Alright, so today I decided to dig into that Forest game everyone keeps yelling about. You know the one with cannibals and tree houses? Wanted to see if my buddy on PlayStation could join my PC world or if it’s just another multiplayer mess.
Getting Started
First I fired up Steam on my dusty PC, clicked install on The Forest. While that was crawling along at 2MB per century, I grabbed my PS5 controller and downloaded the PlayStation version too. Felt like waiting for paint dry but needed to test this properly.
The Big Cross-Platform Test
Once both copies finished eating my storage, I made a new survival game on PC. Chopped some trees, built half a crappy shack – then yelled at my PlayStation friend to join. He searched for my game session everywhere. Nothing popped up. Not in server list, not in invites, nowhere.
We tried swapping who hosts. When he made the PlayStation lobby, my PC couldn’t see it either. Both of us just staring at loading screens like idiots. Even tried using those public server codes people talk about on forums. Same ghost town situation.
What Actually Works
After an hour of fail, here’s the deal:
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PC-to-PC multiplayer? Easy money. Just invite through Steam, bam you’re both getting chased by mutants.
PlayStation-to-PlayStation? No sweat. Party system hooks up fine, could hear my buddy scream when a cannibal grabbed him.
Cross-play between PC and consoles? Big fat nope. Doesn’t exist. Feels like they built two separate games wearing the same skin.
The Workaround Nightmare
Went down a rabbit hole of forum suggestions:
Tried 加速器s to fake same network – just made the lag worse
That “GamerLink” app everybody mentions? Useless unless you all own same platform
Even looked at paid server hosting… but why pay extra when vanilla works fine on single platforms?
Gave up after PlayStation dude almost threw his controller through the TV. Not worth the headache.
Final Takeaways
So yeah – Forest multiplayer works great if you and your buddies all play on same system. Want to mix PC and console players? Forget it. Game’s been out for years and they never patched in cross-play. Maybe in Sons Of The Forest they’ll fix it, but for now just tell your console friends to get gaming PCs or vice versa. Saved you three hours of my life you’re welcome.
