Sons of the Forest: Tips & Tricks Sons of the Forest guide, tips

In order to survive in the dangerous world of Sons of the Forest, it is advisable to read the following tips that will make your first hours with the game easier. This page of the guide contains a number of tips on companions, materials and exploration.

Last update: 03 March 2023

On this page of the guide you can find some tips and tricks that will help you get your bearings in the initial games. Tips broach subjects like Kelvin (companion), gathering materials, and exploring the world of the game.

• Kelvin is there for a reason - use him
• Explore every corner of the zone you're currently in
• Customize the experience to your needs
• Make sure to prepare before entering caves
• Conserve ammo
• Make use of your backpack
• Satisfy basic needs
• If you're out of items, load the game

Kelvin is there for a reason - use him

Kelvin, another survivor of the helicopter crash, will listen to your orders sent through short notes. You can ask him e.g. to scavenge for certain (chosen by you) supplies and materials, to fill in for you to complete the building process of the currently raised structure or to fish and bring the caught food to the chosen place. He is not a machine, but knows and satisfies his needs on his own.

To use Kelvin's help, interact with him by holding down the E key, then select a command from the list. You can reveal further commands by pressing D and directional arrows - sending an order is done in the same way.

Explore every corner of the zone you're currently in

Each zone is filled with various points of interest, such as abandoned camps where former residents left a lot of long-term viable food, health items, and useful crafting ingredients. You can also find wooden chests and coffins but these cannot be interacted with with a simple press of a button. To get access to their contents, smash them with melee weapons.

Finally, we have caves - they contain many very useful and unique items, but most of the time, they are filled with opponents and without preparation, such a trip may turn out to be too dangerous and difficult.

Customize the experience to your needs

In Sons of the Forest you can customize your games thanks to a number of adjustable settings. To do so, before starting a match, check out the Custom Game option. You're free to adjust these settings, for example, you can disable hostile characters to focus solely on survival mechanics and free-roaming the world. Other adjustable settings involve changing the time of the year in which the game begins, how long a standard day lasts, and how strong and durable the enemies are.

Make sure to prepare before entering caves

Caves are a great source of useful, sometimes completely unique, items, but they are also full of dangerous enemies. Before you venture to explore any cave, be sure to stock up on weapons, explosives, ammunition, and healing items. Without proper preparations, your expedition may quickly end in death. To view the list of the available weapons along with their approximate locations, visit Basics -> List of all weapons.

Conserve ammo

Ammo for firearms is one of the items in the game which cannot be crafted, so don't use them on every occasion and save the supplies for dangerous situations such as cave exploration. Another example when firearms are recommended are cannibal attacks on your base - bullets will send a good message to the hostiles. For mundane activities such as hunting, it is better to use a melee weapon or a bow, especially since arrows can be crafted. For more information regarding crafting, visit Resources and Crafting -> Crafting page of the guide.

Make use of your backpack

Sons of the Forest doesn't offer a hotkey interface for quick equipping of various items. However, you can add items of your choice to your backpack for easier access. To do so, choose the backpack from your inventory, and then press RMB on items you want to put into it.

To equip the backpack, press I (remember to hold the button, as a single press of I will open your inventory).

Satisfy basic needs

Your hero has basic needs that have to be satisfied, such as hunger, thirst, or sleep. If you neglect any of these, your maximum stamina level will suffer. Eating a proper meal, drinking from a stream, or sleeping in a tent will replenish these gauges and return them to the initial level.

If you're out of items, load the game

If you're missing an item, and know its sure location, save the game. This is somewhat of a facilitation, but most consumable items such as medicine, food, or crafting ingredients, reappear in the same place after reloading the game. You can use this method to gather a lot of supplies very fast, and then store them in the shelter to use on later occasions.