It’s time to go out there and face the horrors of this wicked island
Surviving Sons Of The Forest is a heck of a challenge. The entire island is out to kill you, and you will be forced to endure everything it throws at you, that is, if you want to survive. Surviving is not the only thing you can do, though. Sons Of The Forest features a story that explains why the island is in the state it is currently in. A story that is closely tied to the events of The Forest.
It’s important to note that the story in Sons Of The Forest might not seem as long as it was in the previous game. However, there is plenty of lore that you can learn about via notes and other evidence that indicates why the island’s inhabitants went through what they did.
Beware, we will be covering quite a few *spoilers* in this one.
You won’t get the authentic experience from this article, so we’d recommend you experience the story alone. If you don’t really care and want to advance the story, then continue reading. Lastly, we will include a bit of introductory lore after we show you how to advance the story of Sons Of The Forest. This will help you get a better understanding of some things you may miss whilst playing the game.
Crashing on the island
You are, once again, crashing onto the map. Only this time, the protagonist is in a helicopter, not a plane. You’ve been given the role of a soldier that was sent as part of a Puff Corp rescue team. If you check the laptop in front of you, you will see that this rescue team was tasked with finding the missing Puffton family members.
At this point, you’re not aware of what the island hides; all you know is that the Puffton family was last seen on this island
Moving on. You are accompanied by other soldiers, Fisheye and Kelvin. After you’re done checking the laptop, bullets start raining upon the helicopter, forcing it to crash. The helicopter can crash in three different places:
- Forest: You’re dropped into the middle of a forest with plenty of trees, animals, and resources. Some notable GPS tags are also close by.
- Beach: You spawn on the northernmost shoreline with a forest nearby. Not close to many GPS tags.
- Snow Mountain: Although harsh, many caves and other notable GPS tags are nearby. Great spawn point for more experienced players.
Knowing about these spawn locations will prove useful once you know what tools and weapons you need to start your journey. Every location has pros and cons, but the Forest location seems the best out of the two. Plenty of natural resources are around for you to scavenge from the get-go.
When you crash, a mysterious figure in a silver jacket will approach you and strike you with his pistol. This figure most likely killed the remaining rescue team members with you in the helicopter.
As you wake up from your slumber, you will notice that another operative survived the crash. This operative is Kelvin, and he can become your AI companion if you interact with him. He’s deaf and mute but still useful in the grand scheme.
Your life on the island can begin, and you should use the first few days to establish a small home base. Waking up and gathering your bearings shouldn’t take that long. You have a companion that can help you with trivial things, and you even spawn with an emergency survival kit. You better gear up properly. Advancing the story won’t be a walk in the park.
Following every lead
The only and most straightforward way to advance the story is by following the GPS Tags marked on your GPS Tracker. There are two types of tags, though:
- Purple exclamation mark
- Green circle markers
The purple exclamation tags belong to missing rescue team operatives like yourself. On the other hand, the green circle tags are tied to the Puffton family, leading to notable structures around the island.
As easy as it may sound at first, the island is littered with facilities and caves that you can’t really access without additional hardware. In most cases, the facilities/caves that allow you to advance the story require such tools and items.
For example, most story facilities can’t be accessed without a Maintenance Keycard. The maintenance keycard can only be acquired if you have a Shovel. We think you know where this is going.
We’ve amassed a collection of guides on everything that you will need to do to get the Shovel and Maintenance Keycard. Given their usefulness, these two items will be your best friends throughout the story. Not only do they open up story locations, but they also let you find other useful weapons and tools that help you later in the story.
Although getting the shovel requires you to have the Rope Gun and Rebreather, we recommend getting it as soon as possible. This way, you can first clear all the purple exclamation markers on your map to get some good weapons and loot.
Once you’ve done that, shift your focus to the green circle markers. Story facilities will test your skills, so it’s better to clear them with better equipment.
There are plenty of weapons, tools, and armor types that you can find/craft in Sons Of The Forest, even more than in the first game. Our guides on the Best Ranged Weapons and Best Armor should serve you well as you prepare to tackle the story.
Befriending Virginia
Searching for weapons and tools isn’t the only activity you will be doing in Sons Of The Forest. Establishing a formidable base is just as important as looting. Kelvin’s capabilities don’t extend beyond basic base-building tasks so you will need someone for defense. Virginia can help fill that gap.
Virginia Puffton, one of the missing members of the Puffton family, can be spotted roaming around the map. She will seek you out and try to establish contact with you carefully. If you treat her right and give her time to come to you, she will eventually become your friend.
Having her as a friend comes with plenty of perks. One of those perks is the ability to defend you if you provide her with a pistol or shotgun. Also, having her as a companion can unlock an alternate ending.
Virginia has much more to offer, though. Our guide on Virginia should offer you much more information about her.
Opening up the final bunker
There are two green circle markers on the eastern side of the map; leave these alone until you’ve cleared all the other green markers and found the Golden Armor. This armor is essential to unlocking the ending sequence.
The next location you will want to visit is the Residential Bunker. It is vital to open the last bunker that initiates the ending.
Make your way to the residential bunker and bring your Maintenance Keycard with you. Here you will have to search for the surveillance room. Before you do, though, exploring this bunker will trigger a cutscene with familiar faces. You can find out who these people are if you pay thorough attention to notes and emails scattered throughout the other bunkers and caves.
