This world is teeming with all kinds of unique flora and fauna, including Facehugger-like creatures that can suddenly lunge at the player. Fortunately, you have a mounted robot arm to catch them in mid-air, and it also acts as a scanner to learn more about everything around. Including that giant creature that wants you dead. Especially that.

With how Sons of the Forest ended – and no, it didn’t provide the most concrete of answers either – it will be interesting to see how this ties into the overarching lore. Forest 3 doesn’t have a release date or platforms, but you can assume it’s coming to PC like previous entries, and probably launching in early access first.

Maybe the island is really just a test to see how far one is willing to look into the abyss, superseding those so-called monsters. “Maybe we really were The Forest’s Sons,” I told Kelvin, who probably nodded vacuously or gathered more wood, but that’s only one component of Sons of the Forest, which recently left early access almost exactly a year after it entered.

"Fans of the first game will doubtless appreciate the connections and continuations from the first game, but make no mistake – this is more of a Volume 2 to the ongoing saga than the answers to all your questions."

On the flip side is the set-up and story. You arrive on a mysterious island dubbed Site 2 to locate Edward Puffton, CEO of PuffCorp, his wife Barbara and their daughter Virginia after they go missing. It’s not long before your helicopter mysteriously loses power (in a call back to the first game) and crashes. With a survival pack, the faithful Kelvin and a whole lot of incentive, you need to survive and probably find the Pufftons.

Things aren’t quite that simple, as vicious cannibals roam above ground while the caverns are teeming with mutants. As you discover the fates of your other team members, various clues about the Puffton’s dealings with the island, his rivalry with Sahara Therapeutics from the previous game and the involvement of Jianyu Zhang, a PuffCorp employee-turned-Sahara agent who takes none too kindly to your presence. What is the mysterious Cube, and why does everyone want it? Those are but some of the questions to answer.

Fans of the first game will doubtless appreciate the connections and continuations from the first game, but make no mistake – this is more of a Volume 2 to the ongoing saga than the answers to all your questions. Furthermore, the plot boils down to going from one waypoint to another on your GPS, though occasionally, you need to explore the different caves to acquire the items necessary for further progress. For some, that may be underwhelming, especially considering the open-ended nature of some mysteries.

The characterization also leaves a bit to be desired – outside of some returning characters, there’s little known about Kelvin and Virginia beyond the personal bonds you forge with them. Some of the lore bits and notes are interesting as cover plans to turn the island into a resort emerge. Meanwhile, the maintenance workers and employees slowly discover the bodies on this supposed abandoned island. The main plot may as well be in the background during most moments (and isn’t that long if you know what to do).

"The longer you survive, the tougher the survival experience becomes. Mutants start to appear top-side while cannibals begin donning stronger armor."

While the game doesn’t restrict you from focusing on the narrative, mulling about and leveraging the survival crafting mechanics is another choice. It’s a potent combination that allows for being as hands-on with the story (such as it is) as you like – if you want to stay on the island, surviving its changing seasons and calmly build up a base, then go right ahead. There’s plenty of reason to follow the main story path and explore the various caves inhabiting the island, as they unlock tools that can benefit your crafting needs.

A rebreather for diving underwater and venturing deeper into caves where precious Solafite awaits. A pickaxe for mining said Solafite. A rope gun that allows for quickly zipping along lines and makes scaling cliffsides that much easier. Foldable gliders for more easily exploring the island. The list goes on, even if some items – like the putter and golf balls, guitar and radio – are more for fun than practicality.

It’s all up to you. Collect rainwater to serve as a fresh source of drinking water or live off of energy drinks. Kill animals and cook their meat to serve as a food source, or hoard MRE Packs for your sustenance. Just as you can build a house and bed to serve as a save point and means to pass the day, you can set up camp with little more than a stick and some tarp. Don’t do it on the road or nearby – enemies tend to patrol and will give you a rude awakening at night.

The longer you survive, the tougher the survival experience becomes. Mutants start to appear top-side while cannibals begin donning stronger armor. Camps for the latter slowly but surely blossom into settlements with more complex structures. Other random points of interest may spawn, like a PMC camp littered with bodies, but despite its open-world structure, Sons of the Forest isn’t jam-packed with these. It’s more like a twisted ecology that slowly but surely evolves, with its volatile elements slowly set to blow as you struggle to survive. How you prepare for that and manage aspects of your base-building, arsenal, and traversal is ultimately up to you.

"While the combat in Sons of the Forest doesn’t set the bar for the genre, its responsiveness and impact are still top-tier, whether it’s a shotgun blast sending an enemy flying or limbs coming undone from axe blows."

