Before you drop onto the island and start fending off cannibals with Kelvin and Virginia, it pays to know whether your PC can actually run Sons of the Forest. Developed by Endnight Games and published under their own Newnight label, this survival-horror title left Early Access and hit its full 1.0 release on February 22, 2024, and it has continued to receive patches well into 2025. This guide breaks down the official Steam system requirements in full, explains what each spec actually means in practice, and covers what changes when you want smooth eight-player co-op rather than a solo run.
Official Sons of the Forest System Requirements
The numbers below are taken verbatim from the official Steam store page (App ID 1326470). Both the minimum and recommended tiers note that an SSD is preferred for storage, even though only 20 GB of space is required either way.
| Component | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS | 64-bit Windows 10 | 64-bit Windows 10 |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 3 3300X | Intel Core i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X |
| Memory | 12 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB or AMD Radeon RX 570 4GB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080Ti or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT |
| DirectX | Version 11 | Version 11 |
| Storage | 20 GB available space (SSD preferred) | 20 GB available space (SSD preferred) |
A few things stand out immediately. First, this is a Windows-only game on the client side — there is no native macOS or Linux build, and DirectX 11 is the rendering target for both tiers. Second, the storage footprint is modest at 20 GB, which is small for a modern open-world game. Third, the gap between minimum and recommended is wide on the GPU front, jumping from a GTX 1060 3GB all the way to a GTX 1080Ti. That gap tells you a lot about how this game scales.
What the Minimum Specs Actually Get You
The minimum tier is built around a six-core Intel Core i5-8400 (Coffee Lake, 2017) or an AMD Ryzen 3 3300X (Zen 2, 2020), paired with 12 GB of RAM and a GTX 1060 3GB or RX 570 4GB. This is genuinely a “playable” baseline, not a “looks great” one. On hardware at this level you should expect to run the game at 1080p with lower-to-medium presets, accepting frame dips when the forest gets dense, when fire and physics effects stack up, or when multiple AI enemies swarm you at once.
The 12 GB RAM requirement is a notable detail — it sits between the more common 8 GB and 16 GB tiers you see elsewhere. In practice, 12 GB means the game wants more than a single 8 GB stick can comfortably give once Windows and a browser are also running. If your machine has exactly 8 GB, you are below spec and will likely hit stutter from memory pressure and disk paging.
The GTX 1060 3GB call-out is worth flagging: the 3GB variant has less VRAM than the more common 6GB model, so texture-heavy scenes and caves can push that buffer. If you are anywhere near minimum, an SSD is doing real work here — the “SSD preferred” note exists because streaming the island’s terrain and assets off a mechanical hard drive produces noticeable hitching as you move through the world.
What the Recommended Specs Are For
The recommended tier steps up to an Intel Core i7-8700K or Ryzen 5 3600X, 16 GB of RAM, and a GTX 1080Ti or RX 5700 XT. This is the configuration to aim for if you want a smooth, high-fidelity 1080p experience or a solid 1440p run with high settings. The big GPU jump from a 1060 to a 1080Ti is what lets you turn up draw distance, foliage density, shadows, and ambient effects — all of which matter in a game whose horror relies on dense, dark, atmospheric environments.
The CPU upgrade matters too. Sons of the Forest leans on its AI — cannibal and mutant enemies, plus the companion AI for Kelvin and Virginia — and AI simulation is CPU-bound. A faster six-core part like the i7-8700K or Ryzen 5 3600X keeps the simulation responsive when several enemies are active and pathfinding around your base at the same time. That is exactly the scenario where a minimum-spec CPU starts to choke.
Co-op and Multiplayer: What Changes
Sons of the Forest supports cooperative multiplayer for up to 8 players — that is a hard cap baked into the game and cannot be raised through config. The published Steam requirements describe the client experience, and they do not separately call out a higher tier for multiplayer. That said, there are practical realities to plan for.
When you play co-op, every connected client has to simulate more: more players moving and building, more shared structures, and the same demanding enemy AI. The more bases and structures a session accumulates over a long-running save, the heavier the load gets. If you and your friends are at the minimum spec, an eight-person session in a heavily-built world is where you will feel the strain most — especially on the CPU side. For comfortable eight-player co-op, the recommended tier (or better) on each machine is the realistic target.
The biggest single improvement for co-op smoothness, though, isn’t a faster gaming PC at all — it’s where the world is hosted. You can host directly from one player’s game, but that “listen server” ties the whole session to that person’s machine, upload bandwidth, and uptime. The moment they log off, everyone is done for the night.
