What makes it different is that while you’re trying to keep yourself alive, you’ll soon find that the forest is inhabited by cannibalistic tribes. Fun! Where the game really shines is in how the AI can be unpredictable, lending to more tension since you never really know what they might do. And if you’re looking to pick up this game again, you might want even more new stuff with even more unpredictability. Mods are plentiful for The Forest, and there’s so many that you probably won’t know where to start. Our list here offers plenty to keep you entertained, with mods for long-time fans and newcomers alike.
30. Tides
Check Out This Mod To start you off, here’s a simple little graphics mod to make The Forest look just a bit better. Tides adds another layer of realism, allowing for the tide levels to change as the day passes. With one tide cycle passing every 13 in-game hours, you’ll find that high tide will mean that most of the beach will be covered, and inversely, there will be more explorable beach area when the tide drops. It might not do much compared to other mods. But who doesn’t welcome additional realism and immersion?
29. Clarity
Check Out This Mod Speaking of the tide – you’re probably going to have to jump into the water every now and again. Once you do, the first thing you’ll notice (as it’s impossible to miss) is the insane amount of blur applied to the screen when underwater. It’s basically impossible to see anything down there. This isn’t even a matter of making the game a bit easier to play, as the blur is so bad it can even make you a bit dizzy. And swimming can’t really be avoided. Clarity offers a simple fix to the problem, reducing the amount of blur to make everything appear much clearer under water. The blur isn’t completely removed, because the modder explains that doing so causes even more issues, but it’s lowered enough to make it more than bearable.
28. FarLOD
Check Out This Mod View distance is another questionable graphics feature in The Forest. Especially if you’re playing the game on ultra settings. It’s hard to enjoy the game’s visuals as most of the environment is culled at a certain distance, which means that much of the detail is removed. So for the benefit of those who have powerful enough rigs – FarLOD fixes the problem. The mod simply allows the game to render details that are much farther away, so you won’t get the simplified graphics of vanilla.
27. Third Person
Check Out This Mod Some games are meant to be played in the first-person while others are better enjoyed in third. That’s just become the way of the world, and it just so happens that The Forest was made in the first-person perspective. Having the ability to toggle between the two isn’t a common feature in games, as every aspect of every game is built around the perspective the developers intend for you to play in. I mean, imagine playing Assassin’s Creed in first-person, or maybe Doom in third. It might be difficult to imagine. But thanks to modder Hyperatox, you won’t have to in your next session. This mod lets you play the entire game in third-person, simple and straightforward.
26. SkipPlaneCrash
Check Out This Mod Up next is another simple mod, but one you’re surely going to wanna try this out. Introductory cutscenes can get annoying pretty quickly. Especially if you’re up to your 5th, 6th, 20th playthrough. Games usually provide the ability to skip these videos. But just in case you want to get right to the action as soon as possible – SkipPlaneCrash is the mod you need. It simply hits spacebar so you don’t have to, automatically skipping the opening sequence every time you start a new game.
25. More Shortcuts
Check Out This Mod There are tons of mods aimed at making your life on the island a bit easier to manage. Survival games are known to be pretty tough, and just keeping yourself alive is already challenging in itself. Since The Forest throws mutated cannibals into the mix, it can get quite overwhelming – especially for those who aren’t veterans of the genre. More Shortcuts is the first you’re going to need, giving you an additional assignable shortcut slot for quick access to something you use most often.
24. Bigger Backpack
Check Out This Mod If this isn’t your first dip into survival games, you’re probably aware of how important inventory management is. You’re basically left to make use of whatever materials you can find in your surroundings. And you’re limited by what you can carry at any given time. To make things a bit easier, the Bigger Backpack mod allows you to give yourself infinite inventory space, so you can pretty much just grab anything you see. Let the good times roll.
23. Full Inventory
Check Out This Mod If added backpack space still isn’t enough, Full Inventory might do the trick. While the Bigger Backpack does allow you to carry anything and everything you can find, you’re still going to have to find them first. If you prefer to bypass scouring for resources completely, Full Inventory lets you have your cake and eat it too. With a simple push of a button, you’ll have your inventory completely maxed out.
22. Light the Way
Check Out This Mod One of the most challenging aspects of The Forest is exploring the darker areas of the peninsula. You’ll find yourself crawling into dark caves on more than one occasion, and the tiny lighter doesn’t really help much in terms of visibility. It’s unfortunate that the game doesn’t allow you to adjust gamma settings either, so you’re left with the flashlight as your best option. Even then, the flashlight isn’t very helpful either, as it isn’t very bright to begin with. And the battery only lasts for 8 minutes. Light the Way solves this by tweaking it without making it too overpowered – making it just a bit brighter and last longer as well.
