by Sons of the Forest has officially arrived in Early Access, and one of the game’s most important talking points was Kelvin, the already community-loving AI companion whose mission is to help you on your journey, even though he sometimes makes bizarre and ridiculous decisions.
For those who don’t know, Kelvin is an elite soldier who survived a helicopter crash stranded on an island from the movie Sons of the Woods. Unfortunately for him, he suffered brain damage and cannot hear or speak, so players must communicate with him using a notebook. Despite his new injury, he remains extremely helpful… well, mostly.
The developers of Sons of the Forest created Kelvin to help recreate the multiplayer experience for solo players, but it is also very useful for those who want to play Sons of the Forest with friends.
“In our first game, The Forest, we found that building and gathering resources in single player can be a real buzzword compared to multiplayer where multiple players helped,” Endnight Games told IGN. “We wanted to address this issue and help bridge the gap between the two modes. At the same time, the new AI system we created for enemies/animals made it incredibly easy to apply to a friendly AI character.”
So it all sounds great, right? A companion who’s always there to help cut down trees, fish, and more? While Kelvin is undoubtedly helpful, he does act a little weird from time to time. For example, you can tell him to cut down trees to gather wood, but some players have found that Kelvin doesn’t see the difference between a standalone tree and the ones that are part of the tree house you built.
Sons of the Forest is great and all. but you have to watch out for that Kelvin… pic.twitter.com/q2NIsJfxdN
— AquaFPS (@AquaFPSgaming) February 24, 2023
He also tends to appear out of nowhere, and Reddit user /goodwill295 jokingly called him the biggest jumpscare in the game.
Image credit: Reddit user/goodwill295
Kelvin apparently plays by his own rules, and as IGN’s Mark Medina puts it, he’s a perfect fit for Sons of the Forest because “there are no rules, man, we’re lost!”
Every time I tell Kelvin what to do in Sons of the Forest: pic.twitter.com/l9IPmSDhBF
— Mark Medina (@Mark_Medina) February 23, 2023
Sure, it may have its moments, but the Sons of the Forest community clearly wants to protect Kelvin with its own life.
He’s the only one that matters#synsofttheforest #Kelvin pic.twitter.com/9bWBwud1i7
— Jason Smith (@JasozzGames) February 24, 2023
Endnight Games has big plans for Kelvin, so this is really just the start of an early favorite for best sidekick in a video game for 2023.
“During Early Access, we plan to add a lot more quests for Kelvin to complete as well as integrate him more into the main story and give him his own epilogue/ending if you keep him alive,” he told Endnight Games.
Endnight is also very happy to see the community take up Kelvin so quickly, and the team knew early on that they had something special on their hands, as many would “make sure not to overwork him, and others would feel guilty if they accidentally killed him.” “
Kelvin is just one part of Sons of the Forest, and you can check out our full game preview where we said, “Sons of the Forest seems to evolve and build on every aspect of its predecessor, with the targeted goal of realism and creating a flexible ecosystem, and it seems that bricks are needed to create something truly unique. But its killer feature is the addition of impressively sophisticated and smarter AI enemies and companions that could not only deliver a huge leap forward for the franchise, but the survival game genre as a whole.”
For more, check out Endnight’s five tips for surviving your first night in the Sons of the Forest, our beginner’s guide, and the essential tips and tricks you need to know.
Got a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to news@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and next Cramp.