Enemy AI is a little odd sometimes, but it’s fascinating at others. Some of the locals are content with observing you before suddenly lashing out and will run away if you get too close or reposition. Other times, they may attack all at once just as easily as standing around while you line up a headshot. Some members of the pack have little issue with menacingly walking up. Still, they’re as dangerous as pitiable when begging for their lives.

The mutants are arguably a bigger threat – even the grunts can quickly overwhelm you if you’re not constantly on the move. It makes exploring the caverns much more harrowing, especially some of the more labyrinthine sections that go on seemingly forever. The maintenance hatches and bunkers aren’t quite as impressive but still offer their share of unique sights and dangers.

While the combat in Sons of the Forest doesn’t set the bar for the genre, its responsiveness and impact are still top-tier, whether it’s a shotgun blast sending an enemy flying or limbs coming undone from axe blows. The variety of weaponry and tools is also solid overall, which expands upon further exploration and experimentation with the materials in your pack.

I didn’t experiment too much with the new organic building system, sticking to the tried and true blueprint design instead. Still, it’s impressive how deep the tools can be when designing a house, especially if you decide to scare away enemies and lend a macabre air to your territory or create a launch pad for your hang-glider. Again, it’s to the game’s credit that it doesn’t tie you down with maintaining a base, but if you decide to focus on it, several systems are in place to make it more rewarding. Resource collection rarely feels like a chore, especially with Kelvin helping out.

"As odd as the narrative can feel, especially with its pay-off, the terror and abject horror at some monstrosities – especially those staring back in the mirror – remain as compelling as ever."

While performance on the higher end is reportedly not the best, I found Sons of the Forest to run decently on my ageing set-up at Medium quality (albeit with FSR 3.0 enabled). There was only one freeze leading to a restart and some issues where objects would clip through the world, but otherwise, I didn’t encounter any serious bugs. Your mileage may vary.

Still, the island is truly something to behold, whether witnessing the sunrise on the beach, frantically scrambling on a beach during a thunderstorm or watching the raccoons stand up on their hind legs. Snow piling up and parting is also an incredible detail to behold alongside the lighting and shadows.

Sons of the Forest won’t make the same novel impact as its predecessor when combining a compelling mystery and narrative with impressive survival crafting mechanics. Nevertheless, it does stand out as one of the better examples of the same, especially with how it expands on its predecessor with all kinds of new items and mechanics. As odd as the narrative can feel, especially with its pay-off, the terror and abject horror at some monstrosities – especially those staring back in the mirror – remain as compelling as ever.

This game was reviewed on PC.

Other features include Creative Mode and an option to skip building animations (though you need to finish the story). Proximity voice chat with filters for caves and underwater; two new mutants, Legsy and Holey; and a variation of Puffy called “Spotty” have been added. Cannibals can also get a higher tier of gold armor.

Golf Carts now have radio decks and GPS, while the glider is now the Foldable glider and can be stashed in your inventory. The world has also received new paths, Jianyu camps, mini caves, cellars and details (like tunnels partially dug out by excavators). Players can also discover the final two Artifact pieces and craft the finished version.

Check out some of the Version 1.0’s details below and more information here.

Sons of the Forest v1.0

Features

• New title scene and end credits details, visuals and music
• Added new choice alternate ending
• Added 5 new cutscenes
• Revised and added new voice acting and details to dining room, gold room, get down son and Jianyu intro cutscenes
• Added new voice acting to Sahara confidential found footage
• Added proximity voice chat with filters for in caves & underwater along with adding additional filtering to the walkie talkie
• Added creative mode, with a new alternate creative inventory, and ability to skip build animations (unlocks when players complete the game story)
• Added Raccoons and gave ability for squirrels and raccoons to climb trees
• Added 2 new mutants; Legsy and Holey
• Added new stronger puffy variation ‘Spotty’
• Added higher tier gold armor level for cannibals
• Added new sickness system tied to drinking unclean water or eating bad food. Drinking clean water or eating meds will cure sickness
• Many new story item pickups added and most story item pickups re-worked, along with new in world decorative notes and magazines
• Renamed glider to Foldable glider and it can now be hot-keyed and stashed to inventory
• Golf Carts now come equipped with radio decks and a GPS screen
• Added new world details, more paths, partially dug tunnels by excavators, new Jianyu camps, 14 new mini caves and cellars and many other environment tweaks and updates
• Revised hell cave door opening, will now require additional steps to open
• Added NPC Timmy to hell cave
• Added 2 final artifact pieces and final artifact can now be crafted
• You can now *(Spoiler)* or create a *(Spoiler)* with the combined artifact
• Jianyu helicopters will now take off and leave from bases around map, and may occasionally hover over player structures to check on them
• Added dying tactical soldiers with red flares that can be seen from a distance to help direct players towards locations
• Added new findable dead Tactical and Worker dudes with GPS locators that appear when nearby, helping direct players towards interesting locations
• Added campfire smoke plumes to cannibal villages that can be seen from a distance and will go out if there are no cannibals there to tend to the fire
• Added various details to the snowy mountains; outdoor Solafite areas that attract lightning, snowmobile versions of carts, and small radar dishes
• Added new cave (unlocks after end game sequence)
• Added a new Arrow Storage structure and a new explosive storage structure
• Added new nice chair and nice couch buildable structures
• Added 2 new platform prefab structures and ability to snap them to built structures
• Added new auto foundation system for some prefab structures ( including small cabin, lean-to and lookout tower, and platforms)
• Added 3 new trap structures
• Added option to extend camp fire with logs to turn it into a bonfire
• Added a range and valid target readout to the rope gun
• Added 4 new findable blueprint structures, including a glider launcher, and 3 mystery structures
• Added strikeout to the message window UI for tutorials or ingredient counts that have been completed
• Added additional achievements
• Added seed items for Twinberries and Snowberries and a new Jam Recipe
• Added new soft opening video to bunker food
• Added new rotten textures for rotten meat, oysters & fish
• Added PVP damage setting, and made it available in the multiplayer admin menu
• Added AMD Fidelity FX™ Super Resolution 3 (FSR3) support
• Added a new weather occlusion system for buildings to provide much more accurate weather
• visuals & Reworked interior space warmth system to be more accurate

