One of the best horror survival games on the market, The Forest, is a fascinating game that explores the concept of a plane crash-landing on a mysterious island and the search a man goes through for his son after he is kidnapped by the locals. These self-same locals turn out to be cannibalistic cultists who rule the island alongside a variety of monstrous creatures.

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Players have to survive cannibal and monster attacks while playing as a random survivor, all while trying to build bases and craft items. All of this leads to them exploring deeper into the many caves situated on the island so they can find more tools and uncover the main plot. However, one of the often overlooked parts of The Forest is the wide variety of traps that can help keep player bases safe from attack, especially those who are working co-operatively to try and survive.

7 The Catapult

While not technically a trap, the catapult is an immensely fun tool in The Forest that can’t be moved around to use as an offensive weapon. This means that when players build it, they’re probably doing so at their own base and as a form of defense to utilize alongside various other traps and walls.

The catapult is quite challenging to get used to, primarily because the process of aiming is so difficult. But in the late game, there can be many enemies coming towards the player’s base simultaneously. This means that players will find a lot of use for the catapult, but it is definitely better to test the limits and see what items are best to fire from it. Molotovs are usually a good starting plan if players can acquire large amounts of alcohol and pieces of cloth.

6 Deadfall Traps

While some traps require more complex materials to build in The Forest, the Deadfall Trap is one of the simplest, only needing a few sticks and logs to put one together. This makes it one of the best traps to put down a few of early in the game when players haven’t had as much time to gather materials.

A Deadfall Trap is one that, when triggered, will drop a falling log on enemies. It cannot be triggered by animals and cannot be climbed on or destroyed by them, making it an incredibly reliable device to make use of. With various updates, this trap has been made even more effective, stopping enemies from running through it unscathed and generally increasing the overall level of damage done.

5 Leaf Pile Trap

One of the most effective ways to do damage to enemies in The Forest is with fire. Molotov Cocktails, a can of hairspray and a lighter, and any other way to burn an enemy are hugely valuable, especially against boss creatures who come with an awful lot of health. The leaf pile trap is, therefore, an excellent method of defense against these particular creatures.

Usually placed before a gate or wall, players can wait for enemies to surround them and then, often by throwing a Molotov but really by using any fiery method, they can light the leaves and cause the entire trap to go ablaze, dealing huge fire damage to enemies. This trap is so great because it only involves leaves in the building, making it one of the most simplistic and easy traps to make use of, particularly if players have ways of getting enemies to step onto the leaves, of course.

4 Rope Swing Trap

Another trap that is hilariously fun to put into action, the rope swing, has one big drawback, which is that it must be built onto a pre-existing tree. This means that if players have built their base in one of the few areas on the map without many trees nearby or have cut down all the trees in their area, they will struggle to make use of it.

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The rope swing requires a few logs, many rocks, and a single rope to build and can be reloaded multiple times with just one stick. When activated, it drops a spiked rock that instantly kills whatever cannibals are beneath it, one of the many reasons why The Forest is a mature-rated game. This is another trap that has been improved with subsequent updates to the game, making it one of the most deadly available.

3 The Noose

Morbid sounding perhaps, but the Noose is a great and satisfying trap that is freestanding, can be built with just a couple of sticks, a few logs, and a single rope, and is totally full-proof in terms of catching an enemy and suspending them upside down if they are walking past it, one of the many realistic parts of The Forest.

This makes the noose hugely valuable. The one drawback, however, is that it doesn’t actually kill the cannibal it catches; it just hangs them upside down. If players are trying to study the behavior of these creatures or really want to kill them by themselves, then the noose is the perfect trap.

2 Explosive Wires

One of the best traps for alerting the player to approaching enemies, as well as likely scattering or killing said enemies, the explosive wire traps come with a variety of simplistic methods that allow players to set off some sort of device with a simple wire as soon as enemies step over it.

While players can never be certain where an enemy will go, if there are particular areas they seem to frequent before approaching the player’s base, an explosive wire trap featuring a Molotov or a bomb of some kind will make a lot of noise, likely stop an attack, and perhaps even kill several enemies simultaneously. Trying to catch enemies with traps like these is one of the most engaging parts of this game.

1 Happy Birthday Trap

Without a doubt, this is the most effective trap in the entire game, and it provides one of the darkest ways to kill an enemy in The Forest. Players need to be careful to watch their own step with a Happy Birthday trap around their base, but several of these put together can easily take out many enemies. Requiring twenty sticks but only a couple of ropes, rocks, and logs, this trap is one of the most complicated to build but is well worth the effort.

Happy Birthday traps are guaranteed to kill a cannibal if they walk into it, they are easy to lure attackers into, and they can be reloaded time and time again. Cannibals can’t break these traps, making them great for pieces of walls around a base to confuse and murder enemies with, making them one of the most effective items in The Forest.