Sons of the Forest has officially arrived in Early Access and one of the game’s biggest talking points is Kelvin, the AI companion already beloved by the community whose job, though sometimes weird and wonderful, is to help you on your journey. Fun decisions.
For those unfamiliar, Kelvin is an elite soldier who survived a helicopter crash that stranded him on the island and appeared in Sons of the Forest. Unfortunately for him, he has suffered brain damage and can no longer hear or speak, so players must communicate with him via a notepad. Despite his new injuries, he’s still very cooperative…well, mostly.
The developers of Sons of the Forest created Kelvin to help replicate the multiplayer experience for single players, but it’s also very useful for those who want to play Sons of the Forest with friends.
“We found in our first game, The Forest, that building and collecting resources in single player can be a real effort compared to multiplayer where you had multiple players helping,” Endnight Games told IGN. “We wanted to solve this and help bridge the gap between the two modes. At the same time, the new AI system we created for enemies/animals made it very easy to apply to an AI character that was friendly.”
Well, it all sounds great, right? A buddy who’s always there to help cut some trees, go fishing, and more? While Kelvin is undoubtedly helpful, he does act a little strange from time to time. For example, you can tell him to chop trees to collect wood, but some players have found that Kelvin doesn’t know the difference between a freestanding tree and a The ones that are part of the tree house you built.
The Children of the Forest are awesome and all. But you have to watch out for this guy Kelvin… pic.twitter.com/q2NIsJfxdN
– AquaFPS (@AquaFPSgaming) February 24, 2023
He also has a tendency to appear out of nowhere, and has a bona fide Reddit user/user 295 He jokingly called him the biggest jump sponsor in the game.
Image credit: Reddit user/goodwill295
Kelvin clearly plays by his own rules, and as IGN’s Mark Medina put it, he fits in perfectly with the Children of the Woods where “there are no rules man, we lose!”
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, he might have his moments, but the Sons of the Forest community genuinely want to protect Kelvin with their lives.
It’s the only thing that matters#love it # Kelvin pic.twitter.com/9bWBwud1i7
– Jason Smith (JasozzGames) February 24, 2023
Endnight Games has big plans for Kelvin, so this is only the beginning for the early favorite for the best video game assistant of 2023.
“During the early access period, we plan to add more quests for Kelvin to take on as well as integrating him more into the main story and giving him his own epilogue/epilogue if you keep him alive,” said Endnight Games.
Endnight is also pleased to see the community move on to Kelvin so quickly, and the team knew they had something special on their hands early on, as many would “make sure he didn’t tire him out and others would feel guilty if they killed him by mistake.”
Kelvin is just one part of Sons of the Forest, and you can check out the full preview for the game, in which we said, “Sons of the Forest seem to be evolving and building on every aspect of its predecessor with the focused goal of realism and fluid ecosystem development, and the building blocks seem to be there.” to create something truly special. But its killer feature is the addition of impressively advanced and smarter AIs and enemies that can not only provide a huge leap forward for the series, but the survival game genre as a whole.”
For more, check out Endnight’s five tips on how to survive your first night in Sons of the Forest, a beginner’s guide, and essential tips and tricks you need to know.
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Adam Pankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @employee and on twitch.
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