The Forest cheats: console commands and codes

The Forest packs a full developer console on the PC (Steam) version, with commands for god mode, spawning items and mutants, jumping the clock, and forcing the weather. The one thing to settle first: a single command, resetstatsandachievements, erases your Steam achievement progress on purpose, while turning the console on does not disable achievements the way it does in most survival games.

It's the setup we lean on to rebuild a base after a bad night, or to line up a fight on our own terms. The console starts switched off, so the first job is turning it on.

Before you start: turn the console on

Cheats sit behind a two-step switch, and both steps happen at the main menu, not the in-game pause screen.

First, open Options > Gameplay and set Allow Cheats to On. Then, still at the main menu, type the activation command below.

Once developer mode is on, load your save and press F1 to open the console input box in the top-left corner. F2 opens a second log and stats overlay if you want it.

Type a command, press Enter, and it runs. If F1 seems dead, check whether F-Lock is on, because F-Lock makes the function row send media keys instead of F1 through F12.

One scope note: this guide covers the built-in developer console only. Third-party trainers exist for The Forest, but they sit outside what we cover here.

Player and survival cheats

These are the commands that keep you alive, from full invulnerability to a single-stat top-up. God mode is the blunt option; setstat is the precise one.

Item cheats

Item commands take a numeric item ID as their argument. Those IDs come from community item tables, not an official list, so keep one open while you type.

Note: there's no quantity argument for additem, so it always adds a single copy. Repeat the command for more.

Creature and enemy cheats

This group spawns wildlife and mutants, clears them out, or shuts spawning down completely. There's no single "spawn enemy" command; it splits into spawnanimal and spawnmutant.

World and time cheats

Use these to skip to daytime, jump the calendar forward, or set the weather before a screenshot run.

Building and difficulty cheats

buildhack is the base-builder's favorite, and setdifficultymode doubles as a panic button. Its peaceful option strips cannibals and mutants out of the game entirely.

The one command that wipes your progress

Keep this one separate in your head from everything above.

There's no "are you sure" step, so it runs the instant you press Enter. Treat it as the one console command you never type by accident.

What cheats do to your achievements

Here's the part that matters most before a long run. Community command guides agree that turning developer mode on does not globally disable Steam achievements in The Forest, which sets it apart from many games that lock achievements the moment cheats are enabled. The Forest and its sequel both land on our best horror games on Steam list.

The single exception is resetstatsandachievements, and that's by design: erasing achievement progress is the command's stated job, not a side effect of the console being open.

One honest caveat: this general behavior is agreed across independent community guides and a Steam Community discussion, but we found no official Endnight Games statement confirming it, so treat it as community-verified rather than developer-confirmed.

Commands people search for that don't exist

A lot of the "cheats" listed for The Forest are guesses that never worked, or commands from the sequel. These are the ones worth clearing up.

• god: the real command is godmode, not a bare "god".
• spawnenemy: it doesn't exist; use spawnanimal or spawnmutant instead.
• settime, fastday, fastnight: none are real; use settimeofday, advanceday, or setcurrentday.
• rain: there's no bare rain command; the weather control is forcerain.
• kill: there's no bare kill command, only the kill family (killlocalplayer, killallenemies, killallanimals).
• givehealth: not a command; use regenhealth or setstat Health instead.
• resetsave and cloudsaves: neither works as a console command.
• removeplayerclothes: this one is real in Sons of the Forest, the sequel, not in the original game.

Where to start

If you just want a calmer game, run setdifficultymode peaceful and skip the rest. If you're rebuilding after a rough night, buildhack on plus a few additem calls gets you back on your feet fastest, and none of it touches your achievements as long as you stay clear of that one reset command. If you play co-op, our guide on whether The Forest is crossplay covers which platforms connect.