Stats

Stats are important aspects and attributes of the player in Sons of the Forest.

Hunger is a measure of your fullness. Increasing this stat requires you to consume food of any type. which can range from berries and meat to MRE's and canned cat food. The amount of hunger restored by consuming food is determined by its quality. Foods such as berries will restore a very small portion of hunger while cooked meat will restore a large portion.

Thirst is a measure of how hydrated you are. To increase this stat, drink fresh water from a lake or river, or drink an energy drink. Some berries also restore a small amount of thirst when eaten. Eating dried fish or meat will significantly decrease thirst.

Rest is a stat that decreases over time as Stamina is drained. It affects the overall cap of Stamina as well as the rate at which Stamina drains. Rest can be restored by sleeping in a Bed or Tent, sitting in a chair or on a bench, or by consuming Guarana Berries. Equipping outfits with a higher Comfort level will recover more rest when sleeping or sitting. If dehydrated or starving, rest will decrease at a higher rate.

Health is the amount of damage the player can sustain before becoming incapacitated (multiplayer), dying, or falling unconscious. After death, the player will respawn at various locations based on the enemy that killed them and the location where they died. Being killed by cannibals will have the player waking up at a nearby camp tied to a post, while being killed in caves by mutants will have the player waking up sealed in the slimy larder created by Fingers. If the player's health is lowered beyond a certain amount, a prompt will appear to take medicine. When this occurs, using health items will only increase health up to a certain point, around the first segment of the health bar. The player can also wait a short amount of time, which will automatically restore the player's health up to this point. Once this point has been met, the player can use health items for their full effect.

Stamina is a reflection of the player's available energy. Stamina can be drained by various actions such as sprinting, swinging a weapon, jumping, and swimming quickly. Stamina will automatically regenerate if the player is not currently consuming stamina. Stamina will regenerate up to a certain amount, represented by a blue bar on the bottom right of the screen. If the player is hungry, dehydrated, or tired, they will have a lower pool of stamina which they can use. When the player is cold, a portion of the stamina bar will convert into a light blue color that cannot be used and will continue to increase the colder the player becomes.

Armor is indicated by a segmented bar bordering the health meter. There are a total of ten segments and every segment of the bar represents one piece of item armor the player has equipped. Each segment is colored differently to represent the type of each armor piece being worn. Damage dealt to the player is absorbed by each piece of armor until it breaks. Without armor, all hits go directly toward the Health of the player.

Strength serves as the leveling system for the player, and is represented as a flexing arm with a growing red ring. Once the ring completely fills, it briefly shows a number representing the player's current strength level. The strength icon will empty once the player gains another level in strength, improving their overall health.

Strength is primarily increased by swinging weapons/tools. Preliminary testing suggests that all weapons level strength at the same rate/swing, i.e. faster swinging weapons give the same progress as slow-swinging weapons per swing, and will thus level much faster. There is currently no evidence to suggest that striking objects or enemies levels strength at a greater speed than swinging at the air.

For reference, reaching level 2 strength requires the following number of swings for each weapon: Tactical Axe: 100 Knife: 100 Spear: 100 Modern Axe: 100

Strength is also increased by picking up logs; neither carrying nor placing logs increases strength.

For reference, reaching level 2 strength requires picking up 50 logs.

Dropping and picking up two logs at a time against a wall as fast as possible seems to give the highest rate of strength gain in the game currently, especially given the lack of any stamina consumption. For the weapon swinging route, the fastest weapon possible (i.e. the knife) is the best. Weapon swinging, owing to the need to regain stamina, has considerable downtime, and, even during its uptime, is not clearly any quicker than cycling logs.

Stealth is how visible the player is to enemies and fauna. The player can activate stealth by crouching and an icon of an eye within a white ring will appear. Crouching in the foliage and flora will increase the player's stealth. As the player becomes less visible to others by hiding in thicker and more dense vegetation, the stealth icon will dim, the white ring around it will diminish in increments, and the corners of the screen will darken. Armor can also be used to increase stealth, such as the Leaf and Hide Armor.