The second part of the popular The Forest game, called Sons of the Forest, is out. The latest survival horror simulator did not disappoint and has very positive ratings on the Steam platform. As we expected, Sons of the Forest is extremely reminiscent of the first part of this game, but there are also so many new things that you can do and discover. Starting with a much larger inventory, NPC friend called “Kelvin”, huge map with changing seasons, far more realistic process of building constructions and many other things. In this detailed guide, we will give you the best tips on how to start the game and what you need to focus on in Sons of the Forest.
Open Your Emergency Pack
The first thing you need to do is to open your Emergency kit, which will contain some of the basic items. You will do that by pressing the “I” button on the keyboard to open the inventory, and then just click on the Emergency pack. The emergency pack contains items that you will always need, namely the popular tactical axe, a lighter, a building guide and the newly added GPS tracker. The GPS tracker allows you to see the entire map as well as some locations on it, which is quite advanced compared to The Forest.
Good old Axe.
Revive Your NPC Friend
Near the crash site of the helicopter, you will see one survivor, and that is Kelvin. Kelvin is also something new added to the game and he makes things a lot easier for you because he does small jobs so you don’t have to. Things like collecting sticks, stones, logs or making shelters and campfires. He can also fish for you if you are near a lake. For starters, you can instruct him to collect sticks while you open loot boxes.
Best bud forever.
Loot Around the Crashed Helicopter
Same as in the original game, you have loot-boxes in the form of travel bags and containers from which you also get some basic items for survival. In them you can find meds, flares, duct tapes, grenades, tarps, batteries, ropes and other things. Also, loot respawns, so after a certain time (or simply reloading the game) you can return to this place and pick up items again.
Comeback later to loot again.
Heal Yourself
Open the inverter and use the meds to raise your health bar. It is very important to heal up in order to continue exploring the rest of the island. If you happen to be out of meds, there are two other ways to fill your health bar. The first of the ways is to make a tent and simply sleep; by sleeping you repair the health and stamina bar. The second and at the same time slightly slower way is to eat food and drink water. When you fill up the food and water bar, you will slowly start to cool down.
Take your meds.
Craft Some Spears
Make your first spear, or more spears. Crafting is done by combining various materials in your inventory and then clicking on a gear to craft them. You will also notice that when you put one material, if you run over an incomplete gear, you will see which materials you need to make a certain item. Spears are good in the beginning for fighting common cannibals and some animals. You can throw them and you can also see the trajectory before you throw it. A spear can kill some cannibals with one shot to the head.
One shot weapon.
Use GPS Tracker
By pressing the “M” button on the keyboard, you will open the GPS Tracker, which will show you information about almost the entire map. Information such as where is the water, land or mountains. In addition, they also show you the crash site, the entrance to the caves, flashing signals that are also the entrance to some underground, and exclamation marks that are actually GPS locators where you can find very good things like shotguns or pistols. Of course, for these things you will generally need other equipment, such as scuba gear or a shovel, which are located deep in the cave. By pressing your mouse wheel, you can zoom in or out on the map on the GPS Tracker.
It doesn’t need batteries!
Explore
The next step is to look around and find a place for the first base. If you have played the original Forest, you know very well that there is something interesting at every step, and so it is in Sons of the Forest. On the surface of the map, you will mostly come across cannibal camps, tents with dead campers, cave entrances, and places marked with an exclamation point on the GPS locator. In each of those places you will find very good loot that also respawns after a certain time. Don’t forget to tell Kelvin to follow you and go exploring.
Be careful around cannibal camps.
Sleep & Save Your Game
After every important progress you should save the game, because this game has no autosave. In addition, the game is still in Early Access, so there are often bugs that can easily kill you, or even worse, kick you out of the entire game. As soon as it gets dark, first sleep, save the game and then continue. You can make a shelter quite easily, all you need is a tarp and a stick, or if not that, Kelvin nearby. Kelvin can also make you a shelter if you tell him.
He probably won’t do it.
