In 2018, following a four-year-long early access period (!!), Endnight Games, an indie publisher consisting of Hollywood visual effects artists, released The Forest, an immersive first-person survival horror game, on PC and PlayStation 4. The game was a critical and commercial hit, garnering comparisons to other noteworthy titles like Don't Starve and The Last of Us, and mixing surreally horrific imagery with a sense of hope. Now, we have the trailer for its gestating sequel, Sons of the Forest. And holy cannoli, does this trailer grab me and not let go.

Using an unorthodox sense of sound design and editing, its '80s John Carpenter synth-bump score cutting in and out to stay in sync with the peculiarly noticeable jump cuts, this look at Sons of the Forest promises a very different take on the now-familiar mode of survival horror video games. The graphics are simply astounding (a hint toward this possibly being released on PlayStation 5?), the mutants seen in these debilitated forests are surreal and horrifying, the brief vignettes happened upon are even more shocking in broad daylight, and the crafting system feels as immersively robust as ever. And one particular sequence, in which your main character cryptically puts on a slasher movie-feeling mask, has me itching to find out what it could possibly all mean. I've not played The Forest, and in just 90 seconds, I must play its sequel as soon as possible.

Sons of the Forest comes to gaming systems 2021, though we're unsure what date and for what specific systems as of yet, and whether there will be a similarly long early access period. Check out its sneakily scary trailer below.