Sons of the Forest is the Endnight Games sequel to its popular survival horror game The Forest. Taking place in a similar forested island as the first game but featuring a different protagonist, the game entered Early Access in February 2023. A full release is expected to arrive in late 2023. Reviews and reception of Sons of the Forest place it as being an improvement and evolution of many of the core gameplay elements of the first game, landing it as one of the most-played games on Steam shortly after entering Early Access.
Since the game is still in Early Access, many of the elements and mechanics that will make their way into the full release are still being built and are currently missing. Notably, there are still some prevalent bugs that impact the game’s performance. Additionally, several components of the narrative and side activities are not present. That said, these features are expected to appear in the full release of the game. Endnight Games continues to provide fans with regular updates regarding progress toward full release and Sons of the Forest’s content roadmap.
Shortly after its release, Sons of the Forest maintained 250,000 concurrent Steam players. Additionally, the title sold more than 2 million copies within 24 hours of entering Early Access. Already the title is outpacing its predecessor, with the full release aiming to continue that trend. Developer Endnight Games recently acknowledged a desire to bring Sons of the Forest to consoles. As it stands, though, the game currently has no concrete plans for a console release.
Sons of the Forest Premise
Similar to its predecessor, Sons of the Forest is a first-person survival horror game. Leaning heavily into both aspects of the genre, both The Forest and its sequel are true survival games. Players must monitor their hunger, thirst, temperature, and health. Any dip in one or more of these stats can cause severe detriments to players’ survivability. Additionally, it is up to players to scavenge the environment for supplies and resources. These items assist with crafting and building, with the construction of a safehouse or settlement being one of the game’s first priorities.
The plot of Sons of the Forest takes place several years after the events of the first game. In the sequel, players assume the role of The Contractor, a member of a paramilitary organization. These private military contractors have been hired by the PuffCorp organization to search for and rescue their founder and CEO, Edward Puffton. Puffton and his family are missing on a mysterious island nicknamed “Site 2”, which players very quickly realize is subject of the same kind of experiments and mutation present in the titular location from The Forest.
In addition to the survival aspects of gameplay, Sons of the Forest leans much more heavily into the horror component of its genre. Players encounter mutants that are very similar to the enemies from The Forest. However, later in the game, players will come across horrific monstrosities that nearly defy classification. Thankfully, Sons of the Forest provides players with optional companions that make the proceedings less isolated and provide occasional comic relief.
Sons of the Forest Main Characters
Just as in The Forest, players have a set protagonist that they assume the role of. Outside this main character, there are several NPCs and enemies that players must contend with. One of the major improvements Sons of the Forest makes over its predecessor is its characterizations, with the main players in the story having much more development and fully-rounded personalities. Main characters in Sons of the Forest include:
- The Contractor: The player character and protagonist of Sons of the Forest. The main character is an unnamed private military contractor hired by PuffCorp to rescue Edward Puffton.
- Edward Puffton: The founder and CEO of PuffCorp, Edward and his family are missing. His company hire a group of military contractors to locate Edward on the mysterious “Site 2” island.
- Eric LeBlanc: Eric is the main character from The Forest and appears in its sequel. Sons of the Forest adopts the “bad” ending of the first game as canon as a result.
- Kelvin: Kelvin is one of the companions players can have in Sons of the Forest. A fellow member of the main character’s private military unit, he is severely injured in the helicopter crash that lands them on “Site 2”.
- Virginia: Virginia is the daughter of Edward Puffton and also a potential companion character. She has a unique appearance, having both three arms and three legs. It’s unclear whether these mutations existed prior to the family arriving at “Site 2”.
- Jianyu Zhang: Jianyu is an employee of PuffCorp and the main antagonist of the game. In its current Early Release state, he can be seen in 3 pivotal scenes in the game. He wears a signature silver chrome jacket.
Games in The Forest Series
The Forest has proven to be a massive success for Endnight Games. Both the first game and its sequel have outpaced sales expectations as well as receiving critical acclaim. To date, games in The Forest series include:
- The Forest (2018)
- Sons of the Forest (2023)
Sons of the Forest Cheats
Much like its predecessor, Sons of the Forest features the built-in option to enter cheats using a command console. Even better, activating the command console is simple and easy to do.
Activating the Command Console
To enable cheats in Sons of the Forest, players will first need to activate the command console. After loading up your save file, complete the following actions:
- Type cheatstick during gameplay, do not pause the game
- Press F1
If done correctly, the command console will open. With the command console open, simply enter the cheat you wish to use and press Enter.