Hosting a Dedicated Server vs. Playing Host
Endnight ships a free standalone dedicated server tool, and running it offloads world simulation from your gaming rig entirely. That means your group keeps a persistent island that’s always online — your friends can hop in whenever they like, and your own framerate is no longer competing with the server’s workload. A dedicated Sons of the Forest server is the cleanest way to run an always-on eight-player world without burning your own PC’s resources.
The dedicated server uses a different Steam application than the game itself. You install it via SteamCMD using App ID 2465200 with anonymous login (no game-ownership credentials required):
app_update 2465200 validateOn Windows the server ships with a batch launcher named StartSOTFDedicated.bat, which runs the server executable SonsOfTheForestDS.exe. There is no native Linux binary — Linux hosting works only by forcing the Windows build in SteamCMD (+@sSteamCmdForcePlatformType windows) and running the executable under Wine, often headless via xvfb. That is why most managed hosts and Docker images for this game run a Wine-wrapped Windows server under the hood.
The server is configured through a JSON file named dedicatedserver.cfg. A trimmed default looks like this:
{
"IpAddress": "0.0.0.0",
"GamePort": 8766,
"QueryPort": 27016,
"BlobSyncPort": 9700,
"ServerName": "Sons Of The Forest Server (dedicated)",
"MaxPlayers": 8,
"Password": "",
"LanOnly": false,
"SaveSlot": 1,
"SaveMode": "Continue",
"GameMode": "Normal",
"SaveInterval": 600
}The key fields to know:
- MaxPlayers — integer, capped at 8 (the game’s co-op ceiling). You cannot exceed this.
- GamePort — default 8766 (UDP); QueryPort — default 27016 (UDP); BlobSyncPort — default 9700 (UDP). All three need to be open/forwarded.
- Password — leave empty for an open server, or set a string (up to roughly 40 characters) for a private session.
- GameMode — verified valid values are Normal, Hard, HardSurvival, Peaceful, Creative, and Custom. The hardcore difficulty is set with
HardSurvival; the literal string “Hardcore” is not confirmed. SettingCustommakes the server read its CustomGameModeSettings block. - LanOnly — boolean; set true to hide the server from the internet browser.
If you want the full walkthrough — SteamCMD install, port forwarding, the Wine-on-Linux path, and config tuning — our step-by-step guide to setting up a Sons of the Forest dedicated server covers it end to end, and the Sons of the Forest documentation has the panel-specific steps for managed hosting.
A Note on the Developer Console
If you’re testing performance or just want to mess around on your own world, the PC build includes a developer console. During active gameplay (not in the inventory, map, pause menu, or a text box) type the word cheatstick letter by letter — the characters appear top-left — then press F1 to open the console. Non-US keyboard layouts must switch to a US layout for input to register. From there, commands like godmode on and buildhack on are available. We cover the full command list and enabling steps in our developer console guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the minimum system requirements for Sons of the Forest?
Per the official Steam page: 64-bit Windows 10, an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 3 3300X, 12 GB of RAM, a GeForce GTX 1060 3GB or Radeon RX 570 4GB, DirectX 11, and 20 GB of storage (SSD preferred).
What are the recommended specs?
64-bit Windows 10, an Intel Core i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X, 16 GB of RAM, a GeForce GTX 1080Ti or Radeon RX 5700 XT, DirectX 11, and 20 GB of storage. This tier targets a smooth high-settings 1080p experience.
How much RAM do I need for Sons of the Forest?
The minimum is 12 GB and the recommended is 16 GB. An 8 GB machine is below spec and will likely stutter once Windows and background apps are accounted for, so 16 GB is the comfortable target.
Can I run Sons of the Forest on Linux or Mac?
There is no native Linux or macOS client — the game is Windows-only and uses DirectX 11. The dedicated server has no native Linux binary either; Linux hosting works by forcing the Windows build in SteamCMD and running it under Wine.
How many players does the game support in co-op?
Up to 8 players. This is a hard cap built into the game, and it’s mirrored by the dedicated server’s MaxPlayers field, which also tops out at 8.
Is Sons of the Forest still being updated in 2026?
Yes — the game hit 1.0 on February 22, 2024 and continued receiving patches through 2025, including a major content update in January 2025 (rafts, procedural walls, revised aiming) and a Unity security patch in October 2025. Endnight Games, the studio behind both The Forest and Sons of the Forest, has not announced an end of support. You can read more about the studio in our Endnight Games studio profile.
Ready to play?
Run your own The Forest server with XGamingServer
Spin up an always-on The Forest server your friends can join in minutes — no port-forwarding, no tech headaches.
