The cannibal and mutant-infested island of Sons Of The Forest is not the most inviting place to live, but players are forced to do exactly that in Endnight Games' latest installment in the survival horror series. While finding food, water and materials to build shelter are essential, it will quickly become a high priority for players to build some form of defense in order to avoid having their hard work destroyed by pesky visitors.
While some defenses will offer to obstruct and deter cannibals from attacking player-built bases, others can be lethal and can even provide valuable resources for the construction of weapons and armor.
5 Log Walls
Found in the player's Guide Book from the start of the game, blueprints for a Defensive Wall offer a solid and reliable way to mark out a perimeter. This primitive design might not be pretty, but it presents a good obstruction for cannibals and can be used to build funneling points for cannibals to run into deadlier traps. It will require a lot of logs to build, and it will irritate the cannibals if they hear noise and see lots of broke tree stumps, so be sure to get rid of any stumps after cutting trees to minimize aggression.
While the wall can eventually be broken down, particularly by larger mutants, it is solid enough to hold for enough time for adjustments to be made. If these walls are destroyed, it can be a very costly and time-consuming process to rebuild. Make sure there is an exit too! If the base becomes overrun with cannibals there will need to be an escape route in place.
4 Stick Defense
This new defense has been introduced to Sons Of The Forest and makes building defenses both quick and easy, without a great need for difficult-to-access materials. To build it, simply equip a stick and place it in the ground, then split the stick with one hit from any axe, and it will automatically turn into a deadly impaling ground trap. The spike can then be further reinforced with stones around the base as cannibals will be able to break through them with relative ease and occasionally jump over them.
If large enough amounts of this defense are placed together, it can be nearly impassable for cannibals, and will also cause a lot of damage as they try to break through it. The trap is capable of killing most cannibals with just a few hits and takes around a quarter of health each time it is effective. Be careful around these sticks, as they can also cause tremendous damage to the player if they are run or jumped into.
3 Fly Swatter
The Fly Swatter is another new addition to the list of traps in Sons Of The Forest, that wasn't in the prequel, The Forest. This brutal contraption is available through the traps section of the Guide Book and is likely to flatten any cannibal who stumbles across its tripwire. The trap will require 10x Sticks, 3x Stones and 1x Rope to construct, and so cannot be created in quite the same volume as other defenses, but it is better utilized in choke points and areas that cannibals are most likely to approach from and walk through.
After each use, the trap can be reset, and it is very unlikely to be destroyed by any cannibals before snapping its jaws shut and flattening them like a pancake. Be aware though, that like many other traps and defenses, the player can trigger it too, and it can be a quick suicide if accidentally stepped upon.
2 Bone Maker
Another brand-new trap to Sons Of The Forest is the Bone Maker. This lethal fire-based weapon will impale and scorch cannibals upon contact, ensuring that they are not only killed but that their bones will be made available as construction materials following their complete incineration. The trap will require slightly more materials with 2x Sticks, 3x Leaves, 3x Rocks, 1x Vodka Bottle, 1x Rope. The Vodka Bottles will be the hardest item to come by, but can still be found in the remains of abandoned camps, inside caves and along the coast.
The bones provided by this trap can facilitate a number of upgrades from furniture to advanced weapons and armor. Likewise, skulls can be used to create lamps, bird traps and other ornaments for the base.
1 Natural Elements
Perhaps the best way to ensure that a hard-built base is kept safe from cannibal takeover is to make it, or at least large parts of it, completely inaccessible to them. The easiest way to do this it to build near cliffs or lakes, since cannibals can't swim or climb that far. They can, however, climb trees, and therefore it is important if building a tree-house base to ensure that surrounding trees have been cut down, unless they are going to be incorporated with platforms and ziplines.
It is also possible to build bases that float. The easiest way to achieve this is to wait until the winter season (usually around Day 10) and then contract a log cabin with a wide base upon a frozen lake. Beware, however, that while the base will operate as intended for most of the year, cannibals will be able to access it again when the lake freezes over in the next winter cycle.
Sons of the Forest is out now in early access for PC.