Some commands do not need modifiers, while others will. Any console commands with square brackets will need a modifier placed instead of what’s listed inside the brackets. For example:
- additem [item name] will add any item to your inventory as long as there’s a modifier in place of [item name]
- If you wanted to add the modern axe to your inventory, the cheat would be entered as:
additem modernaxe
Note that there’s no space between the names of items with multiple word modifiers and no square brackets
Console Command Cheats
| Type | Command | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Player | addallitems | Adds a full stack of every item into your inventory. |
| Player | addallstoryitems | Adds items that are necessary for the story to your inventory. |
| Player | additem [item name] | Adds the specified item to your inventory. |
| Player | additemswithtag [item tag] | Adds an item with the specified tag to your inventory. |
| Player | godmode [on/off] | Enables/disables godmode, making you invincible and giving max health, hunger, hydration, and energy. |
| Player | speedyrun [on/off] | Allows you to run at much higher speed than normal. |
| Player | superjump [on/off] | Allows you to jump higher than usual when enabled. |
| Player | instantbookbuild [on/off] | Allows you to instantly build anything when selected in the build book. |
| Player | setplayerrace [number] | Changes the skin colour of the player character. |
| Player | gotocoords [X number] [Z number] [Y number] | Spawn at the set coordinates. |
| World | addcharacter robby [number] | Spawns the defined number of Kelvins into the game. |
| World | addcharacter virginia [number] | Spawns the defined number of Virginias into the game. |
| World | aiangerlevel [number] | Changes the anger level of all AI. |
| World | aianimspeed [number] | Changes the animation speed of all AI (1 is default, so 10 is super fast and 0.1 is super slow). |
| World | aiarmorlevel [number] | Changes the amount of protection that AI have. |
| World | aidisable [on/off] | Adds/removes all AI from the game. |
| World | aidummy [on/off] | Makes AI un/aware of your presence. |
| World | aigodmode [on/off] | Turns AI invincible. |
| World | aipause [on/off] | Pauses all AI instantly (will turn off if you pause the game). |
| World | animalsenabled [on/off] | Removes all animals when toggled on. |
| World | spawnitem [item tag number] [number of item to spawn] | Spawns a specified amount of the specified item. |
| World | spawnitem 78 50 | Spawns 50 logs. |
| World | spawnitem 362 50 | Spawns 50 cases of Pistol Ammo. |
| World | spawnitem 363 50 | Spawns 50 cases of Shotgun Slugs. |
| World | spawnitem 364 50 | Spawns 50 cases of Buckshot Shotgun Shells. |
| World | spawnitem 369 50 | Spawns 50 cases of Stun Gun ammo. |
| World | settimeofday [number between 1 and 24] | Set the time of day. |
| World | treescutall [on/off] | Cuts all trees around the player, useful if you want to clear space for a base. |
| System | airadar [on/off] | Creates a box at the feet of every AI, displaying their distance from the player. |
| System | aishowdebugcamera [on/off] | Moves your camera position away from your character’s perspective. |
| System | aishowstats [on/off] | Creates a box at the feet of every AI, displaying their general anger, fear, and energy stats. |
| System | aishowsurvivalstats [on/off] | Creates a box at the feet of AI, displaying their fullness, hydration, and energy stats. |
| System | aistatadjust [stat] [+/- number] | Allows you to change the individual stats of an AI. |
| System | aivillageclosest [on/off] | Creates a box displaying the distance and direction of the nearest village to the player. |
| System | aiworldeventstats [on/off] | Displays a box in the top-left showing cannibal anger, the time of day, and other world events. |
| System | aiworldstats [on/off] | Displays a box in the top-left showing stats of cannibals, animals, and other AI throughout the world. |
| System | aizonestats [on/off] | Displays a box in the top-left showing stats of cannibals, animals, and other AI throughout your current zone. |
| System | showfps [on/off] | Shows your FPS count in the top-right corner. |
| System | showhud [on/off] | Toggles the HUD on and off. |
| System | showui [on/off] | Toggles the UI on and off. |
Sons of the Forest Cheat FAQs
Are there cheats in Sons of the Forest?
Yes – Sons of the Forest has a massive amount of supported cheats via the console commands. After activating the command console, pressing F1 will allow players to enter any of the console command cheats.
What is the cheat for trees in Sons of the Forest?
Unlike its predecessor, there’s no cheat to respawn harvested trees in Sons of the Forest. That said, it is possible to cimply spawn as many logs as you need using the command console cheats.
How do you get unlimited ammo in Sons of the Forest?
The easiest and most surefire way to get as much ammo as you would ever need is to use the command console cheats for adding ammunition to your inventory. With the command console active, press F1 and use the corresponding cheat in the table above.