ByYurii LuzhkoUpdated October 26, 2026

The Forest Beginner Guide — First Steps Checklist

Game files, pre-1.105 min read

The game's own to-do list has 21 tasks and only 1 is open at the start. Your first jobs are a fire and a shelter (as little as 22 pieces), a cooked meal and one trap.

To-do tasks211 open at the start
Cheapest camp22 piecesFire + Log Cabin Medium
Cave tasks10caves 1 to 10, in order
Air with Rebreather15×300 vs 20 on lungs

The Forest keeps a to-do list in the survival book. Its 21 tasks and the conditions that open and finish them are in the client files, so this guide follows them instead of guessing.

Fire, shelter and trap models of The Forest rendered from the game's files — Models rendered by PinDrop from the game's files.

On this page

Stage 1: camp, food and one trap

These three tasks need only your own base. The conditions below are the game's own: "set up camp" is done by a fire plus a shelter, "find and cook food" opens once a fire stands, and "set up defenses" is done by any one of the traps listed.

1
Build a fire9 pieces
Half of "Set up camp". Any of Fire or Fire Rock Pit counts. The cheapest by stored amounts is the Fire (2 Stick, 7 Leaf).
- Fire: 2 Stick, 7 Leaf
- Fire Rock Pit: 4 Stick, 7 Rock, 7 Leaf
2
Build a shelter13 pieces
The other half. Any of Log Cabin Medium, Shelter, Leaf Shelter or Log Cabin counts. The cheapest by stored amounts is the Log Cabin Medium (13 Log).
3
Cook something on the fire
"Find and cook food" opens once a fire stands. On a fire every food in the files has a stored cook time of 25 s and a burn time of 90 s. A drying rack is slower: 500 s to cook, 15,000 s to burn.
- Lizard: 25 s
- Head: 25 s
- Rabbit: 25 s
- Fish: 25 s
- Meat: 25 s
- Small Meat: 25 s
- Arm: 25 s
- Leg: 25 s
4
Set one trap
"Set up defenses" is done by any one of Deadfall Trap, Noose Trap, Trap Swinging Rock In Tree or Happy Birthday Trap. The cheapest by stored amounts is the Deadfall Trap (3 Log, 3 Stick).

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What the list does not tell you

The to-do text and the task conditions are two separate tables in the files and nothing pairs them. We matched 18 of the 21 lines to a task by name; 3 lines ("Find a new sacrifice", "Find live sacrifice", "Keep exploring hanging cave") and 3 tasks stay unpaired.

Stage 2: the numbers that keep you alive

Values stored in the player's stats, as the files write them. The game's own loading-screen hints say the rest, word for word.

Stored value	Amount	What it is
Lung air	20	MaxLungAirCapacity
Rebreather air	300	MaxRebreatherAirCapacity, 15× the lungs
Sanity per kill	-0.5	SanityPerKill
Sanity per limb cut off	-1	SanityPerLimbCutOff
Sanity per cannibalism	-3	SanityPerCannibalism
Sanity per fresh food eaten	+1	SanityPerFreshFoodEaten
Sanity per in-game hour of sleep	+0.75	SanityPerInGameHourOfSleep
Sanity per second on a bench	+0.15	SanityPerSecondSittedOnBench

Cover yourself in mud to hide from enemies
Being cold will drain your energy
Keep your energy up by eating regularly
You can regain energy by resting on bench
Explosives and molotovs are effective against most enemies
Try upgrading your weapons
You can make armor out of lizard skin
Lit effigies will scare enemies away from your camp
Hide in bushes to escape from enemies
Build a shelter to save your game
Find a pot to boil water

Stage 3: the two tools the to-do list asks for

The list has a task for each of them: "Find way to climb rock walls" completes when the Climbing Axe is in your inventory, and "Find way to stay underwater longer" when the Rebreather is. Both are placed inside caves, not on the surface.

The Forest island with the Climbing Axe and the Rebreather marked — Numbers: 1 = Climbing Axe, 2 = Rebreather. Each dot opens the full map on that item.

Get the Climbing AxeLedge Cave (cave 9)
1 copy in the files, in the Ledge Cave (cave 9). See the Climbing Axe page for the way in.
Open on the map
Get the RebreatherSubmerged Cave (cave 5)
1 copy in the files, in the Submerged Cave (cave 5). With it a dive holds 300 air instead of 20. See the Rebreather page.
Open on the map

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FAQ

What should I do first in The Forest?

Build a fire and a shelter: together they finish the "set up camp" task, and the fire opens "find and cook food". The cheapest pair in the files is Fire and Log Cabin Medium, 22 pieces in all.

How many tasks does the to-do list have?

21 in the client files: 1 open at the start, the rest open by building, finding an item or coming near a cave door.

Does the game have a day-by-day schedule?

Not in the files we read. The to-do list is ordered by what you build, find and enter, not by day, so this guide is a checklist.

Pages to keep open

Sources

The Forest on Steam (client files read: pre-1.10)