Build Your First Base
One of the best locations for building a base is on this small island that will protect you from cannibals at all times. The only problem is that in the winter the water freezes in this place, but luckily you can skip the winter by sleeping several times in a row. Building a base is much more difficult and can be very confusing at first, so you should use the building manual. By pressing the “B” button on the keyboard, you will open the building manual, where you will see instructions for building various structures. Be prepared because you will need a to cut down a lot of trees.
The water is frozen during the winter.
Build a Furniture
If you don’t want your house to be empty, make storage, torches, shelves, a bench, a chair, a table, a bed and all other things. All you need to do is open the building manual and press “X” to switch the mode. This will give you a classic build design like from the last The Forest, which you will be able to set up very easily. You will also see on the first page examples of some shelters that you can build.
Kelvin enjoys the view.
Find Modern Axe
Chopping wood can take a long time if you chop it with a regular axe. That’s why there is a modern axe that you can find in this camp very close to our lake. With a modern axe, you will cut a tree very quickly and it also provides better defense against cannibals. Although it may not be the best in the game, it is remarkable because you can find it very easily at the beginning.
He won’t mind.
Find 3D Printer
The 3D Printer is one of the vital things in the game because it gives you the ability to craft some very important items. Those items are: arrows, flask, mask, grappling hook, tech mesh and sled. One of the good tips is to make a mask because it helps you avoid those kinds of cannibals who also wear a mask. This is also an easier way to craft an arrows. It can be very useful if you are in an unfavorable situation. In Sons of the Forest there are two places where you can find a 3D printer, while for this place specifically you don’t need any other tools to enter.
Or just craft a sled.
Build Your Strength
If you look above the map in the lower right corner you will see 4 statistics related to your strength, thirst, hunger and sleepiness. Make sure to keep all those stats full at all times to keep yourself in top shape. The muscle bar is marked exclusively in red and it grows while you do some physical work like chopping trees. The stronger your muscles are, the better your melee combat is. Also, try to keep your stamina at maximum or close to maximum. You get stamina when you fill up the hunger bar, thirst bar and sleep bar. You can also use energy bars or energy drinks to boost your stamina.
Chop chop.
Craft an Armor
Armor is one of the main things you want to have, especially if you’re in a cave. There are six types of armor currently in the game, ranked from best to worst:
- Golden Armor (End game armor, only can be found in the bunker)
- Tech Armor (Also an end game armor, only can be crafted with 3D Printer)
- Creepy Armor (Midgame armor, acquired by looting a dead cave mutant)
- Bone Armor (Midgame armor, crafted with bones and ropes)
- Hide Armor (Midgame armor, crafted with cloth & animal hide)
- Leaf Armor (Low-end armor, crafted with leaves & cloth)
One of the best early and mid-game armor is Bone armor, which is fairly easy to craft. All you need is four bones, one rope, and one tape. You can get a lot of bones by killing a cannibal and simply putting it on a fire. You can find ropes and tapes in various locations on the map.
Craft it as much as you can.
Enter the Caves
For any further progress in the game, you need to enter the cave. Each cave has an essential tool that will help you progress and then beat the game. Also, each cave has various types of mutants that will get in your way. So before you enter the cave, prepare well. Take armor, food, water, energy drinks, meds and some weapons with you. One of the better weapons in the early game that you can use against a lot of waves of mutants are grenades, which can be found in loot-boxes on the surface of the map.
Prepare your scuba gear for this one.
Use Grenades Wisely
As I mentioned, grenades are one of the more important weapons in the beginning, because they can help you kill the stronger mutants more easily. Mutants like ninja babies, fingers, twins and others. So don’t waste grenades or any other explosive devices on anything else. Grenades are the only weapons in the beginning of the game that will not force you to fight mutants for a long time. If you find yourself in a situation where there are not many mutants in a large area, you can freely bypass a few of them to continue moving deeper into the cave.
Or use timed explosive instead.
These were some of the main tips and tricks that every beginner should know when they start playing Sons of the Forest for the first time. Of course, there is a lot more and the main point of the game is to constantly discover new things. The best thing about this game is that the map is really huge, what we can see on the GPS tracker is only a quarter of the map. To learn more about it, check out our Sons of the Forest early access preview. What is your favorite thing about the new The Forest? Leave a comment below.
