Selling 2 million copies in 24 hours, Sons of the Forest is definitely a hit

Survival game man giving a thumbs up to a guy — (Image credit: Endnight Games)

Cooperative survival and also survival horror game Sons of the Forest has been an historic launch for developer Endnight, with the announcement that the game had sold over 2 million copies within the first 24 hours of its Early Access release. The developer took to Twitter to celebrate, thanking "those who have joined us in our Early Access journey" and saying the team at Endnight was "very excited for what we have in store for players in the coming weeks."

Hey Everyone,Thanks to those who have joined us in our Early Access journey into ‘Sons Of The Forest’ We have sold over 2 million copies in the first 24 hours, and are very excited for what we have in store for players in the coming weeks.the team endnightFebruary 24, 2023

Despite having what I imagine to be a comedically minuscule fraction of the marketing budget, Sons of the Forest even has more Steam players than behemothic Hogwarts Legacy. Hoglegs peaked at 306,615 players today, while SotF peaked at 411,999, according to SteamDB. That's not to compare the two, because there's really no point in comparing them based on Steam stats alone, but to emphasize the magnitude of a home-grown hit on Steam.

The team here at PC Gamer has certainly had their own fun with it, from writing a variety of guides to pronouncements on the very state of gaming itself. For example, Lauren Morton declares Kelvin to be the "new best boy of video games." Sarah James, meanwhile, has been scarred for life by Big Head Mode.

If you're looking to set off on a hellish island journey, either on your own or with friends, we've got a nice set of starter tips for Sons of the Forest. These are handy tips like "the inventory screen is bigger than you think" and "press E to eat" and "don't kill Kelvin."

The first The Forest was for many an unexpected hit, a game that came from not only a tiny four person team but managed to stand out among the many, many survival and crafting games of the mid-2010s. "It’s an exciting time to be a PC gamer when a team of just four can create a game that’s this impressive," said PC Gamer's Andy Kelly at the time.

For my part, The Forest will always be the first game I remember making you carry around whole logs if you wanted to make something out of wood. It's a little touch that emphasized how much work it actually is to build things by hand, as opposed to the magic poof of most crafting games.

You can find Sons of the Forest on Steam in Early Access, where it's $30.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.