Useful information for beginners: how to use the toolbar (weapon wheel), resist cannibals, choose the best place to base, why you need Kelvin and much more
Sons of the Forest is a survival game with elements of horror in which you will face unpleasant enemies, lack of food, medicines, and at night it will be completely unrealistic to survive on the island. Most likely, before you master the basics of survival, you will die several times. If you want to make it easier, be sure to check out the information below, which will make it easier to immerse yourself in the game world of the Sons of the Forest.
Hot keys, inventory, research
Already at the very beginning, you will receive several prompts, in which the game will ask you to look at the inventory, create some basic things and use the GPS tracker. What the game does not say is which hotkeys are responsible for which functions and, among other things, how to manage inventory. First, Sons of the Forest does not currently have a shortcut bar. This means you can’t just press the 1, 2, and 3 keys to get an axe, a bow, and so on. But still there is a way to quickly switch between specific items.
How to use the toolbar in Sons Of The Forest
Press the I key to open inventory. Click on the “backpack” and once it’s in the center of the screen, you can attach or remove items – it’s essentially your toolbox. To access this panel, you need to hold down I, after which you can select the item you want to use at the moment.
Hotkeys
- Press the L key to get the light source. For example, a lantern.
- The B key will open the building book, and pressing it again will close it.
- The E key is used to interact with items – quickly press to take some item, or hold to use or eat an item (if it is, of course, edible).
Study
After you collect the loot near the crash site, master the inventory and toolbar, you can start exploring the game world. Don’t leave the starting spawn area until you’ve collected all the loot – you’ll find it in suitcases and other containers.
There are many different places marked on your map – from green glowing dots to exclamation marks. There are also numerous caves. All of these locations are likely to be further connected to a long storyline or used to loot some items.
- Exclamation marks are story events that advance the story (narration) but will also bring some loot.
- The green glowing dots are the locations of the 3D printers that you will need to create more complex items – reinforced arrows, sleds, and so on.
- Caves are open world dungeons or camps where you can find various loot including shovels, duct tape. In general, many useful resources and even ready-made tools.
- There are also areas that do not have markers on the map. It is best to take your time and look around all corners of the island, but do not forget – at night this place becomes much more dangerous.
Kelvin
Kelvin is not just a companion, but also a powerful tool. You can make him fish in the nearby lakes and ponds, chop down trees in the area, logs, build shelters and build a fire. Be sure to keep an eye on Kelvin. If he is attacked too often, he will die and disappear from the game forever. Losing Kelvin is a bad idea, so protect him at all costs.
Base management
Building and managing a base will be covered in more detail in a separate guide, but first you need to keep a few key things in mind when choosing a base location:
- Bodies of Water – Kelvin can fish all day without even a minute of rest, giving you a constant source of food from the very beginning of the game.
- Being close to a 3D printer is a useful tool to have on hand, so consider building a base near one of the entrances to the cave the printer is inside.
- To sleep, you need to build a shelter. You can put together a simple tarp shelter with a tarp and a few sticks and Kelvin will install it for you.
- More advanced shelter requires logs and different types of wood pieces. If you don’t know how to get planks and cut logs, take the log to the building and your character will automatically shape it into the right shape. You can cut planks by placing the logs on the ground and standing at their base. Find the length of the log and then click LMB when the red line appears.
Cannibal
These annoying mobs will bother you throughout the game. As long as you don’t have traps and walls, the only way to deal with them is to use brute force. The little cannibals that crawl across the floor tend to be afraid of you, but will attack if you turn your back on them. Kill them quickly with a spear, bow or axe.
Upright cannibals are a bit more dangerous. Their weapons do a lot of damage. They generally won’t attack unless you completely provoke them. Probably need to be aggressive. Attack them first, and then you will have a slightly better chance of survival.