Perhaps the most noteworthy is the addition of new Mutants, from a creature that slaps its ankles together to massive horrors that walk on all fours. There’s also a tease from the story, with a helicopter desperately trying to take off as various Mutants grab onto it and features like a launching platform for hang gliders.

If that’s not enough, new points of interest, materials, locations and more have also been teased. Sons of the Forest will be available for PC when update 1.0 launches, so stay tuned. In the meantime, check out how it’s changed since entering early access here.

Version 1.0 will expand on a key character’s role while having Shawn Ashmore of Quantum Break fame playing them, in addition to more features and polish. But how has the game changed since its early access release? Whether you checked out after launch or waited to see everything the game offers, here are some of the most noteworthy changes.

New Commands and Emotes for Kelvin and Virginia

Kelvin, your companion, has new commands since the most recent patch. He can repair structures, sharpen the walls or maintain the base (which means completing structures in progress, repairing any damage, and filling any holders). He and Virginia can swim in deep water, and they both receive new emotes like nodding, shaking their heads, happy, confused, saying no or feeling sad. Virginia will also laugh if Kelvin is hit with a rock when at full health, which is on brand but concerning all the same.

New Cannibal Types and Bosses

It wouldn’t be a traipse through a dangerous island without different types of Cannibals to terrify you at every turn. There’s Elise, who has weapons on her hands; Igor, who defies description and will barrel towards you with reckless abandon; Eddy, a spear thrower; Greg, in charge of placing effigies; and more. Cannibal behavior has also seen extensive tweaks, from looking at each other when they’re not fighting to being less fearful in larger groups (and more so when solo). Of course, there are also some new bosses that you’ll encounter. No spoilers, but some truly terrifying threats await above and below ground, so be prepared.

New Structures

Survival is only one part of Sons of the Forest – another is the building. To that end, many new items and structures were added, from corner ramps, stone floors and large log holders to electric fences, window shutters, stone fireplaces, solar panels, a working armor rack and more. Even the Cannibal villages received new additions, from lookout towers to double-story huts, further adding to their macabre surroundings.

Building Improvements

Building in Sons of the Forest also saw multiple improvements and quality of life changes. If a structure had other supports, it wouldn’t get destroyed and instead rely on those, making building less punishing. Furthermore, players could implement more varied slopes and saw improved construction processing costs if joining multiplayer games with several structures.

New and Extended Locations

As usually happens in early access, new locations are added to the world while existing places are extended or further fleshed out. Sons of the Forest received several new additions, from a location with beached sailboats to new caves and extensions. It even revamped the Eastern side of the map with more rope bridges, Cannibal villages, streams and whatnot to make it feel more alive.

More Ponds and Lakes, Tree Regrowth

If the additional and extended locations weren’t enough, Endnight Games added dozens of new lakes and ponds to the world map. If you’re ever concerned about fishing or water sources (especially since dirty and clean water is a thing), there should be plenty of options. It also added tree regrowth, with a 10 percent chance to regrow as the player sleeps (though it can be turned off).

Cave System

The caves are another major aspect of the world, housing some of the most terrifying creatures. It received some new additions, including more wakeup locations in the hell cave, but there have also been some extensions to existing caves and reworks (with some surprises in store). Even if you conquered them when early access first went live, the current cave systems are a different beast and could see more changes in version 1.0.

