In Sons of the Forest, players can explore the island, take down cannibal camps, and build their base camps. The building mechanisms are smooth using a drop-and-click-in system, but gathering the materials can be tedious work because players must cut down trees one by one to harvest logs. The chainsaw is a piece of equipment that makes this go by much faster, and it can be used to defend against the resident cannibals that attack.
Unlike the axes at players' disposal, the chainsaw runs on electricity and requires batteries. But it's a price worth paying for how efficient it is at chopping through things. Players must find quite a few items before getting the chainsaw in Sons of the Forest, so this guide has everything they need to find it.
Preparing to Get the Chainsaw
The chainsaw is locked behind multiple access points. Before players do anything with the chainsaw, they will need to gather the following items:
- Rebreather
- Rope Gun
- Shovel
- Maintenance Keycard
- Guest Keycard
The rebreather and the rope gun are necessary to find the shovel needed to get the maintenance keycard. As marked on the map above, all three items are in different caves on the island's west side. All caves have variations of mutant cannibals lurking within, so going inside them is a dangerous game without the proper preparation.
Since the rebreather has the smallest cave to explore out of all three, and if players spawn at the beach, they can grab the rebreather almost immediately unless they want to go after the flashlight for better visibility first. The rope gun and shovel caves are larger, with more mutants inside. They might call for a more heavy-duty weapon like the pistol to get through them in one piece.
Find the Maintenance Keycard
Once players have the shovel, they can look for the Maintenance keycard. It can be found by looking at the GPS and using the symbols. A pulsating green circle to the northwest, directly north of one of the purple GPS locators also marked on the map, leads to a digsite where the keycard is.
Two broken-down golf carts and zoning equipment will be at the point of interest. There is a mound of loose dirt that players must shovel away to get to the Maintenance keycard, but they should be wary of any cannibals that may attack. After digging up enough dirt, a small hatch will appear, leading into an underground maintenance bunker. Go down the hallway and into the door on the right to find an apartment. The keycard is sitting on a desk next to a 3D Printer.
Chainsaw Location in Sons of the Forest
The Guest keycard and the chainsaw are found in an underground Recreational Center hidden within one of the caves. The Recreational Center has quite a few mutants hidden inside, so it would be a good idea to grab the shotgun now that players have the shovel before going after the chainsaw. The Recreational Center's entrance can be found by going to the green circle that is south of the maintenance digsite and east of the western beach. There will be another broken-down golf cart 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. Players can use it to catch up on any sleep and grab meal packets if their basic needs are low. To the left of the main corridor is another hall leading to a wall gap with a bright light shining through.
Squeeze through the gap to another hall, with one side blocked by rocks and dirt and the other with locked doors. Use the keycard to unlock the doors. Players will see a lot of workout equipment in a dark room with a purple light. There is a poolroom to the right, with more equipment, and a group of mutants towards the left.
Go to the left and deal with the mutants or run by them past the reception desk. Two large half-spiral staircases to the second floor will be at the back of the next room, past the glass doors. There will also be more mutants, so be careful before going up the stairs. Next, 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.
Pick that up and then go back to the pool bar and look to the left, where there is another set of security doors. Unlock the doors with the Guest keycard to another brightly lit hallway like the one that led to the Recreational Center entrance; only this one has a couple of mutants blocking the path. Continue down the hall into another small lounge area that leads to a cinema room with yellow beanbag chairs. The chainsaw is skewered inside a dead body in one of the front left chairs.
To leave the Recreational Center, go back to the lounge area outside the cinema room, and there will be a door on the left before the brightly lit hallway. It takes players down a corridor with several mutant babies and into an exit cave.
Sons of the Forest is out now in early access for PC.