There is a computer in the surveillance room that can be used to open up the final bunker. The monitors above the computer show someone trying to enter the bunker, and you will be forced to open the door for him from this terminal.
Leave the residential bunker and head north to visit the final bunker; it will also be marked with a green circle.
Puffton Family Bunker
As it turns out, the final bunker is where the Puffton family lived during their stay on the island. This bunker is the most luxurious of them all, which becomes apparent once you explore it further.
Here you can also find Virginia Puffton’s room.
The main bathroom in the Puffton residence suite has a big hole in the wall that you can enter. Get closer to the hole and enter the cloud of steam. Once through, you will see an ornate golden door with an arm-shaped imprint.
This is where you need to equip your Golden Armor and press the E key on the door. The armor will activate and open the door, letting you go further into the cave.
Inside the Cave
You’re bound to encounter a boss that isn’t easy to defeat. Everything else is pretty straightforward after this point, you can’t get lost in the cave, but it is still quite scary. There’s a reason why this cave is known as the “Hell Cave.” The copious amounts of lava that you see whilst exploring it are bizarre, to say the least.
There aren’t many notable things to find, and traversing it will take a while, especially if you’re keen on exploring every bit of it. You know you’ve made it to the end when you have to squeeze through a small opening that has an ornate gold wall behind it. Entering this hole will trigger the ending cutscene and the ending altogether.
We won’t tell you what happens, as that is up to you to find out. However, we want to note that there are multiple endings. The upcoming part will dive into the story’s details and why the Puffton family took an interest in the island. You’d be advised to read this after finishing the story, as it contains many spoilers from notes and emails in the game.
The corporation that started it all
*MAJOR SPOILER WARNING*
So, all of this starts even before the events of The Forest. And the main figure involved is the founder and owner of the Puff Corporation, Edward Puffton.
He comes into play because he was obsessed with artifacts from old legends. His status and wealth allowed him to develop his title as an artifact connoisseur, so his corporation inquired about the peninsula we inhabit in The Forest.
Edward’s obsession mainly focused on a Golden Cube, an artifact many legends spoke of. His pursuit of this cube sent the Puff Corporation into a bidding war with Sahara Therapeutics, a corporation behind The Forest’s events.
Sahara Therapeutics lost the bidding war for the island, forcing its stock to drop drastically. Shortly after this bidding war, the Puff Corporation discovered a new and incredibly valuable type of black metal with a golden finish.
This new metal appears only on the island that Sons Of The Forest takes place on, and it enticed Edward into greenlighting a mining operation dedicated specifically to it. When refined, this black metal turns into a flawless gold that seems otherworldly.
The Puff Corporation saw the immense value of this island, thus why they started to set up community and maintenance bunkers. This was done for a couple of reasons:
- Luxury and carefree accommodation for their rich business friends
- Increasing supervision over the mining operation
- To research artifacts of all kinds
After a while, most of the island’s resources were focused on research; this happened as soon as they discovered more about the golden cube’s properties. Specifically, the golden cube “causes a brief dimensional switch, ” activating dimensional distortions.
These distortions mutate anyone outside the cube, in this case, the natives of the island. This is probably how Virginia Puffton mutated in the first place. However, it didn’t affect Virginia as much as the other mutants.
The Fate of the Puffton Family
Now that we know how the cube works, we can proceed with the fate of the Puffton family. Edward and Barbara Puffton met their end in the food and dining bunker shortly before we arrive on the island. This happened after the golden cube suddenly “activated” whilst they were having a party with their closest friends. This activation mutated Edward and Barbara, turning them into monstrous mutants you can later kill.
The outside world had no idea of what transpired in the dining hall. The disappearance of Edward, Virginia, and Barbara forced Puff Corp executives to send multiple rescue teams to the island. Not many know exactly what this island hides and what the Puff Corp uncovered in their pursuit of the paranormal. If only people knew what the rescue teams were getting themselves into. That’s on you to find out.
Meeting Old Friends
The first cutscene you trigger in the residential bunker involves two familiar faces. The person fighting the “Sluggy” mutant turns out to be Timothy/Timmy Leblanc, the famed son of The Forest’s Protagonist, Eric Leblanc.
Eric eventually swoops in from behind to protect his son in the cutscene, but he’s later shot by the mysterious figure in the silver jacket. The same one that we saw in the post-crash cutscene.
The person in the silver jacket is a spy from Sahara Therapeutics called Gian Yu Zhang. Judging by the information you can find, he was a department assistant for Puff Corp security operations on the island. Given how well he knew the island and its facilities, this position allowed him to be the perfect spy.
Like Timmy and Eric, Zhang’s mission was tied to the golden cube. He was keen on finding and entering it before it activated again. Unfortunately for him, that’s a race he was destined to lose.
You have everything you need to advance the story
We must admit the story so far is lackluster, and many people have shared their dissatisfaction with it overall, but remember that this game is still in early access. The Forest’s story underwent an identical development process, with Endnight Games gradually adding more and more story content as time progressed.
If you want to learn more about Sons Of The Forest, make sure to read our guide on All Weapon Locations in Sons Of The Forest. It will come in handy as you’re preparing to advance the story.
