In Sons of the Forest, there are many areas to explore and discover after crash-landing on a remote island. Players will find themselves up against nature and the cannibalistic forest inhabitants almost immediately, which makes for an exciting survival horror experience. However, certain areas are more challenging to access than others and require keycards to enter.
The keycards tell a lot of the island's story, and getting to all of them is hard work, but it is well worth it for those who wish to unlock the forest's secrets and equip themselves with the best items. So, this guide has all locations of the keycards in Sons of the Forest and how to get to them.
The gameplay is entirely open-world and focuses on staying alive on the island, but it has a progression aspect by making players gather tools to enter critical places. Players must get three important keycards if they want certain weapons, collectibles, and gear, including the following:
- Maintenance Keycard
- VIP Keycard
- Guest Keycard
The first keycard players should seek is Maintenance, which requires the rebreather, the rope gun, and the shovel.
The Maintenance Keycard Location
The first keycard that players should seek is Maintenance. It is in an underground bunker on the island's north side, marked with a pulsating green circle on the GPS. South of the green marker is a purple GPS locator marker where players can find the flashlight. The green signal is at a dig site with broken-down golf carts, zoning equipment, and a mound of loose dirt in the middle of the site. Use the shovel to dig up the loose dirt, and a hatch door will eventually appear.
Open the door and climb down the ladder into a small room with a couple of supply crates. There is a hallway with an open door on the right about halfway down and a storage room at the end. The door in the hallway goes to a fully furnished apartment. Inside, players will find the Maintenance Keycard on a desk next to a 3D Printer.
This card belongs to a maintenance man named Carl Planter. After picking it up, players can use the bed around the corner to sleep or to save their game. The Fireman's axe is also inside the storage room, inside a glass case on the wall. Mutant babies will be in the storage room, so take care of them to explore safely.
The VIP Keycard Location
The following card players can get is VIP. The VIP card is in another underground bunker hidden inside a cave entrance. Players should head to the northernmost green circle south of one of the purple GPS locators. There is also a vast lake near it on the map that players can use to find it. Just look for the two golf carts in front of a cave entrance that leads to the card.
Follow the cave to a hatch door, like the one leading to the maintenance area. It says Food and Dining across the front of it and leads down to a destroyed kitchen area with food and bodies strung along the ceiling. A locked door that needs keycard access is at the back right side of the room. Use Carl's card to open the door, revealing a sizeable hydroponic garden room. The crossbow is also in this area.
There is another set of open doors to a second hydroponic garden, except there are several baby mutants inside this room and a "finger" mutant that must be taken out. The finger mutant is much more durable than the babies, but hitting it with a Molotov or explosive is the easiest way to kill it.
Keep moving past the hydroponic garden rooms deeper into the kitchen area; eventually, the hallway will be flooded, so players must swim the rest of the way. After swimming through the last hydroponic garden, they will come up on a hallway with locked doors at the end and an open door on the left.
Go inside the door and follow the hallways through the building to a staircase out of the water. At the top of the stairs is an office with several computers, file containers, and security footage monitors. The VIP keycard, which belongs to Virginia Puffton, is sitting on the desk below the monitors.
After getting the VIP Keycard, players can use it to unlock the doors at the end of the previous hallway. This leads to a dining room with dead mutants and a small cutscene. To leave the area, jump out of the windows at the back and swim out.
The Guest Keycard Location
The Guest keycard is found in an underground Recreational Center hidden within one of the caves. The Recreational Center's entrance can be located by going to the green circle south of the maintenance dig site and east of the western beach. In addition, another broken-down golf cart will be near a river a few feet away from an unmarked cave entrance.
Go inside the cave and follow the tunnel toward a room with a cot, supplies, and a 3D Printer. To the left of the main corridor is another hall leading to a wall gap with a bright light shining through. Squeeze through the opening to another hall, with one side blocked by rocks and dirt and the other with locked doors. Use the Maintenance keycard to unlock the doors. Next, players will see a lot of workout equipment in a dark room with a purple light. Go towards the light and take a left toward the reception desk. There are mutants in every room from this point on, so be prepared to run or fight.
Past the desk is another spa area leading to two large half-spiral staircases. At the top of the stairs, players must go through the pool bar area and into the more private clubroom on the second floor.
They will know they are in the right place when they see the deceased man with a guitar shoved down his throat in the middle. Go to the back of the clubroom to the booths, and on the back right table with the five corpses is the Guest keycard.
There is also a guitar that can be used as a melee weapon found in the clubroom at the bar. Players should also search all the tables and the storage room to pick up cash and ammo before leaving. To head back to the surface, go back to the pool bar and look to the left, where another set of security doors exists. Unlock the doors with the Guest keycard to another brightly lit hallway. Continue down the hall into another small lounge area with a door on the right. It takes players down a corridor with several mutant babies and into an exit cave.
Sons of the Forest is available now in early access for PC.