One of the initial game cover photos for 99 Nights in the Forest mentions that this Roblox experience is based on a true story. However, the developers never explained what this “true story” is. Naturally, this piqued our interest as well. So, let’s take a deep dive and explore the true story behind the 99 Nights in the Forest together.
99 Nights in the Forest True Story Explained
According to the developers (or at least the artist who made the cover photo), 99 Nights in the Forest is based on a true story. Now, even after conducting an extensive investigation into survival stories that resemble the one from the game, we couldn’t find a single story that is easily identifiable as the inspiration for the game.
However, there is a case to be made that the story behind 99 Nights in the Forest was inspired by two separate things: the video game The Forest and a real-life story of four children who survived in the Amazon forest after a plane crash. Both of these are unique survival stories. One fictional and one real, both sharing some key elements with 99 Nights in the Forest.
The Forest Video Game
The Forest is a video game developed by Endnight Games and released in 2018. Since then, it has been regarded as one of the best horror survival games ever, boasting over 500,000 positive reviews on Steam alone. And its sequel, Sons of the Forest, sold more than 2 million copies on the day of release alone.
The section below contains major spoiles from The Forest video game.
Now, the story of The Forest begins with a plane crash, leaving only two survivors: Eric LeBlanc and his son, Timmy. With Eric still disoriented from the crash, a mysterious man kidnaps Timmy. Believing that his son is still alive, Eric decides to look for him. Soon, he discovers that mutated cannibalistic humans inhabit the island on which they crashed. While trying to find more clues about Timmy’s whereabouts, similar to 99 Nights in the Forest, Eric must collect supplies, build a defensive shelter during the day, and fend off the monsters from his base at night.
Eventually, Eric successfully tracks down the mysterious man who took away his son. However, that leads him to a secret lab belonging to Sahara Therapeutics, an organization whose experiments eventually led to the mutations present on the island. The kidnapper turns out to be Dr. Matthew Cross, a chief researcher on the project, whose daughter Megan was murdered by one of the mutants.
However, Eric is too late to save his son, as both he and Dr. Cross are already dead. To revive his daughter, the doctor used an artifact called the Resurrection Obelisk, which required a live sacrifice for it to work. Right after, Eric finds Megan, who is alive but severely mutated, and is forced to kill her.
He then delves deeper and finds the observatory part of the lab, which contains the Power Obelisk. This device operates similarly to an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) device. Then, Eric is presented with the same choice as Matthew Cross: take down the passenger plane and have a chance of reviving his son, or spare the innocent lives and let go of Timmy forever. The first option is the accurate canon of the franchise, as both Eric and Timmy show up in Sons of the Forest. The second option lets you continue to survive on the island for as long as you can.
The lore between The Forest and 99 Nights in the Forest doesn’t quite match. However, the developers definitely drew some inspiration from this game in terms of gameplay, as you build a shelter during the day, fend off monsters during the night, and try to survive in a hostile environment for as long as you can.
2023 Colombia Amazon Plane Crash
The second major thing 99 Nights in the Forest could be inspired by is the story of four children who managed to survive for 40 days in the Amazon forest after a plane crash. It all began in May 2023, when a Cessna 206 was flying over the Amazon forest with seven passengers on board. Under mysterious circumstances, the plane crashed, with only the four children surviving.
The children were 11 months, 4 years, 9 years, and 13 years old at the time. After a lengthy and extensive rescue operation, the rescuers successfully located the children 40 days after the crash. They were severely malnourished, but they managed to survive with no major injuries. A year later, a documentary was made about this survival story, titled The Lost Children, which was well received by the public.
This incredible survival story could be the inspiration for one of the main tasks you have to do while surviving in 99 Nights in the Forest: rescuing the four missing children scattered across the game world.
When we connect the dots between the stories of The Forest and the 2023 Colombia Amazon plane crash, with the gameplay of 99 Nights in the Forest, we can recreate the “true story” behind it. However, there is still no single story that can explain the lore behind the popular Roblox title.
That was it for our theory about the true story 99 Nights in the Forest was based on. Feel free to share your theories in the comments below. For more of our Roblox content, make sure to check out the Roblox hub here on The Escapist.