New Visual Details

The island also saw additional polish and new details with its updates. Cannibal villages would have more gorey details and props, and you can spot its residents engaged in tests of strength. Dead fish can be stolen by eagles. Sprinklers will wash the blood of players and their weapons. Several kinds of hanging gore are out there in the wild to be spotted (willingly or otherwise). Various optimizations to the level of detail, animations and more have also been done to improve the overall presentation.

AMD FSR 2.0 and Ultra Performance for DLSS

Though its current requirements aren’t hefty, Endnight Games added support for AMD FSR 2.0 and Nvidia DLSS’s Ultra Performance setting in the last major patch. It hasn’t said anything about updated requirements with version 1.0, but it’s still nice to have the option.

Large Battery and Electrical Changes

Electricity has seen some overhauls and changes, like the large battery for powering things at night. Batteries are also limited in the number of objects which can be hooked up to them and can overload if you’re not careful. Thankfully, solar panels no longer need support structures with free placement available.

Hard Survival

For those who craved a challenge, there’s Hard survival. It lowers the spawn rate of fish and animals, on top of food spawning in crates. The penalty for raw and rotten meat was increased, and the cold would affect health and stamina regen speeds (both for you and your enemies). A later patch also made it so spring traps could trigger for other players, further adding to the madness and potential trolling.

More Challenging Survival Mechanics

On top of a tougher difficulty, the base game has also become more challenging. The chance of meds in crates is reduced; cooking buffs would last for four hours instead of eight hours; comfort rating affected the amount of rest gained (with outdoor sleeping providing less than indoors); and large demons could sometimes appear after the end game above ground. It’s all meant to keep you on your toes while considering the necessities of survival.

Dedicated Servers

It wouldn’t be a survival crafting title with multiplayer without dedicated servers. You need to install it separately and configure settings, with options for modifying enemy damage, season length, cheats, etc. A later update improved the functionality of dedicated servers, from refreshing those recently played first to saving your data immediately before shutdown.

Golf Carts, Hang Gliders and More

As fun as it is to wander around the massive island on foot, sometimes you want to get to where you’re going at a faster pace. In its first-ever major patch, Sons of the Forest received a hang glider, providing an aerial option for players. It followed this up with the next most logical option – the Knight V, an electric unicycle. Then players could drive golf carts (capable of seating up to four), and even the log sled returned.

Guitar Playing

Did you see the Guitar Free Play mode in The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered and scoff while secretly wishing for the same? If so, rejoice, because you can now play the guitar in-game. Best of all, it received several bug fixes, including one that causes the audio to loop.

It should be interesting to see how Timmy’s plot plays out. In the current game, he’s keen on traveling to Site 2 and accompanies the player in the final cutscene. The story hasn’t been fully fleshed out, but maybe v.1.0 will answer some long-standing questions.

Interestingly, Endnight said it’s “super excited” for the big update “and beyond,” indicating further support for the sequel after launch. What that could entail remains to be seen, so stay tuned for more details.

Sons of the Forest is available exclusively for PC via Steam Early Access. It sold over two million copies within the first 24 hours of launch. Check out our review here.

Hey Everyone, Sons Of The Forest v1.0 will release Feb 22, 2024 with Shawn Ashmore voicing Timmy as we expand his role in the game and story. We thank everyone who has joined us in Early Access and are super excited for what we have in store for v1.0 and beyond.

— Endnight Games (@EndNightGame) November 29, 2023

Large Demons also sometimes pop up above ground after reaching the end game. Those who want even more of a challenge can now choose Hard Survival difficulty. It reduces the food spawns in crates, lowers the spawn rate of fish and animals, increases the penalty on raw and rotten meats, and decreases stamina and health regen in cold weather.

When loading into the game mode, item storage crates won’t respawn, so you’ll need to make the best of what you have or seek out more resources. Check out the full patch notes below for other changes and improvements.

Sons of the Forest is available now on PC via Steam Early Access. It sold over two million copies in the first 24 hours of release. Check out our review here.

