Important Notes - Sons of the Forest

Important Notes for Sons of the Forest

This guide covers critical warnings, pitfalls, irreversible choices, missable content, difficulty spikes, grinding traps, online etiquette, save management, and common beginner regrets. Read before diving in to avoid frustration and wasted effort.

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Warnings & Pitfalls

Save Often, Save Everywhere: The game autosaves only when you sleep or enter certain caves, but manual saves are your safety net. Always save before:

Sleeping Danger: Sleeping in a shelter during the night is safe, but sleeping outside or in an unprotected shelter can be interrupted by cannibals. Always build a basic wall or trap before settling.

Starvation & Thirst: Don’t ignore food and water meters. Early game, berries and mushrooms are safe, but raw meat causes food poisoning. Always cook meat on a fire camp or drying rack. Water must be collected from ponds and then boiled in the crafting menu (combine a container with water + fire) or collected as rainwater with a turtle shell or bowl.

Base Location Regret: Building in a beautiful, open area near water may seem ideal, but many locations are patrol routes. The beach shores are high-traffic; cliffs are harder to defend. Scout for natural barriers (cliffs, deep water) and proximity to caves (for resources) but also consider escape routes.

Burning Structures: Fire is global. If you build a fire next to a wooden hut, it can catch fire and destroy your entire base. Always place fires on stone rings or far from walls.

Dying ≠ Game Over: On Normal difficulty, you respawn at your last save with all items. On Hard Survival, you lose progress (items stay but respawn at a save shelter). Dying is not an irreversible screwup, but losing several hours of building progress is. Hence the save advice.

Inventory Clutter: You have limited inventory space. Immediately craft a backpack (2 deer hide + 1 rope) to increase slots. Without it, you’ll be constantly dropping items.

Irreversible Choices & Missable Content

Story Ending Choice: At the very end, you have two options: (1) Leave the island with your friends or (2) Stay behind. This triggers one of two endings and cannot be undone (unless you reload a save before the decision). Save before entering the final bunker.

Consuming Unique Items: Key story items like the Shovel, Rebreather, Crossbow, Pistol, and Grenade Launcher are one-time pickups. You cannot drop them, but if you lose them (e.g., thrown off a cliff), they may be recoverable from your last save. Never reload a save after picking up a unique if you can avoid it.

Missable Lore Notes: Some lore notes (like the Painted Notes or Dead Camp Photographs) are located in specific camps. They are not needed for completion, but if you’re a completionist, explore every cave and camp before progressing to the third act (after the shovel). Check the GPS map for green question marks (unexplored points of interest).

Killing Key NPCs: You cannot permanently kill allies like Virginia (if she’s friendly). If you attack her, she will flee and may become hostile. This can be reversed by leaving her alone and feeding her (berries), but it takes time. Similarly, Kelvin is invincible if you leave him, but if you kill him (possible with cheats), he is gone forever.

Difficulty Selection: Once you start a game, you cannot change the difficulty. Hard Survival removes auto-saves and restricts save points to shelters only. Plan accordingly.

Difficulty Spikes

First Night:

Pitfall:

First Cave (Cave of the Dead or Cave A):

Sluggy

Fingers

The Shovel Bunker:

Cube

Final Boss:

Tip:

Grinding Traps & Efficiency Tips

Collecting Logs Manually: Chopping down trees one by one and carrying logs is slow. Instead, build a log sled (6 logs + 1 rope) early. Attach a rope to the sled to pull it, then cut trees and let the log fall onto the sled. You can stack multiple logs on it.

Building Massive Fortresses Prematurely: A huge base requires thousands of logs and planks. Before you have a chainsaw or the replanting ability (from the shovel), stick to a small, defensible outpost. The forest regenerates very slowly in places.

Hunting for Leather: Drying racks and furniture require leather. Instead of hunting every deer, build a trap (snare) and place it near animal paths. Check daily for trapped animals. Also, fish provide infinite food.

Crafting Bone Armor: Bone armor is weak and breaks quickly. The Golden Armor (from a cave) is far superior (can be repaired with duct tape). Don’t waste bones on multiple sets.

Using the Wrong Axe: The woodsman axe is fine for trees, but the Chainsaw (found in a cave on the east side) chops logs in seconds. Once you have it, manual chopping is obsolete.

Online Etiquette & Anti-Cheat

No Built-in Anti-Cheat: Sons of the Forest does not use Easy Anti-Cheat or BattlEye. Cheats are possible, but they may trigger issues with co-op if the host uses admin commands. Tip: If you join a public lobby, check if cheats are enabled (the host can toggle some).

Shared Inventory Etiquette: In co-op, resources are shared between players. Don’t take all the logs or food from a shared storage. Communicate with your teammates.

Building Permission: Don’t build in someone else’s designated area without asking. The host has supreme control; they can demolish your structures.

Voice Chat & Ping: Use the in-game ping system (default Q) to mark items or locations. Voice chat is helpful, but be respectful.

Progress Saves to Host: Only the host’s world is saved. Guests keep their inventory when they leave, but any structures built or items placed are saved only in the host’s game. If you want to continue a world, you must rejoin that host or have them share the save file.

Dedicated Servers: There are no official dedicated servers. Co-op is peer-to-peer, so the host must be online for others to play in that world.

Save Management

Manual Saves: Press ESC > Save > Create New Save. Always use separate slots (e.g., “Before Cave”, “Base Day 10”, “Pre-Ending”). Overwriting the same slot risks losing progress if the save corrupts.

Autosaves: The game creates an autosave when you sleep or enter a cave. Use these as backups, but don’t rely on them exclusively.

Hard Survival Saves: Only allowed at save shelters (not autosaves). Place save shelters (built from logs) around the map—especially near important caves or bases.

Delete Old Saves: Too many saves can lag the menu. Delete unnecessary ones from the save folder: `%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Endnight\SonsOfTheForest\Saves\[steam_id]`.

Multiplayer Saves: Hosts should back up their saves before hosting a game with new players—trust issues may arise.

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Things Beginners Regret Not Knowing

1. The GPS Tracker Is Your Map: Press M to open the map. Right-click to place markers (caves, resources, bases). Use the red pins to mark unexplored caves. The map reveals points of interest once you get close enough.
2. You Can Replant Trees: After obtaining the shovel, you can dig holes and plant seeds from harvested berries or aloe. This provides renewable food and meds.
3. Tech Armor (Golden Armor) Exists: Found in a cave on the west side (requires rebreather). It has high defense, can be repaired with duct tape, and gives 10 inventory slots. Prioritize finding it.
4. Hotkeys Are Your Friend: Use number keys to cycle weapons. Bind items like the cooking pot or gps to hotbar slots for quick access.
5. The Crossbow Is Silent and Powerful: Crafted from parts found in the world. It can one-shot most cannibals and is excellent for stealth.
6. You Can Build Zip Lines: Using a rope and a log, you can create a zip line to transport logs downhill. Place a log sled at the bottom and fill it while above.
7. Night Is Dangerous but Rewarding: Many cannibals sleep at night, making it easier to explore camps and caves quietly—but more mutants spawn. Weigh the risk.
8. Caves Are Not Instanced: They remain in the overworld; enemies respawn over time. Don’t assume a cleared cave is safe forever.
9. You Can Dye Armor & Clothes: Combine paint with armor or clothing at a crafting station for camouflage or style—purely cosmetic.
10. The Story Is Not Deep: Read the lore notes for context. The main objectives are simple: find the missing guests, get the rebreather, the shovel, and then reach the final bunker. Don’t get lost.

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This guide assumes version 1.0 (full release). Future updates may change mechanics. Always check the patch notes.