The Forest may be one of the more difficult survival games, but with a few well-placed cheat codes, players can survive a little longer.

Fans of survival games may find the open world, horror style of The Forest unnerving, and that's exactly the draw. After the players survive a plane crash at the start of the game, they must find a way to stay alive in the depths of a dense forest with little more than a weak ax for protection and to find food and build supplies. A society of cannibals and mutants living in the forest complicates matters for the player and adds to the sense of terror and urgency.

With so much going on in-game, and with perils waiting at every turn, players may struggle to survive. Thankfully, the developers of the game included some cheats to help players along the way. There are many cheats for the game, ranging from rendering players entirely immortal to making building and crafting far more efficient. However, only some cheats will work on PlayStation 4 (unless the player has a wireless keyboard installed), while several more will be available on the PC version of the game. Here are the most useful cheat codes in the game and how they can help, hurt, or enhance gameplay.

How to Enter Gamemode Cheats in The Forest for PC and PlayStation 4

The easiest cheats to enter in The Forest do not require players to open any special consoles. Players only need to type them in on the main menu for them to work. However, there is no confirmation that a code has been entered. Players should be aware that entering the code a second time will disable it.

These are the cheats that can be entered by typing them in on the main menu:

• ironforest: Buildings become indestructible.
• meatmode: Cheats are disabled.
• rawmeatmode: The game becomes more challenging, so when the player dies, the entire save file is deleted and the player must start again.
• regrowmode: Also available in-game options, this allows 10% of fallen trees to grow back while the player sleeps.
• veganmode: Cannibals and mutants only appear in caves.
• vegetarianmode: Cannibals and mutants only appear at night.
• woodpaste: Holes in materials will reset.

Other cheats in the game will require the use of console commands.

How to Enter Console Command Cheats in The Forest

Players wanting to further customize their game can do so with hundreds of options and without needing to download and use mods. To access all these options, players will need to open the game in developer mode. This works best on PC and will only work on PS4 if the player has a USB keyboard installed.

Players should first ensure within the game settings menu that cheats are enabled, or these codes will not work. Then, on the main title screen for the game, players should type developermodeon. The game will not indicate whether this has worked, so the player should press F1 to check. If this does not work, players should check to see if their F lock is on, which will prevent the use of those keys.

There are several important commands within the console that players should know.

• To toggle the console, press Z. To turn the console on or off, press F1.
• To display the console log and status, press X or ~. To turn the console log and status on or off, press F2 or ~.
• To display player stats, press C. Press F3 to turn stats on or off.
• To cycle through previous commands, use the up and down arrow keys.
• To make changes to commands, use the left and right arrow keys.
• To execute a command, press Enter.
• To repeat the same command multiple times, press F1, type in the command, press Enter, press F1, and press the up arrow to return to that same command and execute it again. When adding game items, it helps to first press C on the spawned item before pressing F1 and the up arrow again.

Once players get comfortable operating console commands, they can change their game to best fit their playing style. However, they should always exercise caution in this mode, as some cheats or commands will delete saved games or negatively affect saved games.

Most Useful Cheats in The Forest

While there are hundreds of cheats to choose from, changing everything from game difficulty to clothing, there are a few more popular and useful ones. These are more ubiquitous options to make life in the game simpler or more challenging, depending on playing style.

buildermode on/off: Players can build whatever they would like in-game. This cheat turns on buildhack and godmode, turns off survival mode, adds all items to the player's inventory except story items, and turns enemies off so the player has room and time to free build.

cavelight on/off: This turns on a light inside the caves, making it look like daytime within.

faststart on/off: Players can skip the plane crash at the start of the game. This is especially useful in rawmeatmode when players will need to restart upon dying.

godmode on/off: Players do not need to eat, drink or sleep, and they cannot die in the game.

buildhack on/off: Like buildermode, this cheat works similarly to Creative Mode. Players receive unlimited items with which to build freely.

cancelallghosts: Clears all placed blueprints. Headphones-users beware: the more blueprints in the forest, the louder the sound when they clear.

buildallghosts: Builds all placed blueprints. The more blueprints, the louder the sound when they build.

addallitems: Adds all the possible in-game items to a player's inventory. To fill storage bags within the inventory, players will need to input this cheat twice.

addallstoryitems: Adds all necessary story items for faster story-based play.

itemhack on/off: Players will never run out of items. The catch is, they must already have the item.

survival on/off: Players do not need to eat, drink, or fill other basic needs. They will, however, be susceptible to enemy attacks.

save: Players can save their game from any point or location.

speedyrun on/off: Players can move quickly around the forest, almost as though they are flying. They can still be killed, however, and sometimes turning off this cheat will prevent the player from running at all. Players can try other movements like jumping or crouching to try and reset their run.

invisible on/off: Players can run or walk underwater. All water animation and washing effects will turn off. This does not affect rain, which will still allow the player to wash off blood before infection sets in.

killallenemies: Kills all cannibals and mutants in the game. This effect is not permanent, however, and they will respawn.

enemies on/off: Players can decide to turn enemies on or off within the game.

additem77: Gives the player a live rabbit. The additem cheat can be used with any of the numbered items in the game; but 77 is a rabbit, so this cheat will put a rabbit directly in the player's hand. Players should store these in rabbit cages to prevent them from running away.

terrainrender on/off: This turns the terrain on or off. Even when terrain is off, players can still walk on it.

lightingtimeofdayoverride: Players can change the game lighting, and their choice will stay indefinitely. Options include HR:MM (for specific times), morning, noon, sunset and night. One option needs to be added after the main code.

forcerain: Players can change the weather at will. Options to add at the end of the main forcerain code are light, medium, heavy, cloudy and sunny.

cutdowntrees 10/100%: Players can cut down a specific number of trees for logs, or a specific percentage of the trees in the forest. While 100% will clear all of them, players can input any percentage desired.

cutgrass 10: Cuts down the grass within a specific radius. Players can choose any size radius, but the effect will take longer to apply for large areas.

clear: Clears the console so the player can see the full screen more clearly.

showgamestats: Opens all information about the player's saved game, including how many days they've survived, how many trees they've cut down, how many rabbits they've caught, and more.

setdifficultylevel: Players can choose the game experience that best suits them. The choices here are peaceful, normal, hard, hardsurvival, standard, creative, and mod.

revealcavemap: This will open a map of all areas, both above and below ground.

Players can access a full list of cheats available in the game using The Forest wiki.

Next: Green Hell: A Beginner's Guide To Survival

The Forest is available on Steam and PlayStation 4.