21. Caloric Deficit
Check Out This Mod Keeping a close eye on your health, energy, hunger, and thirst levels is just as important as finding the resources to satisfy those needs. While everything is pretty clearly displayed on the HUD, the Caloric Deficit mod makes it just a bit easier to monitor, making for a more visual representation of your hunger level. The mod makes the stomach icon in the HUD smaller if you’re burning more than you’re eating, so you’ll be able to easily identify when it should be time for your next meal.
20. Damage Numbers
Check Out This Mod Personal health-related numbers aren’t the only ones you’re going to have to watch for, of course, as some encounters with the cannibals will be more action-packed than others. When they do decide to take a more aggressive approach, you’re going to want to be ready to fight back. In those cases, the Damage Numbers mod is going to be a huge help – adding a health bar to each enemy you have to face, so you at least have a better idea of how you’re doing in each fight.
19. Easy Building
Check Out This Mod Building is the other crucial aspect of The Forest. Crafting tools, weapons, and shelter are your best chances of survival. And like with most survival games, crafting heavily relies on wood – which you have to go out and get on your own, of course. There are tons of trees around you as you’re in the middle of a forest, but why not make things easier (and more fun)? Moritz’ Easy Building mod lets you get your shelter up and running much quicker, cutting resource requirements for all craftables in half.
18. Tree Respawn
Check Out This Mod With wood being such a valuable resource in the game, it would be unfortunate to run out of trees to cut. While you’re surrounded by them, only 10% of the total will respawn each in-game night – which is hardly enough to keep up. Especially if you’re building yourself a large base. AllesKutEnter’s Tree Respawn aims to help with that, allowing you to instantly respawn trees so you always have enough for your building needs.
17. More Crafting
Check Out This Mod While the crafting system is an important aspect of The Forest, it surely isn’t its main feature. Crafting and building appear to intentionally lack depth to keep your focus on other parts of the game, which of course leads us to this next mod by user Rurido. Leave it to the modding community to add to whichever aspects of the game they feel is lacking, and this mod specifically expands on crafting. More Crafting adds 5 new craftable items to the game, including cloth, fuel, and ammo.
16. Better Blueprints
Check Out This Mod To improve on building even further, you might want to check Moritz’s Better Blueprints mod. While the mod doesn’t exactly expand on what can be built in the game, it makes it much easier to build what’s already included in vanilla. You’re given additional building options like the ability to rotate buildings far easier, plus place them anywhere, and it even removes anchor point limits.
15. Destroyer Of Worlds
Check Out This Mod If you find yourself on the opposite side of the spectrum, you might be wanting to remove certain things from the world instead of adding them. In that case you’re going to want to get the appropriately-named Destroyer Of Worlds mod by AllesKutEnter. It’s a simple mod, giving you the ability to remove anything in the world with just a push of a button. A pesky cannibal just won’t leave you alone? No problem! Just smack the keyboard and he’ll be deleted from the world. That simple.
14. No Sleep Cooldown
Check Out This Mod Getting some rest is as important as making sure you stay alive and healthy. While there’s lots to do, the last thing you want to do is overwork yourself to death. Sleep is also important, as it doesn’t just replenish your energy, it’s also time necessary to heal up wounds as well. Other than that, it’s also the game’s way of allowing you to pass in-game time. The No Sleep Cooldown mod can be very helpful here, basically allowing you unlimited sleep – which means you’ll be able to heal as quickly as possible, get enough rest every time, and pass enough time when needed.
13. Inner Clock
Check Out This Mod If you’re looking to have even more control over your sleeping patterns, Kouga’s Inner Clock is the perfect tool for that. The base game offers two options for sleeping – to either sleep until midnight, or until morning. With Inner Clock installed, you’ll have two additional options. So you’ll be able to choose exactly how long you go to sleep for. The mod skips checking for whether you’ve slept recently as well, so you’ll be able to go back to sleep right after waking up.
12. Long Climbing Rope
Check Out This Mod The Forest’s verticality relies mostly on climbing ropes, allowing you to reach elevated places around the map. The same goes for player-built structures as well, as you’re going to have to place a rope to climb if you’re building your base upwards. The problem here is that climbing rope only comes in a fixed length, which means your tower can only go so high. This mod fixes that, so climbing ropes always reach the ground. The modder wasn’t able to make the ropes longer visually, but the climb trigger will always be available no matter how high up the rope goes.
