Īs the player progresses through the game and explores the caves underneath the forest surface, they will encounter increasingly bizarre mutations, including deformed babies and mutants with several extra appendages. Though there are no set missions, there is an optional conclusion to the game. They are also afraid of fire, and will sometimes refrain from approaching the player if there is a campfire or torch nearby.

In combat, they regularly attempt to protect one another from injury, remove torches, surround the player, hide behind cover, drag wounded tribesmen to safety, keep their distance, use tactical decisions, not overextend into unknown territory, and occasionally surrender out of fear. For example, when first encountering the player, the cannibals may hesitate to attack and instead observe the player from a distance, attempt to communicate with the player through effigies, and send patrols around the player's base camp. However, the developers wanted players to question whether the peninsula's cannibalistic tribe is the enemy of the player or vice versa.

While they are not necessarily always hostile to the player, their usual behavior is aggressive, especially during the night. Inhabiting the peninsula, along with various woodland creatures, are a tribe of cannibalistic mutants, who dwell in villages on the surface and in deep caves beneath the peninsula. Players must survive by creating shelter, weapons, and other survival tools. In The Forest, players control Eric LeBlanc and must survive on a forested peninsula in search of his son Timmy after a devastating plane crash.

The forest wiki final boss