Patch 06

Features

• Hard survival difficulty mode added
• Stone pickups added to world
• Buildable stone fireplace, stone walls, stone beams, and stone columns
• Custom effigies
• Advanced log sled can now hold logs, rocks, stones, sticks and bones

Improvements

• Countdown clocks added to dining area of food and dining
• Blown apart limbs added to exploded bathroom in bunker luxury
• The cooking pot and flask can now be dumped out with right mouse button
• Cooking pot will now be placed on the fire immediately if the player is holding the pot while interacting with the fire
• If a fire is broken while the pot is cooking, the pots contents is reset back to water. The recipe is retained if the pot was done cooking when the fire is destroyed
• Added some water movement to the pot when not boiling
• Visual and audio improvements to steady water drip FX in caves
• Improvements and fixes to Lava sound and visuals
• Adding thunder sounds to lightning strikes in space city view of gold room cutscene
• Rain catcher will no longer show the refill icon until there is at least enough water for one drink
• The pot can now be re-added to the fire even if it has a completed recipe in it
• The hotkey UI will no longer show up in quick select and grab bag menus and only be visible when in the inventory
• Added loading hints for Comfort rating and Sleeping indoors vs outdoors
• Added a loading hint for cooking bonuses
• Fish traps now run in game time instead of real time to work better with pausing and sleeping
• Fish caught in traps will no longer go rotten
• Added UI for current cooking bonuses
• Improved UI for cooking recipes
• Added a new equip/unequip animation for shotgun that is simpler and matches the idle held pose, so blending feels smoother and less awkward
• Cannibals will sometimes drag their dying friends away from the player
• General optimizations to reduce AI update cost
• Kelvin can now pickup stones
• Kelvin can now fill the log sled with sticks, rocks, and stones
• Reduced some oversaturated animal spawn areas and spread them out more
• Fixed dead bodies in beach cave floating in multiplayer games when host player is not in the cave
• Player effigies cause fear to cannibals based on number of body parts
• Spearing multiple fish will visually stack on spear instead of all overlapping
• AI are no longer blocked by defensive stick spikes, but still take damage

Balance

• Sleeping outdoors will now give less rest than sleeping indoors
• The amount of rest gained by the player is now modified by their current comfort rating (certain soups and clothing can affect comfort rating)
• Lowered chance of meds in crates
• Large Demons can now sometimes appear above ground after end game
• Lumberjack juice recipe has been reworked so that it’s easier to make in peaceful games
• Added hard survival to start difficulty settings
• Cooking buff durations changed from 8 hours to 4 hours in game time.
• Hard survival; Reduced food spawns in crates. No Item storage crate respawn on load in this game mode. Lowered fish and animal spawns. Decreased target health and stamina regen speeds while cold. Increased penalty for raw/rotten meats

Fixes

• Added some missing translations for cooking
• Fix for player not getting any effects from drinking the last bit of liquid from their pot or flask
• GPS locators placed on standing sticks now show the selected icon and retain it after saving and loading and improved positioning of 3d model on stick
• Fix for being able to interact with the cooking pot when refilling a container from the pot
• Fix for the grab bag opening rather than the player eating from the pot if the player was looking at the pot the entire time it was cooking
• Fixed utility page button color
• Changed the stick amounts needed in book from 48 to 60 for advanced log sled
  Fixed skinning on gold armor pickup
• Fix for some lake volumes poking out through terrain
• Fixed spelling of Protein Shake recipe
• Fixed lens flare occlusion not working if blood or cold post processing was active
• Fixed player getting stuck when quickly closing the grab bag after opening it on things such as storage, fires, and Virginia
• Fix for perishables getting desynced on shelves when a multiplayer client removes and fake drops them
• Fix for player getting into an unrecoverable state if they eat something in the inventory immediately after loading a save game
• Fixed issue with screen space reflection not always disabling correctly
• Various memory improvements
• Fixed issues with doors and hatches getting into a desynced state for multiplayer clients in some cases
• Fixed stumps not appearing outside after loading a save game inside a bunker or cave
• Fixed female cannibal broken neck and head gimbal flipping in hit with Molotov cocktail reaction animation
• Fixed a bug where equipping the lighter with the rope gun held looked odd
• Fixed some popping on crossbow animations
• Fixed Kelvin unable to pickup and drop arrows
• Fix for Muddy Cannibals stay near trees action only staying near the trees by player, and sometimes triggering too often
• Fixed case where audio on knight V could get stuck on
• Fixed audio when cutting tree with chainsaw
• Fixed navigation cutting when placing walls in ground that slopes up
• The players grab bag is now closed when interacting with a fire that has gone out
• After loading a save game, when drinking from a pot on a fire, the player will now receive the correct recipe stats instead of water

Audio

• Added audio for the pot lid bumping around when boiling
• Tuned some high max instances on ambient events and mutant footsteps
• Made water splatters max distance a lot shorter and edited volume curve
• New audio for Demon Boss sequence; more synced impacts and grappling sounds, and Demon Boss jump and vocals
• Better pot fill with water audio
• Added sound for hug in chopper leave sequence
• Made Knight V on mud and water not play water splash when stopped
• Added sounds of emptying cooking pot and flask
• Altered gold room vista lightning audio
• Fixed guitar playing audio stuck on when interrupted by crash or knockdown

How to find the Can Opener in Sons of the Forest

• So, where can you find the Can Opener? It’s found in a cave in a snowy mountain. Now there are a lot of snowy mountains in the game, so obviously you may be wondering which one are we talking about? Fortunately for you, this is the same mountain that is usually your starting point when you begin a new game.

