Sons of the Forest Cannibals [All Types & Behavior]

Sons of the Forest has too many different enemy types, such as hostile animals, creepy mutants, and even weird finger-looking creatures. But perhaps the Cannibals in Sons of the Forest are the most intriguing yet challenging enemy types that you’ll come across.

All Cannibals In Sons Of The Forest

Considering the game is still in early access, there’s a slight chance that more types of cannibals might get added later on in the game. But as of now, we have around 4-5 different types of cannibal groups in the game.

Regular Cannibals

The first and most basic type of cannibals in the game is the Regular cannibal. These are likely the most adaptive type of cannibals but also the easiest to deal with. They’re quite cautious and smart.

Interactions With The Player

If you hold such cannibals at gunpoint, they’ll be reluctant to attack you and even get scared off. If you do try to attack them, you can easily cut off their limbs. And as long as they’re alive, they’ll try to run away from you before being totally immobilized.

Interactions With Each Other

Cannibals are aware of their surroundings and of each other as well. They will try to collect items, interact with structures such as breaking them down or even steal resources from you. When crippled or generally injured and left alone for a bit, the regular cannibals will try to help each other out.

Attacking Your Base

They’re considered extremely aggressive while approaching your base and aren’t likely to back off by just pointing a gun at them; you’ll need to use other defensive methods. A great way to defend against cannibals that tend to approach your base is to use different types of traps, such as ground pikes. Or you can create walls to keep them away. But well-placed traps can usually lock the cannibals in place and scare the rest away.

Different Seasons

Seasons also affect the appearances and difficulty of the cannibals. In winter, they will start wearing different types of creepy armor, which will offer them protection during combat. These armors and not only affected by the weather but also by the faction that they might belong in. And in summer, they might be more vulnerable and less protected.

Cave Cannibals

The cave cannibals also referred to as the Blind Cannibals at times, have a disfigured appearance with unnaturally grey skin. They’re hardly ever seen with clothing, and it’s quite rare to see them with a weapon. However, if you happen to skin them, you’ll obtain one piece of creepy armor from them.

Behavior

For the most part, you’ll come across these cannibals in caves. But even when you encounter them, you’ll soon realize that they’re not as threatening as some of the other enemies due to their lack of smell or sight senses. They’ll usually be found moving around sluggishly; in fact, most of the time, they’ll be crawling around and not properly stand up unless you make too much noise to attract them.

Masked Cannibals

The masked cannibals are always found wearing some type of mask; usually, it is a golden mask. They’re also found wearing torn leather and have tribal markings in red and white, similar to the regular cannibals. Many of the other cannibals tend to respect and fear the masked cannibals.

Behavior

The masked cannibals tend to have more assertive and dominant behavior. They’re not as scared as some of the regular cannibals, and neither are they as sluggish as compared to the Cave Cannibals. In fact, they can be hostile towards the other cannibals if they spot something that they do not like.

In the game, players can come across a 3D printer. You can use it to print a mask. Equipping it can alter the way that the masked cannibals act toward you. 

Dirty Cannibal

The Dirty Cannibal is a relatively smaller yet more agile type of Cannibal. They walk around on all fours and can ambush you through various maneuvering tactics such as climbing on trees and rocks and remaining hidden in the bushes until an opportunity to strike arises. They are successors of Starving Cannibals.

Behavior

The Dirty Cannibals can interact with other types of cannibals as well, especially at their own camps. You can usually spot them being fed at the feeding troughs near the camps. They’re not as restricted in their movements as compared to the Cave Cannibals but aren’t moving around as freely or dominantly as compared to the Regular or the Masked Cannibals.

Lone Cannibal

These are a certain type of regular Cannibal that acts quite differently as compared to the ones that are moving in a group of two or three. The Lone Cannibal appears similar to the regular Cannibal and can be found praying at camp, mourning the dead, patrolling, or simply drinking water from any source, such as a lake or stream.

Behavior

The behavior of a Lone Cannibal is quite passive compared to those that might approach you in groups. In general, the more cannibals are together, the higher their confidence is in approaching you and even attacking you, which is why the Lone Cannibal will hardly ever be aggressive and will just perform different actions from a distance. And if the Cannibal is a female, it will act even more passively as compared to a male cannibal.

Brutes

Brutes don’t have much to them but are essentially like the powerhouses of the cannibals. They’re extremely large cannibals that appear rarely but can often be found in the larger cannibal camps.

Behavior

Brutes are capable of reacting to and interacting with nearby cannibals. Their interactions are quite simple-minded; they’ll pick up any wounded or dead Cannibal and throw them to the side. This is similar to how the Masked Cannibals interact with other cannibals; however, the masked ones tend to throw even the alive cannibals, whereas the Brutes tend to be more inclined towards acting as a disposer of the useless cannibals.

Titans

Titans are quite similar to the Brutes but are more aggressive. They’re usually found fully painted in red and let out war cries while attacking you. Their primary method for attacking is by body-slamming you, which can pretty much lift you off the ground and create an entire shock wave.

General Behaviors Of Cannibals

In “Sons of the Forest,” various tribes of cannibals exhibit different behaviors and characteristics:

1. Tribal Variations: Cannibal tribes are identifiable by the type of armor they wear. For example, bone armor-wearing tribes are aggressive, while leaf armor-wearing tribes are stealthier.
2. Unique Rituals: Each tribe may have its own rituals and specific behaviors.
3. Aggression: Cannibals are not mindless; they react to your actions. If you attack them, they’ll fight back. However, sparing them might lead to less aggression over time.
4. Player Influence: Your actions, such as attacking their camps or engaging in battles, can influence the cannibals’ overall aggression towards you.

Eating Cannibals

In “Sons of the Forest,” you have the gruesome option of eating the cannibals, and unlike the original game “The Forest,” there are no apparent consequences for doing so. To consume a cannibal, follow these steps:

1. Kill a cannibal.
2. Use your axe to cut off its legs.
3. The severed legs will appear in your inventory as “Raw Leg.”
4. You can eat the “Raw Leg” directly, or you can cook it over a fire before consuming it.

How To Turn Off Cannibals

If you just want to explore the island and build peace without constant attacks by cannibals, then there is an option for that in the game. The option will make it so that there are no more cannibals, or in fact, any other enemies, roaming around to disturb you.

While starting a custom game, you can choose the option to set Enemies to Off. However, the option is only available for a new game. So, if you’ve already started a game and are looking for a way to turn off enemies, then unfortunately, you don’t have that option.

Besides just dealing with Cannibals in the game, there’s much more for you to uncover. Dealing with trees regrowing or finding the Arm Door will be part of your adventures on the island. You can also learn to recruit Virginia or learn how to make a rope or a fishing trap. 

But in general, that is everything that there is to learn about the Cannibals in the Sons of the Forest! They’re a definite improvement from the original game, with new concepts and behaviors added to them, which are affected by the way you interact with them and the different seasons.

Up Next:

• Sons Of The Forest Tips & Tricks
• Sons Of The Forest All Endings
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