Want to know how to reach the Sons of the Forest ending? Sons Of The Forest has a rather complicated ending. Not only is it hard to find, requiring you to gather a bunch of items before delving into a huge cave, but it’s also quite confusing to watch. Whether you’ve seen the ending and need an explainer, or you just want a walkthrough so that you can witness it for yourself, then you’re in the right place.
In this guide, we’ll provide a walkthrough for how to reach the ending in Sons of the Forest. We’ll also break down how to get the secret ending, before going onto explain what the ending means.
How to reach the ending in Sons of the Forest
To complete Sons of the Forest, you must first get the following items in order:
- Rebreather
- Rope Gun
- Shovel
- Maintenance Keycard
- Cross
- Golden Armor
The order is important because certain items require others before you can find them. For example, the Rebreather and the Rope Gun allow you to get the Shovel in Sons of the Forest, which you can then use to find the keycards.
When you have the Maintenance Keycard, you can access the rooms containing the Cross and the Golden Armor. The location of the latter is also where you’ll see your first proper story cutscene, as some allies will briefly join you in attempting to defeat a massive mutant.
The Golden Armor is what we need to get, as wearing it allows you to reach the ending in Sons of the Forest.
Once you have the Golden Armor, you must take it to a Bunker on the East side of the map. You can find the location of the Eastern Bunker marked on the map below. As you approach, you’ll see a green ping on your map in-game.
When you arrive at the Bunker, head inside and go down the stairs and take the left door. Continue through the corridors ahead and kill any mutants lurking within. We’d recommend using powerful weapons, such as the Revolver or Katana, as you’ll be fighting a lot of baddies.
At the end of the corridor, head down the stairs again and take the yellow doors until you reach another corridor. Then, turn left again and continue through the luxurious rooms ahead. Eventually, you’ll come to an open door on the right side, through which you can enter a penthouse-style apartment (but deep underground, of course).
Head to the left door in the apartment and continue through, before turning right until you reach a bathroom that looks rather destroyed. Where the sinks are ripped from the wall, you’ll see smoke billowing out. Head through the smoke to find a golden door. Fully equip the Golden Armor, and then interact with the door to continue further into the caves below.
Pass through the tight tunnel and kill the Twins mutants at the bottom. There are a few down here, so we’d recommend using a strong weapon such as the Shotgun to clear the room.
Follow the rock ledge along the stream of lava and continue until you find another tight tunnel. At the end, you can hop across a gap, before delving even further in. Eventually, you’ll come to a warmly lit room with more mutants, so clear them out again before proceeding up the ramp ahead.
Crouch to continue through the tunnel, and then run to the end, at which point you’ll find the lava stream yet again. There are more mutants to fight as you enter this chamber, so kill them and then follow the thin path through the lava. You might spot more as you move along this path, but you should be able to sprint ahead and avoid them.
You’ll find another tunnel nearby, so sprint ahead until you find another lava pool. There, turn left and take yet another tunnel until you reconnect with the lava stream once again. You know the drill here – follow the lava further into the cave. The cavern you’ll enter here is pretty huge, but just follow the lava until you find another tunnel on the far side. At the end of this tunnel, you’ll find a gap you can squeeze through.
After squeezing through the gap, you’ll enter a Golden Cube. Inside, there is a soldier holding a laptop, and Kelvin will run in shortly after. Then, the soldier will look at you and show you a 15 second countdown on their laptop, before freaking out and temporarily projecting other images of himself. Very normal.
When the projections disappear, the side of the cube bursts open and you’ll see a futuristic city in another dimension. That’s right – you’re on a whole new world! However, after a brief moment, the Golden Cube will seal once again, preventing you from taking the leap into another dimension.
As the cube seals, it’ll open on the other side to show a large writhing mutant before cutting to black. When you regain control, you’ll find yourself by a helicopter on the beach, and you can interact with the pilot to successfully escape the island.
If you choose to walk away and grab your equipment, the helicopter will leave without you.
Does Sons of the Forest have a secret ending?
While little happens differently, there is a secret ending in Sons of the Forest. This ending triggers if you manage to get Virginia as a companion.
If you have Virginia as a companion, the ending will remain the same until you enter the Golden Cube. In the secret ending, both Virginia and Kelvin will run into the cube shortly after you arrive.
The rest of the cutscene will remain the same until the end, when Virginia will start to panic before falling into your arms unconscious. It then cuts to black, as it does in the other ending, and you reappear on the beach with the helicopter ahead.
If you board the chopper in this ending, both Virginia and Kelvin will also jump inside, and you’ll all escape the island together.
Sons of the Forest ending explained
Well, it’s fair to say that the ending feels rather rushed, so it’s unsurprising that many have questions about what they just witnessed.
Let’s start with the Cube. This is a mysterious artefact that was found by the various corporations who then fought over the island. The Puffton’s eventually purchased the land and built some fancy bunkers around the place to study further.
The Cube activates every eight cycles, and turns everyone on the island who is not standing within the Cube into mutants. This is because it causes some weird dimensional slip, which those inside the Cube witness during the ending.
The dimensional slip shows a futuristic city that looks more like Cyberpunk 2077 than anything to do with The Forest franchise. And yet, now we know it’s out there, and you have to wonder if we might visit the city in a sequel.
For now, what comes after Sons of the Forest remains unknown. Since it’s still in Early Access, we can expect the developers to spend more time filling up the island before moving onto anything that could be set in that city. Of course, that’d be a huge departure for a franchise about surviving in cannibal-infested forests, so we’ll have to wait and see.
If you’ve come away from the ending feeling a bit disappointed at how rushed it was, then bear in mind that The Forest felt similarly rushed during Early Access. Over time, though, the developers fleshed out the story into what it is today, so hopefully we can expect the same for Sons of the Forest.
That wraps up our guide on the Sons of the Forest ending. If you want to collect a few more powerful weapons before venturing into the bunker, take a look at our guides on how to get the Pistol and how to get the Machete in Sons of the Forest. If you want to invite your friends along for the ride, check out our guide on Sons of the Forest multiplayer.
