Learn the basic functions of the game, cause their ain’t no tutorial on how to survive irl anyway.
New players trying out the newest horror survival game Sons Of The Forest might cause a bit of confusion. There isn’t much of a tutorial and the tooltips don’t come very often or players might not know where to look. Some of the controls and basic functions of the game aren’t as intuitive as one might think and while the game is still in “Early Access” players are sure to encounter bugs along the way.
Skip The Intro Cutscene
The intro cutscenes are quite long and the game doesn’t show a prompt initially to end them early. However, if you press and hold “S” you will be able to skip each scene. There are 3 scenes that you’ll have to press and hold “S” to skip all of them.
How The Interact Button Works
When trying to pick up certain objects, such as sticks, tapping the Interact Button “E” will place it in your inventory while Holding the button will place it in your hands to wield. Similarly, when interacting with items, such as consumables like fish or meat, tapping the interact button will place it in the inventory and holding it will consume it immediately.
How To Drop Items
While it may seem pretty obvious to veterans of the survival horror series, there is no tooltip in game to tell you what to press after you’ve picked up an item. The default key bind to drop items is “G”. If you were carrying an item small enough to fit in your inventory, such as a stick or a lighter, it will actually stow it back in there if you have space for it.
In a recent early access play session there is a consistent bug encountered that made it impossible to drop a wielded item. A quick fix in multiplayer is to go up to your friend and open and close their backpack. In solo play, however, players will just have to either wait it out or hope that a random button press will fix it.
How To Throw Items
For some reason, only certain items have the capability of being thrown. Spears and small rocks can be aimed by holding the Right Mouse Button to show the trajectory, then tapping the Left Mouse Button will launch the item along that arching path.
How To Open Inventory or Backpack![sons of the forest how to access inventory and backpack 1]()
There are two ways to open the Inventory, Tapping “I” will open the full inventory and crafting station, while Holding I will open the Backpack. The Backpack can be customized to slot different items on it for quick access without going into the full Crafting Interface Inventory.
How To Cook Meat
One of the best ways to find and eat food is by cooking it at a fire. Holding the interact button, “E” on PC, while facing a Fire will reveal a compartment of your inventory that has food items. Highlight the Meat or Fish and Tapping the Left Mouse Button will place it on the fire. After about 30 seconds the food will be cooked and ready to be eaten or stored, after about 60 it will be burnt. Placing Raw meat will also cook it too, but the icon will be red, indicating it is unsafe to eat until it is cooked thoroughly.
How To Build Shelter![sons of the forest how to build shelter 1]()
Building a base is very straightforward. While players can manually build in whatever way they choose, the easiest way to do so is by bringing up the Guide Booklet, “B” on PC, and holding “X” to switch menus. This menu has many structures in it but you’ll want to navigate to the first green tab labeled Shelter and select the structure you want to build.
After selecting the structure you’ll see an outline highlighting the orientation and placement of the building, red indicates it cannot be placed and white means that it can be placed. Once a location has been selected walking near the outline will bring up a supply menu that needs to be fulfilled. Simply gather the items and bring them to the structure and press the interact key “E”. Depending on the structure, you’ll need to bring different materials at different times to complete the building.
