How to host a server in Sons of the Forest

The survival-horror game Sons of the Forest is, as most things, better with friends. The debate about dedicated servers in Sons of the Forest has been an ongoing one since the sequel was announced, with proponents of both sides listing the possible benefits and consequences at-length in forums. The title is currently in the Early Access program on Steam, but playing with friends might not be as clear for some — here’s how to host a server in Sons of the Forest.

Related: Is Sons of the Forest a sequel? Answered

Does Sons of the Forest have dedicated servers?

Sons of the Forest is currently in early access, and with that comes the boilerplate caveat that almost anything can be developed and added in the future as the title progresses. For the time being, however, there are no dedicated server options for a Host to keep a server up. Further, developer Endnight Games has not commented on whether it is planning to make this possible in the future. Currently, the best available option for Sons of the Forest is to host a multiplayer game, although that notably falls short of what many are hoping to achieve. The ‘Custom’ difficulty allows players to alter many variables to turn the game into something more in-line with a group of friends.

Related: Does Sons of the Forest have crossplay? Answered

While The Forest had the option to host a dedicated server, this option wasn’t introduced until well into the Early Access period. It’s likely, although not guaranteed, that we’ll see similar treatment for Sons of the Forest as Endnight Games continues its foray through the Early Access program. Players will be able to check if Sons of the Forest has launched a dedicated server application by checking in the ‘Tools‘ of your Steam Library, or by bookmarking this page — we’ll update it if and when Sons of the Forest ends up with dedicated server tools during one of the many updates the developer is planning.