Sons of the Forest - 5 Tips for Beginners

Publish date: 2024-08-26

Sons of the Forest may be a challenge for new players, so we've broke down the top five tips for beginners from the developers themselves.

First Published February 24, 2023, 06:20

Sons of the Forest has just been released in early access, and now that players can jump into this new survival horror experience, many players are excited to jump into the game. While some players are veterans who have cut their teeth on the game's predecessor, The Forest, some players will be new to the game and might need some tips on staying alive. 

Luckily, the developers have given us five tips for beginners when speaking with IGN that can help you get started in this new game, and even give veteran players some things to consider. So let's take a look at five tips from the developers for beginners playing Sons of the Forest. 

1. Scavange & Collect Resources in Sons of the Forest

The first tip is vital to any player, regardless of your skill level, when getting started in Sons of the Forest. You've just crashed, and you're going to start with very little equipment. So investigate the surrounding area for everything you can discover and scavenge. 

Plants, sticks, stones, and everything in between, all have the potential to be useful, sometimes not right now, but later instead. If you come across important resources, such as aloe vera plants and other foliage (which regrow), make a note of their locations so you can always find them.

2. Build a Base of Operations

Next, you'll need a place to rest your head, so start with choosing a safe location for your initial base. Make sure it's a habitable area that isn't too cold such as snow biomes, so instead, seek out a warmer climate with a water supply, such as a river or lake nearby.

After you've chosen the ideal location, begin chopping down trees and constructing a small cabin to start, the smaller it is, the faster you can get it set up and be safe. You should also consider building a fence or, even better, a wall around your base to protect yourself from attackers.

3. Conserve Ammunition is Key in Sons of the Forest

Sons of the Forest will feature way more weapons than its predecessor, The Forest. This means that weapons are more commonplace, but ammunition is not so much, so keep your bullets for emergencies only. 

It is recommended to create a bow and arrows as soon as feasible to combat lesser waves of opponents or to hunt for animals. You can also thrash the monsters coming for you with melee weapons such as axes or homemade clubs. As tougher attackers, such as mutants, attack your base, you can use guns to put them down faster.

4. Observe your surroundings

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, and in Sons of the Forest, this is extremely true as if you don't plan your encounters with enemies and track their routes, you can easily get ambushed and overwhelmed. So in the early game, you should study your opponents' paths and avoid them where you can, and if not, fight them in an area you know you have an advantage.

If you're planning on attacking enemies, scout them out first. See how many there are, how they move, and what the best way would be to take them down. They're much easier to deal with one on one than as a group.

5. Help Kelvin as much as you can

Last but not least, Kelvin is an NPC who was on the helicopter with you when it crashed at the start of the game. He is an extremely valuable ally throughout the game, whether in fighting, collecting, or defending your base. So be sure to take care of him as much as you can and keep him alive.

This will involve healing him, and giving him food, otherwise, he may stop working and, in the worst-case scenario, die. And trust us, when you're alone out there, it becomes more deadly and more terrifying.

Shane Moosa

Written by Shane Moosa

Shane started his career as a freelance writer for Gamezo while working full-time as a software developer. You can often find Shane trying his hand at no-hit runs of Souls Games such as Elden Ring and Dark Souls 3 (and being quite unsuccessful). To relax, Shane will often boot up sessions of Overwatch 2 or Hunt: Showdown, but his interests are spread across various games, from AAA titles (He loved the Dead Space Remake and RE4 Remake) to indies such as Hollow Knight, Celeste, and Hades. Shane is always willing to try new games though, so feel free to drop him an email with what you think he should check out next.

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