• Once you reach the location, you will find a cave entrance. There are a couple of broken sleds and two red tents in this area. The Can Opener is located inside one of the tents has sacks and yellow buckets.

• There are also other resources in this tent. So, collect them if you can. Once you are done, you can move towards the broken sleds to find some canned food.

How to use the Can Opener in Sons of the Forest

• Using the can opener is a rather easy process in Sons of the Forest. First thing, open the inventory. Now you can combine the Can Opener with the Canned food. When both of these are in the crafting zone, it’s time to combine the two crafting ingredients.

• Once you click combine, you can then eat the food whenever you feel the need to do so.

You’re free to explore the island, building and crafting as necessary, but certain items must be gathered, and locations visited to complete the story. Let’s go through all the steps. Spoilers follow, so be warned.

Full Walkthrough

Crash Landing and Starting Location

The introduction cutscene sees the player traveling with other mercenaries in a helicopter. It eventually crashes, and you’re left in the water to escape. Upon awakening on the island, a mysterious individual with a gun greets you and knocks you out, thus beginning the game.

Near your starting location, you’ll see Kelvin on the ground in pain. Use a medkit to help him. Kelvin will become your AI companion, and you can use a notepad to issue commands. Having him around is optional, but Kelvin can prove invaluable for building, gathering resources and combat.

Stun Gun and Rebreather

In the island’s northern part are some caves where you can find the Stun Gun. Though this is optional, it does prove helpful for non-lethal takedowns. Use an axe to break down the wood planks covering the entrance, and enter the cave. Keep going forward until you reach a fork – follow the right path that the flashlight is pointing towards until you encounter a hanging body. The Stun Gun is right next to it.

Next, you’ll want to find the Rebreather, which is necessary for completing the story. Go back to the fork with the flashlight, and this time, go left. You’ll eventually reach an area with a pool of water. Near the light is the Rebreather. Dive underwater with it and look for an opening. Follow this until you’re out of the cave.

Rope Gun

On the western part of the island near some streams is the Rope Gun, which is needed to complete the story. Explore the area until you find a cave entrance that’s boarded up, similar to the one with the Stun Gun and Rebreather. Break the planks and enter inside.

Keep going forward until you reach a slight drop, then go left – there’s a body with a printed email and path that goes further inside. Follow it until you see some bodies, and then look to your right to see a writhing creature. Pick up the time bombs nearby to blow it up and goes inside.

Keep going until you find another body with a printed email and some corpses hanging further ahead. The path will eventually go slightly right – follow it, moving past some stalactites, until you see a light.

Progress past all the corpses until reaching a fork (which appears to have some bronze on the left and middle). Take the path to the left and crawl through the opening. Follow the flashlights, and eventually, you’ll find the Rope Gun. Use it to venture down until finding the exit.

Shovel

Also located on the western side, but closer to the mountain in the middle, is the Shovel. You know the drill – look for a boarded-up entrance leading inside a cave. Some corpses are standing upright just outside, making it easier to find.

Upon entering, you’ll need the Rope Gun to zipline up. Equip the Rebreather, enter the water, and dive into the hole. Keep going until you find a spot to re-emerge. Go straight past the bones and slide down. You’ll land in another pool but look around for a light and go straight down the path.

Keep going until you reach a large room with bodies around. Go to the left side, and you’ll find an opening that leads to another underwater section for the Rebreather.

Upon re-emerging, go straight until you find a body with the Shovel. There are some lights ahead, but you can ignore that for now. Grab the Shovel and go back to the same large room. Keep going until some rocks fly out due to another writhing creature. Blow it up and go through the opening, which leads to the exit.

3D Printer

Though not mandatory to finish the story, the 3D Printer is very useful for creating items. It’s easy to find – check the GPS Tracker on your phone, and there should be a blinking icon for the western part of the island. Follow it until you reach a cave entrance. Break the planks to enter inside and follow the short path to a room with the 3D Printer.

Maintenance Keycard

You’re entering the later part of the game, which requires collecting some keycards. The first is slightly northwest of the mountain in the middle. Check the glowing beacon on your GPS Tracker, and once in that exact spot, start digging with the Shovel. You’ll eventually unearth a hatch which says “Maintenance A.” Open it and go down the ladder. Go straight down the corridor and enter the first room on your right. Check the table for the Keycard.

