Sons Of The Forest: How To Find Rope And The Rope Gun

Nearly every good survival horror game features an arsenal of weapons and tools to unlock throughout the journey, and "Sons of the Forest" is no exception. Released on February 23, 2023, despite suffering a delay, this sequel to the acclaimed indie hit "The Forest" is packed with even more survival and horror that has players using every tool they have to get by. This includes the standard array of axes, guns, bombs, and — of course — a grappling hook.

Or, well, a rope gun, as it's called in "Sons of the Forest." Going by various different names — ropecaster, rope arrow, zipcaster, etc. — this one piece of weaponry appears in most action-heavy games as a combat, utility, and/or mobility mechanic. In "Sons of the Forest," it's needed to access more advanced portions of the map — including the section that unlocks the shovel, which then, in turn, unlocks the shotgun, making the rope gun a central step in an essential upgrade plan. 

Unfortunately, it's not exactly a walk in the park to pick up the rope gun — "Sons of the Forest" amps up the horror and action part of its predecessor by quite a bit, introducing all-new survival mechanics as well as more challenging combat encounters to overcome. Here's a rundown on how to find the rope gun, as well as the rope needed to operate it.

The journey to the rope gun is one that gamers will want to put off until they've gotten the hang of survival on the peninsula, as it involves a long trek and a series of enemy encounters to budget their ammo through. At the very least, players will want to be packing a flashlight, as well as a few tarps in case they need to brute-force save-scum the trip.

The rope gun is located deep inside a cave on the western half of the map – the cave entrance can be found near where the helicopter crashed and is a boarded-up crack far in the back of a crevice in the cliffside. The initial trek inside is a bit dark, but fairly straightforward — the hard part only begins once you find the mutant blocking a narrow passageway next to a few dead bodies. Pick up the time bombs near it on the floor, use one on the mutant to clear the way, then continue forward, following the trail of dead workers as best as you can.

Notably, the stretch between the strange geometric wall painting and the narrow tunnel with more hanging bodies is filled with enemy encounters that need to be stealthed to run past — if you're careful, lucky, or fast enough, you'll find yourself at the end of the cave where you can pick up the rope gun from a military crate. You can spot some rope along the way, beneath one of the hanging bodies as well.

Unfortunately, you'll need to find more rope if you want to use the rope gun to traverse locations that don't already have a zipline rope installed. In addition to the bundle of rope in the cave on the way to the gun, you'll have to find more in other places for a good stock of them.

The bad news is that you can't use regular rope that's used in other crafting recipes — zipliner rope is an entirely different type of item that you can tell apart from the regular variety by its long bundled shape (as opposed to the regular circular heap). The good news is that both kinds of rope can be found in the same places, so you won't have to travel to difficult or advanced areas for the special rope.

Ropes can most often be found around the crash debris on beaches or around the entrances of caves. You can also loot them from crates in enemy camps or find them hanging along the edges of cliffs. Unfortunately, you can't craft either kind of rope for yourself as of yet — however, it's very likely that the ability to craft rope may be added in later versions the same way it was added to "The Forest" in post-release updates.