The Forest

The settings menu has many options to make your game easier, or to run smoother.

Woken up in an airplane alone.. Where is Timmy??? Where am I? 

Starting out in the game it doesn't leave you with much explanation of what is happening.. Your plane crashes and you wake up groggily to someone taking your son away.  You finally snap awake and NOW WHAT?

There are many supplies in the beginning inside the suitcases, and the plane.  Search everything in the plane before you jump down.. Check out your surroundings collect things from suitcases as you run away ( in any direction ) to get away from the plane.  

The best thing about this game is its mechanics.   First thing we know is WE ARE NOT ALONE on this island.. Everything matters in this game,  you make too much noise you'll attract attention or drive things away.  Using your light while trying to hide gives you away, and without giving too much of this game away. Trust in hiding and the mud.  This game is slow to start, but remains fun as you progress.  

Shallow Water is your Friend.

The not so friendly mutants will attack you, drag you home, and have a meal.  I have found hiding a long the shore line in a boat can be helpful for the early days. They cannot swim.  But beware of sharks.

Your guidebook is your best tool.

The game doesn't start with a tutorial so often you are learning on the fly, finding a safe hidden spot to read your guidebook more is very helpful.  The more you build the more attention you get. Nighttime is often a favorite for mutants to come attack, but day light scouting missions happen. Do not drop your guard.  I did while building and farming.  I screamed so loud I scared my neighbors when I turned around and found out I wasn't alone.  They can be very quiet and fast when they want to be.

Your Crafting area also holds all the random things you collect.  

There are also Storage items you can build to hold more of your things, but I have noticed things do not de spawn.

Traps and defensive buildings are often helpful, but they will get lots of notice, especially with camp fires and drying racks.  They will steal your food and water and break anything they dont like.  Traps need to be reset every day... and BEWARE your traps can hurt you as well.

I would hide in bushes and run away until you find a proper weapon. The axe works well with lower level mutants, but there are some scary things in those woods and in the caves.

Beware when making forts in the deep woods and by mountains.

When scouting the island, know they live there and you're just visiting. There are hidden cave entrances and mutant villages everywhere.  Be very careful when setting up camp.  The Plane lands in different spots every time you spawn a new game, make sure you dont camp too close to the plane, or their villages.

There are so many caves to explore and they really are the biggest aspect of the game.   I used several websites to finish up all the achievements of this game.  The best sites I found helpful are:

https://theforestmap.com/

https://theforest.gamepedia.com/The_Forest_Wiki

There are many hidden openings to the caves in this game, I often found some impossible to go through until I went through others.  Popping out all over the island was interesting.  There are markers you can see from anywhere to find your camp again.. 

Beware of big open spaces, and making too much noise in the caves.. 

Having to crawl through small spaces with little light is freaky. Especially when the lighter keeps going out.

You are often left to squeeze and crawl through areas in the caves with little to no lighting.  Craft things to help.

Tips I can leave you with:

In the early days Less = More. 

Save a lot.  You have to build structures to save, do this as soon as you can in the game. Anytime you build anything mid day, try to save before night hits.  Building can be touchy at times, try moving your character or using the rotate buttons for placements. 

Plants and animals re spawn, but you have to set the trees to re grow.  But often the same plants don't spawn twice in a row.. Blueberry bushes will drop seeds you can replant.  Make random gardens all over, they don't take anything to keep them alive and can be very helpful when finding food to heal.

Boats are your friends in the beginning... but beware of unbalancing them in the water, oh and sharks.. 

My Overall Opinion:

I personally give this game 10/10  I have 269 hours into this game, and have just started playing multiplayer.  There are a few times this game made me scream my head off, and got quite the laugh.  I played with headphones on and I highly recommend it.  I also played with dimmed lights for full creepy effect.   This isnt a game for under 18+ because there is an abundance of nudity and violence.  But its like living though a horror movie. Complete freaky fun!!