VIP Keycard

Next, you’ll want to go to the Bunker for the VIP Keycard. The glowing beacon on the northwest part of the map (near a lake) is where you should go. You’ll find some abandoned karts there – enter the cave nearby and go down until you find a hatch that says “Food and Dining.” Open it and go down the ladder. Use the Maintenance Keycard on the door to the right, and keep going past all the vegetables. If you explore a bit in these rooms, you’ll find a Crossbow and some bolts.

As you reach the end, take a left and go downstairs, which leads to a flooded section. Swim ahead until you reach another door that needs a Keycard. This is where the VIP Keycard is needed, so take the opened hatch nearby till you get to a security room.

Collect the VIP Keycard from here and watch the security footage, which teases a mini-boss fight. Use it to enter the room, where Mr and Mrs Puffton await. If you have a shotgun, equip it, because they’ll tear you apart at close range.

Check the broken windows nearby and enter the water with the Rebreather. Keep swimming down and re-emerge, then move through the cave until you reach the exit.

Guest Keycard

Further south from the beacon for the VIP Keycard is the Guest Keycard. Follow the glowing beacon on your GPS Tracker, and there should be a cave opening. Venture through until reaching a corridor, and then go left. Take a right and use the VIP Keycard on the door. Explore the surroundings until you find some stairs and go up past the pool. Go through the bar and lounge until you see a sign that says “Nightclub.” Before the back wall, there is a table on the right with the Guest Keycard.

Golden Armor

The Golden Armor is also required to finish the story and can be found on the southeastern part of the island, near the large lake. Again, follow the beacon with the GPS Tracker and enter the cave. Drop down into the hole until you reach some stairs. Go down the stairs and use the Maintenance Keycard to open the door.

Keep going down and enter the door, after which a cutscene plays. Go down the corridor until you reach another staircase, then venture down to the Level 2 door and through another door. Just before the next door, enter the last door on the right and enter the room to find the Golden Armor.

If you backtrack and then take the door to the left of your current location, you’ll find a room with the Katana. Return to the staircase and down until you reach a door that requires the Maintenance Keycard. Open it and venture through the cave to find the exit.

The Bunker

This is it – the finale. Go to the northeastern part of the island to visit the last Bunker. It’s hard to miss and requires the Guest Keycard. Venture inside and take the stairs down, until you reach a door on the left. Go straight and down another set of stairs to another door on the left.

Keep going until you reach a room with several paintings. Look for an open door on the right and pass through. Explore until you find a bathroom with a destroyed wall leaking steam – enter through the wall and press your hand on the door to open it.

Pass through the cave until you get to some lava trickling down. Climb up to the left and follow the path. You’re on the right track if you find several skeletons hanging. Crouch down through the opening, and you’ll reach a cave with more lava. Walk past it into another opening, and keep going until you reach an area with lots more lava. Stick to the leftmost path – it will wind through the lava and allow you to pass unharmed.

Go through the cave, and you’ll find an area with some documents and lava spilling from above. Take the left path and drop down. Eventually, you’ll reach a lava stream – go left past all the stalagmites. Eventually, an opening will appear.

Head straight and move through the opening to the final area, and the end of the game. There are two endings based on whether you enter the extraction helicopter or remain on the island.

Head here for our review of Sons of the Forest and stay tuned for more updates in the coming months.

