Sons of the Forest Walkthrough Guide: Beginner Tips

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3 Mar 2023

Getting started in Sons of the Forest can take time and effort. With minimal resources, no guidance, and cannibals looking for opportunities to attack, players can easily get overwhelmed.

With some of the best beginner tips in the game, players can guarantee their survival on the first nights of the game while ensuring they’re prepared for what follows later.

In this list, I will mention the ten best tips for beginners in Sons of the Forest to help players progress through the game smoothly.

Also, with a peak of just over 400,000 players, Sons of the Forest is reaching numbers similar to some of the most popular games on Steam.

Table of Contents:

  1. Sons of the Forest Walkthrough Guide

    a. Choosing the Best Base Location

    b. Loot Every Container

    c. Stock Up on Food and Water

    d. Use Quick Slots

    e. Always Have Tarp

    f. Utilize Kelvin to Gather Materials and Food

    g. Find and Use the 3D Printer

    h. Don’t Attack Passive Mutants

    i. Prepare for Winter

    j. Explore Nearby Caves

  2. Wrapping up Sons of the Forest Walkthrough Guide

Sons of the Forest Walkthrough Guide

Without further delay, let’s examine the ten best tips for Sons of the Forest.

1. Choosing the Best Base Location

Open areas are ideal base locations in Sons of the Forest.

One of the most important things when starting in Sons of the Forest is to choose the best location to set up a base.

In general, many locations are ideal as long as they fulfil three requirements:

  1. Access to fresh water
  2. Open area with great visibility
  3. Near or in a forest

Having access to fresh water by building near a river or lake means players never have to worry about getting enough water through rain catchers. This way, they can focus on other important things, such as food or exploration.

Building in an open area (or in a forest and chopping down all surrounding trees) is important since it allows players to have clear visibility of their surrounding area.

Cannibals are sneaky, and defending against them is going to be way easier if they can be spotted while coming from afar.

Lastly, building near or in a forest is important as wood is a key resource for building and fortifying any base.

2. Loot Every Container

Always keep an eye out for containers and try not to miss any.

When exploring, players should always keep an eye out for campsites or loose containers. They should try to be thorough when looting any area as they can often find suitcases and containers hidden in the nearby bushes.

Since containers have useful items for processing the game, it’s important to not miss any of them.

3. Stock Up on Food & Water

Make sure to always carry extra food.Food and water are essential resources in the game, and it’s important to always have some excess in case of need.

For food, players should build a drying rack as it will make meat last longer. Also, they should try and save any MREs and candy bars found, as these will never go bad. Instead, prioritize eating any meat that’s about to turn rotten.

As for water, try to build near a freshwater source and make a flask using the 3D printer. Lastly, try and save any energy drinks found for times of need.

4. Use Quick Slots

Hold 'I' to use the quick slot system in Sons of the Forest.

If players are suddenly attacked by a mutant and want to pull out their axe, they don’t have to kneel, open their inventory, select the axe, and then get it out. Instead, they can utilize quick slots to make this process faster.

Players can do this by opening their inventory (hotkey: I) and selecting the backpack from the top row. Then, they can insert in the backpack any items they want to quick-slot.

Now, players can hold the inventory button (instead of tapping it), and they’ll be able to select from there any item that was placed in the backpack.

Additionally, with a last-minute update, the developers added the ability to hotkey certain items in your inventory.

This is done by opening the inventory, hovering over the item you want, and then pressing the number you want to assign it to (1-9).

5. Always Have Tarp

Always carry a tarp to make a shelter and save the game or spend the night.

One of the most important beginner tips in this Sons of the Forest Guide is to make sure to always carry a tarp.

Tarp is one of the various ingredients that players can find in the game. What makes it so important is that it’s needed for making a basic shelter, which is used for sleeping and saving the game.

Since it only requires one tarp and one stick, as long as players carry a tarp with them, they can save or sleep at any point - even inside a cave.

6. Utilize Kelvin to Gather Materials and Food

Kelvin is an extremely useful companion if used properly in Sons of the Forest.

Kelvin is one of the two AI companions in the game and a very helpful team member. He can be commanded to do various activities, such as cutting trees in the surrounding area or fishing for food.

Kelvin is extremely efficient in those activities. With him on the team, players will have sufficient food (if there’s a water source nearby for Kelvin to fish) and enough logs to build any base they want without having to chop anything.

However, keep in mind that Kelvin can die, and if he dies, there’s no way in the game to bring him back. Players can keep him safe by having him stay around their base.

While there’s no way to bring Kelvin back via in-game options, players can revive companions by altering some details in the notepad in the game files.

7. Find and Use the 3D Printer

Use the 3D Printer to make useful items.There are three 3D printers in Sons of the Forest, and they are the only way to make certain useful items.

The best items players can make in a 3D printer include the Flask, which is a tool for transferring water, and the mask, which makes mutants less aggressive.

Finding a 3D printer will help players progress through the game at an easier pace, without having to worry about water while exploring caves and without being overwhelmed by mutants.

8. Don’t Attack Passive Mutants

Don't attack mutants in the early game unless they attack you first.

During the early game, mutants will hang out around the player’s base. It’s important to note that players shouldn’t attack them as long as the mutants are passive.

This is because mutants are neutral in the early game and become more aggressive slowly as the days go by. Attacking them will make them aggressive sooner.

This will result in more mutants visiting and attacking the player’s base during the early game, which will make setting up harder.

9. Prepare for Winter

Build a base and gather enough resources to prepare for winter.Sons of the Forest has a season system, and the season will eventually turn into winter. This results in cold and snowy weather, as well as less wildlife overall.

In turn, this makes it harder to find food while also making mutants more aggressive as they also struggle to find food.

One of the most important tips in this Sons of the Forest Walkthrough guide is to prepare for winter by having a base ready.

This is done by placing outer walls and spikes to be able to defend against mutants. Additionally, players should save any MREs found to make sure they don’t run out of food.

10. Explore Nearby Caves

Explore every cave you find as they have many useful materials and tools.While moving around the map, players will find multiple caves. It’s important to explore as many of them as possible since they have valuable items.

Other than food and basic materials such as tarp and rope, these caves can include various useful tools such as the Shovel, any weapon attachments, or keycards that are needed to progress the story.

Wrapping up Sons of the Forest Walkthrough Guide

To summarize, by following these ten best beginner tips in this walkthrough, players can make sure to survive their first night and thrive during their playthrough in Sons of the Forest.

Do you have any other tips to add to this list and help new players? What’s the most important tip for surviving in the game? Let us know in the comments below.

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