11. Infinite Zipline
Check Out This Mod Ziplines are a great means of transportation around the island. Whether you’re simply trying to travel between two points or escape a cannibal attack, the zipline is your best friend. Similar to climbing ropes though, the game only allows ziplines to go for a certain length – and we all know that limitations are boring. Lucky for us, Infinite Ziplines solves that – allowing ziplines to go on forever. Who knows, maybe you can even make a zipline straight out of the island? I’m not entirely sure how that would work though.
10. Map
Check Out This Mod The Forest is all about building tension. And it does a great job at that, especially considering you’re lost on an unknown island. But for those who prefer not to be so lost, the Map mod is exactly what you need. With this mod installed, you have access to a map of the island right from the beginning. You’ll be able to see exactly where you are, as well as where the enemy bases are so you can steer clear of dangerous areas.
9. Winter is Coming
Check Out This Mod Now if you’re looking to change the map completely, you might want to give Moritz’s Winter is Coming mod a try. While winter-themed survival games aren’t anything new, this mod makes it possible in The Forest. It doesn’t really change much in terms of how the game plays out. But it’s a good change of scenery and is a cool way (no pun intended) to change things up for when you get tired of all the green around you.
8. Longer Days and Nights
Check Out This Mod The Forest’s in-game time is designed to add to the game’s tension, as it often feels like the days are too short to accomplish everything you need to get done. You could continue to scavenge for materials at night, though it’s probably more dangerous to do so. If you feel that the game’s pace is too fast for you, AllesKutEnter’s Longer Days and Nights might be just the mod for you. The mod does make the days run longer, allowing you to get more done – just keep in mind that nights will be longer as well.
7. More Enemies Mod Plus Deluxe Ultra
Check Out This Mod Pretty much everything on the list so far has been geared towards helping you through surviving The Forest. But I can’t forgot about those of you who have masochistic tendencies. I wouldn’t want you to feel left out, so here’s a tougher mod for you. As if the base game’s hardest difficulty wasn’t hard enough, More Enemies Mod Plus Deluxe Ultra doubles the number of enemies you’ll have to deal with.
6. Day22SpawnChange
Check Out This Mod
If you’re looking to have more control over enemy spawns in the game, disi’s Day22SpawnChange might be what you’re looking for.
While some may enjoy the challenge of having double the cannibals, there might be others who are looking to take a break every once in a while.
This mod gives you the ability to do so, giving you complete control of enemy spawns in the world.
You’ll have access to sliders that allow you to change how often enemies appear, so you’ll be able to determine how often you get into hostile encounters.
Feel like going for a stroll without the possibility of running into some mutated freak looking to kill you for meat? Go on ahead.
5. Custom Enemy Stats
Check Out This Mod Moritz’s Custom Enemy Stats enhances your control of the cannibals even further, allowing you to completely customize each enemy in the game. If you’re finding that the game isn’t exciting enough on easy mode, but becomes impossible at the hardest difficulty level, then this is a really nice way to find that middle ground. You’ll be able to create a completely customized difficulty level to fit your own pace, with the ability to determine health and damage levels for each of the enemy types.
4. Better Mutants
Check Out This Mod While Custom Enemy Stats is a great way to gain control over all aspects of how enemies spawn, you might be looking for a quick and easy fix for an alternative difficulty level. Better Mutants is exactly that – a Custom Enemy Stats preset that increases health across all cannibals. To make up for the beefier enemies, damage made to buildings has been drastically decreased.
3. Champions of The Forest
Check Out This Mod If you’ve played through the game enough, it isn’t likely that taking the difficulty up a few notches is going to make that big a difference. In that case, you might want to give Champions of The Forest a shot. This mod makes the most drastic changes out of anything else on the list: it turns the game into a more RPG-focused experience. Here you’ll find everything from custom weapons, stat leveling, and item drops – similar to common gameplay mechanics you’d find in any RPG.
2. Ultimate Cheatmenu
Check Out This Mod If custom enemy stats didn’t whet your appetite enough, I present to you Ultimate Cheatmenu. Complete control might not always be a good idea, but it surely makes for some good fun. Spawn and delete enemies as you please, or even fly around the map. As I said, it gives you complete control – so I’ll leave you to find your own creative ways to have fun with this one. Who knew cheating could be this easy?
1. Leopard 2A6
Check Out This Mod Lastly at the top of this list is probably the craziest mod you can get for The Forest. Yes – crazier than the Ultimate Cheatmenu. While this mod doesn’t give you the ability to fly or teleport, it gives you access to a usable tank. You read that right. You’ll be given a German Leopard 2A6 tank to drive around the island, anywhere you want, any time you need. What more could you ask for?
