The Forest Beginner's Guide: First Night, Shelter, Saving and Cannibals

The Forest 🎮 Game page →

1. Loot before leaving the plane The Plane Axe and lighter are picked up automatically as you leave the plane. Chop open the suitcases around the wreck and take the cloth, food and drinks inside. Cloth is your most valuable early material, because rope is made from it.
2. Open the book and read the first pages The Survival Guide, opened with B, starts with a short basics section on shelters, fires and foraging. Your To Do List and the notes you find are kept there too.
3. Light your first fire Pick the Basic Fire blueprint from the book; 7 leaves and 2 sticks are enough. Place it with E, add the materials, then light it with the lighter (hold L). A fire lets you cook and warm up, but it can be seen from far away in the dark.
4. Build a Temporary Shelter and save A Temporary Shelter takes 26 leaves and 14 sticks. You cannot save anywhere in The Forest; saving only works at certain buildings such as shelters, by holding C. The Temporary Shelter falls apart after you sleep in it, so save before you sleep.
5. Craft your first Crafted Axe Combine 7 cloth in the inventory to make Rope. Rope, one stick and one rock make a Crafted Axe. Right-click the materials to place them on the crafting mat, then right-click the gear icon that appears.
6. Secure water and food Lake and pond water is polluted: it quenches little thirst and can hurt you. Water boiled in an Old Pot over a fire, or rain water from a Water Collector (4 sticks and a turtle shell), is clean. Blueberries and blackberries also reduce thirst.
7. Haul logs with a sled A Log Sled costs 21 sticks and carries up to 12 logs. If you plan a permanent base, build one before carrying logs on your shoulder one by one.
8. Build a sturdier shelter in a safe spot A Hunting Shelter takes 7 sticks, 6 rocks and 7 logs and, unlike the temporary one, does not collapse after you sleep. Pick a spot near water but not out in the open; the house icon shelters show in the world helps you find your way home.

• On Normal, the inventory pauses timeOn Normal difficulty, opening the inventory pauses the game, so you can craft calmly. Hard mode removes that; the world keeps moving while the inventory is open.
• Difficulty is locked inThe difficulty you choose for a new game is permanent for that save. The options are Peaceful, Normal, Hard and Hard Survival; Creative unlocks after you finish the story. Peaceful removes cannibals and mutants from the surface, but hostile wildlife and disturbing visuals remain.
• Don't panic at the first encounterIn the early days cannibals often watch from a distance, approach and back off; they are sizing you up. Blocking with right click and keeping a tree at your back makes a big difference in early fights. Taking down a female in front of the males can make the rest more aggressive.
• Set your gear on fireAn axe wrapped in cloth can be lit with the lighter, and a burning axe hits noticeably harder in the early game. The same idea works for arrows.
• Red paint changes the moodOpen buckets of red paint can be found in a few places on the peninsula. Wearing it makes most cannibals wary of you, and some even kneel. Attack them and the effect breaks.
• Keep an eye on SanityThe stats page in the book shows your Sanity. Killing enemies, cutting off or eating their limbs and spending long stretches in caves lower it; sleeping, sitting, listening to music and eating fresh meat raise it.
• Stock up with a Drying RackA Drying Rack costs just 5 sticks. Fresh meat spoils in your inventory, while dried meat keeps for a long time. Dried meat makes you a little thirsty, though.
• Check your armBy default the backslash (\) key makes your character look at their arm, showing cold, blood or mud. It is a handy way to read states that have no on-screen indicator.
• Go into caves preparedCaves are dark and home to more dangerous creatures than the surface. Bring plenty of torches, food, meds and spare gear. The Climbing Axe and Rebreather are found in caves and are key to progressing the story.
• In co-op, save with everyone onlineIn multiplayer the host saves, and the inventories of everyone connected at that moment are stored. Saving before leaving prevents item loss. In multiplayer you don't die instantly at zero health; a friend can revive you by holding E.

• Roaming for hours without saving: there is no autosave, saving only happens at buildings like shelters with C, and one mistake can wipe hours of progress.
• Sleeping in a Temporary Shelter without saving: it collapses after you sleep, and sleeping does not save the game.
• Drinking lake water directly: polluted water quenches little thirst and can hurt you, far more so on the harder modes.
• Spreading an early base across open ground: cannibal patrols spot you often and night visits increase.
• Heading into a cave without torches or food: getting lost in the dark and failing to find the way back is the most common outcome.
• Ignoring the cloth in suitcases: rope, wrapped gear and your first Crafted Axe all depend on cloth, and it is harder to find later.

This guide was written for version: This guide reflects the current version of The Forest (last content update v1.12) and the default PC keys as of September 2026.

The Forest 🎮 Game page →

All game guides →