Sons of the Forest multiplayer: How to play with friends in Sons of the Forest

Want to know how to play multiplayer in Sons of the Forest? Sons Of The Forest is out in Early Access, but you don't need to get stranded on its spooky island alone. Sons of the Forest has multiplayer, allowing you to team up with pals as you explore, craft, fight, and (hopefully) survive.

In this guide, we'll break down how Sons of the Forest multiplayer works, so that you know how to join or invite friends into your Sons of the Forest lobby. We'll also explain the max lobby size, so that you know how many people can play in one session.

How to play Sons of the Forest in multiplayer

To play multiplayer in Sons of the Forest, simply head to the main menu and hit multiplayer. There's no way to convert a solo save into a multiplayer session, so you'll need to start fresh with friends.

It's worth noting that, since Sons of the Forest is not on Xbox or PlayStation consoles at launch, there are also no crossplay options. If it launches for consoles in the future, we'll let you know if it has cross platform multiplayer.

After pressing multiplayer, you can choose whether to host or join a session. If you opt to host, you'll see the following screen, which allows you to set the server name, the max lobby size, and whether it's open to the public or just for friends.

Select the settings that you'd prefer, and then press next to enter a lobby screen, where you can see the names of every player in your game. Here, you can either invite friends, or simply hit start.

Of course, you can also invite friends at any time after starting, so if you're planning on having pals join you later, you can go ahead and start whenever.

If you aren't hosting, you have two options. You can either wait for the host to invite you, or you can use the multiplayer menu to find the server browser by pressing multiplayer, and then join.

The server browser shows all available multiplayer lobbies, but you can use the filters on the right to search solely for those hosted by friends.

Sons of the Forest max lobby size

Sons of the Forest has multiplayer for up to eight players. That's right, you and up to seven friends can run around in Sons of the Forest together.

You'll also be able to meet Kelvin and Virginia while roaming around, which bumps the total number of people in your party up to 10!

That wraps up our Sons of the Forest multiplayer guide. Once you're in a lobby, it's time to get to work! To care for your basic needs, take a look at our guides on how to get water, how to start a fire, and how to make a tent in Sons of the Forest. When you're ready to explore further, check out how to get the Rebreather and how to get the Rope Gun, as these will allow you to find the Shovel in Sons of the Forest. This then allows you to start digging, which will help you get the keycards in Sons of the Forest.