge of the darkness to watch you. They do not always attack immediately. Sometimes they just stand there. The cannibal AI remains genuinely unsettling in a way that newer survival games rarely replicate. Playing it now via PS4 backward compatibility on PS5 means accepting some roughness around the edges, and Sons of the Forest on PC has overtaken it technically. But Sons of the Forest is not on PS5, so for PS5 players who want this kind of open-ended survival horror with friends, The Forest is still the option.

The Forest is tense survival-horror with cannibals, crafting, and an optional story that plays well solo or in co-op. It runs acceptably on iGPUs at 720p–900p low, but enemy swarms and foliage can cause CPU spikes, especially late game. That variability and its reliance on frequent AI attacks push it just outside the main list for low-end stability. Still, its small install, DX9/DX11 fallbacks, and strong survival pressure make it a great pick if you want scares with your scavenging and are comfortable tweaking settings.