How to Change the Difficulty on Your The Forest Server

Are you looking to enhance your gameplay experience on your The Forest server? Whether you're in search of a greater challenge or a more relaxed experience, adjusting the difficulty level is a great way to switch things up. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to change the difficulty on your The Forest game server and explain the different difficulty settings available.

Note: We recommend to always fully stop your game server anytime you are making edits or configuration changes. 

There are three main difficulties that are available for your The Forest Server:

• Peaceful: Peaceful game mode removes all enemy encounters, including cannibals and mutants, providing a stress-free gameplay experience. This difficulty level is perfect for players who want to focus on building and exploring without constant threats. However, while enemies are absent, there are still some aggressive wildlife and graphic elements that remain in the game.

• Normal: Normal difficulty is the default game mode in The Forest and offers a balanced survival experience. This mode is recommended for most players, combining standard enemy behavior, resource availability, and challenges. It provides a well-rounded gameplay experience with enough threats from cannibals and mutants to keep things exciting, while still allowing room for exploration and base building.

• Hard: Hard difficulty ramps up the intensity, offering a more challenging survival experience. Players will face an increased number of cannibals and mutants that deal higher damage, along with reduced animal and fish spawn rates, slower health regeneration, and other tough conditions. This mode is designed for players seeking a greater challenge and testing their survival skills to the limit!

Changing your Server’s Difficulty:

You can change your server’s difficultly in two locations. The first location would be in the Game Settings and /server.cfg in the Server Files.

1. Game Settings - Select Gamemode tab then select your desired difficulty and click Submit to save your changes.
   

2. /server.cfg in Server Files - Select Edit, then change your difficulty of your The Forest Server and hit Save.

Now that you know how to fine-tune the difficulty settings in The Forest, it’s time to decide your next adventure. Whether you're a beginner just learning the ropes in Peaceful mode, mastering survival in Normal, or pushing your limits in Hard, the island is filled with challenges both above ground and deep in its dark caves. Grab your axe, start surviving, and dive into the unknown… just remember, the cannibals are always watching!

For a break down on our other settings and configuration options for your server check out our guide on Configuring your The Forest Server!