Sons of the Forest has been available in early access since February 23 and has successfully launched with several million copies sold in just 24 hours. If you are traveling too, We offer you this guide that will allow you to start your survival well, at least during the first hours of play.
Table of Contents
Attention, early access!
This is the first thing to think about when you board Sons of the Forest. A bit at the last minute, EndNight Games transformed the release of its game into early access. In concrete terms, this means that if the entire skeleton of the game is present and the content is already suitable, it will continue to grow in the coming months. The next update will come in about two weeks and it is not yet known whether it will bring new crafting recipes. It should also be noted that there is already a lot of talk about the ending: many players who have already seen the final sequence said they were disappointed with it. Again, remember we are talking about a early access and that this content will certainly evolve.
Inventory taming and crafting
If you’ve never played the first The Forest, the basic systems will take some getting used to. Opening the inventory with “I” will unroll the contents of your backpack. In this room you can interact with each of the elements in two different ways: either you equip them in your hands, or you put them on the mat in the middle to try a combination. Once the first element of a craft has been placed, look at the cogwheel in the top right corner to see which recipes are available with this object. Apart from the inventory, the crafting log to be released with B has two modes: one for simple constructions and another for buildings, which are displayed by holding down X. Pay attention to all possible interactions with different elements of the environment, making the game rich in possibilities.
Vital needs and interface
Food and Drink are your first missions once you collect Kelvin and empty the helicopter crash crates. Quickly find a water point and aim for edible plants instead of eating your energy bar right away. Once the hunger and thirst are over, you must build your first shelter.
Interface elements
- The red bar indicates your Healthyour life points.
- The gray bar to the left of the red bar indicates your amount of armor, allowing you to take more damage. You have no base and need to learn how to craft and equip different types of armor to raise that bar.
- The blue bar indicates your staminathe energy you have left (to run, use weapons, etc.)
- The moon above the minimap indicates your state of fatigue. The more you run and stay awake, the more energy you lose. If the bar stays at zero for too long, you’ll pass out and fall asleep whether you’re in combat or not. Keeping it at a good level can help you gain more stamina. The level is closely linked to your satiety and hydration levels: the higher these are, the more easily your fatigue level will rise, and the slower it will fall as well.
- The piece of chicken above the moon indicates your satiety, actually your hunger. If it stays at zero for too long, you will starve. Keeping it at a good level can help you gain more stamina.
- The drop above the piece of chicken indicates your hydration status. If it stays at zero for too long, you’ll die of thirst. Keeping it at a good level can help you gain more stamina.
- The arm to the right of the water drop indicates your Strength. The more physical activities you perform (handling weapons in combat, cutting down trees…), the more this level increases and allows you to deal more damage and cut down trees faster after each fill of the bar (this comes corresponds to a gain in level).
Choose the installation of your canopy
An essential step in your long-term game, choosing the location of your base will have to be done with great caution. Make sure you have a water source nearby to easily hydrate yourself without having to travel long distances. The rivers and lakes are also a great source of food: send Kelvin to fish, he should get you a decent supply in less time than it takes to tell. Once the location is chosen, it’s time to defend everything: barricade your abode and plant cannibal heads on pikes to prevent them from getting too close to see what’s happening. Be aware that your base can be torn apart by enemies, so spoil your base and recruit Virginia quickly!
Sons of the Forest Tent: How to make your first shelter
If you’ve just landed in Sons of the Forest, one of the first things you should do is set up a tent to rest and create a refreshment point in case you drop by, believe us, you can still use it.
Do not explore at night
Oh, you could tell yourself that as long as you stick together with your torches on you’ll be safe, but that would be a “monumental error”. The night in Sons of the Forest goes from dark to dark and all it takes is a small group of cannibals from a nearby camp to turn your countryside journey into a nightmare. The enemies hit very hard (even normally) and if you succumb to their blows, you will reappear in one of their camps nearby. And breaking loose in the middle of the night, grabbing your backpack and fleeing without attracting the slightest enemy risks testing your nerves.
Use Kelvin without moderation
The poor man has lost all his brains, but he can still serve: by dictating him orders on a piece of paper, you can send him to clean a defined area around your house, or go fishing, or simply ask him to follow you. When the good Kelvin takes long breaks on a regular basis, he’s a really effective all-purpose NPC and, by the way, a big step forward for solo survival game players.
Get Virginia to protect your base
Virginia is certainly the most original character of Sons of the Forest and if there happened to be other allies added as development progresses, we hope they will go to this kind of disturbing “personality”. Like Kelvin, he’s an AI ally, but unlike your fellow misfortune, you can’t tell him what to do. On the other hand, she is able to equip 3 weapons at once, one per arm, and she will patrol around your camp to defend it. To track it, don’t forget to put a GPS locator on it.
Virginia Sons of the Forest: how do you approach this three-legged woman?
During your journey in Sons of the Forest you will encounter many hostile creatures. However, one of the mutants in the jungle where you crashed seems to want to approach you: it’s Virginia, “the woman with three legs”, and we’ll explain how to get friendly with her!
Clear the camps
This way you recover most of the resources for your craftssuch as tape or fabric for your Molotov cocktails. the cannibal camps should be attacked during the day for greater security and it is advisable to place a target abreast of your range. If you see two 10-foot enemies walking around the fire, swallow your courage and come back later, better prepared. Finally, don’t forget to open all the leather bags to pick up the corpses, they also contain very useful elements to survive on the island.
Co-op exploration
There are a few things to keep in mind when playing multiplayer. First, not all items are transferable between party members.let us think in particular of all the tools that you find at the bottom of the caves, such as the diving equipment or the rope gun. Also, friendly fire has been enabled and as far as we know there is no way to remove it, so be careful what you do in the damp cave passages on the island. In the article below you will find all useful commands to change certain game options.
Prepare well for your trips into the caves
A visit to the caves is the thread that will lead you to the end of the Sons of the Forest adventure., or at least what it currently contains. These are particularly stressful times when you must type mischievously. It will therefore be necessary to prepare well, first of all by following the advice above, but also to make sure you have enough reserves to fit in the cave.
