The Forest is a survival horror game where, after a plane crash, you fight to survive on a dangerous island. Food, water, tools, and a secure shelter are just as important as exploring your surroundings. On your own The Forest server, you can explore the island with friends over the long term and expand your shared base step by step.
This wiki helps you reliably manage your The Forest server and game world. Beyond the co-op experience, it covers handling save files, preserving your progress, and connecting to an existing server world.
The Forest was developed and published by Endnight Games. The game launched in Early Access on May 30, 2014, and was fully released on April 30, 2018. The mix of open survival, eerie atmosphere, and story-driven island exploration makes The Forest a standout co-op experience.
After the crash, you start with almost no gear. You gather sticks, stones, and logs, craft your first tools, and look for a suitable spot for your shelter. A simple lean-to can grow into a fortified base with campfires, walls, traps, and multiple buildings.
The island seems calm at first but quickly becomes dangerous. You need to find or produce food and materials while hostile cannibals and mutants watch your surroundings and test your defenses. To survive long term, plan your routes, stock up on supplies, and choose your base location carefully.
Vast cave systems lie beneath the surface, along with rare items and key clues to the island’s story. The caves are often dim and hard to judge. Good preparation, the right equipment, and a team that sticks together make the difference between a successful expedition and a quick retreat.
In co-op, you can split tasks wisely. While one player gathers wood and expands the base, others can look for food, explore caves, or set up traps and defenses. Shared building projects and expeditions make progress visible and give each session a clear goal.
Your own The Forest server is worthwhile if you want your world accessible independently of any one player’s PC. The base and shared progress are saved in a fixed location. This way your friends can keep playing and working on the island even when the original host is not online.
Save files contain your progress and are therefore especially important. After many hours, they hold upgraded bases, collected gear, and explored areas. Before making major changes or moving the world to another server, you should download a current save file and store it safely.
You can upload an existing world to your The Forest server and continue using it with your group. During the transfer, the server should be stopped so no active write operations alter the files. This reduces the risk of a corrupted or incomplete save.
Regular backups also let you quickly revert to a working state after an error or unwanted change. This is especially helpful if you have built a large base or already explored important parts of the island.
At 4NetPlayers, you can rent your own The Forest server and run your island permanently with friends. The server handles continuous hosting and gives you a fixed meeting point for exploration, base building, cave expeditions, and surviving together.