List of Sons of the Forest Game Cheats & Console Commands

• spanwanimal (name) – Spawns the animal in front of you.
• additem (item ID) – Adds the item to your inventory.
• goto (coordinates/name) – Teleports to the given location.
• cavelight (on/off) – Makes the cave light or dark.
• placebuiltobjects (object ID) (quantity) – Places the built object in front.
• buildermode (on/off) – Disables enemies and health.
• Faststart (on/off) – Skip the first plane crash scene in the beginning.
• buildhack (on/off) – Toggles buildhack mode on or off that gives you unlimited resources.
• addallitem – Adds one stack of each item to your inventory.
• cancelallghosts – Removes all the blueprints in the game.
• addallstoryitems – Adds one of each story item in your inventory.
• survival (on/off) – Your character’s hunger and hydration aren’t affected when disabled.
• itemhack (on/off) – Activate or deactivate infinite items.
• speedyrun (on/off) – Run at a very fast speed.
• Invisible (on/off) – Upon activation character is not affected by camera effects, such as mud, water and blood.
• enemies (on/off) – Control enemy spawns.
• killallenemies – Instantly kill all mutants and enemies in the game.
• terrainrender (on/off) – Control terrain rendering.
• forcerain (weather) – Alter the weather.
• lightingtimeofdayoverride (lighting name/off) – Override and reset the time of day.
• cutdowntress (amount/%) – Reduces the trees in the game by the specified %.
• cutgrass (radius) – Cut the grass in the specified radius.
• setstat (skill) (value) – Set the stats for your character.
• pmactivestatelabels (on/off) – Shows the stats of the current NPC.
• setskill (skill) (value) – Set the skill level for your character.
• killallanimals – Kill all of the animals in the game.
• Addclothingid (clothing id) – Add the mentioned clothing.
• killclosestanimal – Kill the animal that’s closest to your character.
• animals (on/off) – Activate or deactivate animals in the game.
• spawnitem (item ID) – Spawn the specified item in front of you.
• birds (on/off) – Activate or deactivate birds.
• removeitems (item ID) – Remove the specified item from your inventory.
• spawnanimalquiet – Spawns an animal within the closest trap.
• knockdownclosestenemy – Knock down the enemy closest to you.
• restallenemies – Rests the enemy AI.
• killclosestenemy – Kill the enemy closes to you.
• astar (om/off) – Activates and deactivates the enemies’ ability to find paths throughout the game.
• killendboss – Kills the last boss.
• spawnregularfamily – Spawn somewhere between 3-6 cannibals.
• spawnskinnedfamily – Spawn 3-6 masked cannibals.
• spawnpaintedfamily – Spawn 3-6 painted cannibals.
• spawnskinnyfamily – Spawn 2-3 skinny cannibals.
• spawnallpickups – Spawn all the items that spawn in a map in front of you.
• spawnmutant (mutant id) – Spawn the specified mutant.
• vegetarian mode – Enemies will only spawn at night when activated.
• regrowmode – Tree will grow 10% faster when your character sleeps.
• woodpaste – All the holes made by a crane or a hole cutter are reset.
• advanceday – Skips the time/day one day forward.
• checkday – Prints the present day on the console log.
• setcurrnetday (number) – Set the current date.
• gametimescale (multiplayer) – The game stats speed is changed.
• timescale (multiplayer) – Slow down or speed up gameplay.
• plantallgardens – Seeds are planted in all the gardens.
• growallgardens – All the mud piles are automatically refilled.
• revivelocalplayer – If you’re knocked down in multiple, you’ll be automatically revived.
• energyhack – Your character has unlimited stamina and energy when activated.
• fakehitplayer – You’ll receive a fake hit that doesn’t deal any damage.
• setvariationextra (none/jacket) – Adds or removes a jacket.
• Ironforest – Makes all the buildings indestructible.
• veganmode (on/off) – Enemies will only spawn in caves when activated.
• meatmode – Disables all the cheats.
• placeallghosts – Piles all the blueprints available in the game in front of your character.
• rawmeatmode – The save game is permanently deleted when you die.
• setplayervariation (0/1) – Changes the skin color of your character.
• showworldposfor (object id) – Shows you the location of a specific object.
• setplayershirtmat (material id) – Changes the shirt material of your character.
• hideworldposfor (object id) – Hides the location of the specified object.
• gototag (tag) – Teleports you to the mentioned location.
• findpassenger (passenger ID) – Finds the passenger who has the mentioned ID.
• gotoenemy – Teleports you to the mentioned enemy.

Sons of the Forest Settings & Device Console Commands

• help – Lists all the commands.
• devicedebuginformation (on/off) – Displays the debug information on your device.
• showgamestats – Displays the current game stats.
• clear – Clears console.
• achivementloglevel (log level) – For the achievement log, sets level of logging.
• save – Saves the game.
• loghack (on/off) – Gives you infinite logs.
• setdifficultymode (difficulty) – Lets you select difficulty level difficulty level from peaceful, normal, hard, and hard survival.
• userigidbodyrotation (on/off) – Smoothens the camera movement when activated.
• setgamemode (game mode) – Lets you set the game mode to standard, creative, or mod.
• gccollect – Frees up unused game memory by calling the garbage collector.
• toggleocclusionculling – Prevents model renders.
• lodmanagerscaling – Lets you toggles LOD manager FPS scaling.
• filteraudio – The audio path filter is cleared.
• togglesheenbillboards (on/off) – Activate and deactivate the Sheen Billboards.
• dumplobbyinfo – Multiple lobby information is printed onto your control log.
• toggleplayerstats – Displayer player stats.
• physics30fps (on/off) – Alters physics to 30 FPS.
• loadlevel (save number) – Loads up the mentioned cave.
• clearsaveslot (mp/sp) (slot number) – Clears a single player or a multiplayer slot.
• toggleoverlay – The debug information is displayed at the bottom of the screen.
• setdrawdistance (setting number) – Lets you set the render distance.
• setshadowlevel – Lets you set the shadow level.
• resetstatsandachievements – Resets all achievements and account stats.
• clearallsettings – All game settings are reset.