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What Is the Controller Hotkey in Sons of the Forest?

Sons of the Forest has keyboard 0–9 hotkeys, but controller players should use the backpack quick-select mechanic. Check your in-game prompt for the exact button.
WorldSons of the Forest? Length1 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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There is no confirmed controller equivalent to Sons of the Forest’s keyboard 0–9 hotkeys. On a controller, use the backpack quick-select instead: the Sons of the Forest Wiki describes tapping the inventory input to open inventory and holding it to open quick select. The exact controller button can depend on your bindings, so follow the prompt shown in your game.

How the keyboard hotkeys differ

Endnight Games’ February 28, 2023 Hotfix 2 announcement describes a “hotkey system for keyboard/mouse.” It says to assign hotkeys by pressing number keys 0 through 9 while hovering over items in the inventory. That announcement establishes the numbered system for keyboard and mouse; it does not give a controller-button mapping.

How to access quick select with a controller

  1. Check your current inventory input. Use the controller prompt or the binding shown in your game; do not assume a button if you have remapped controls.
  2. Tap the inventory input to open the inventory.
  3. Hold the inventory input to open quick select, then choose the item using the controls indicated on screen.

The Sons of the Forest Wiki controls page describes the tap-to-open and hold-to-select behavior. Treat that as secondary documentation and use the live in-game prompt if it differs.

Should you try D-pad down?

One player reports that holding down on the D-pad reveals quick items on the backpack, making it the closest controller equivalent to keyboard hotkeys. That is a useful first thing to try, not a universal or officially confirmed mapping. A community discussion contains that player report.

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A third-party controller controls reference lists inventory and grab-bag category actions, but it does not establish a 0–9-style controller hotkey system, and its revision is unclear. If D-pad down does not work, check the current in-game controls and bindings rather than importing a shortcut from another game.

Do not assume The Forest uses the same shortcut

The original The Forest is described as having a separate modifier-plus-D-pad quick-select behavior. That does not establish the same mapping in Sons of the Forest; follow the latter game’s own prompt instead. See the original The Forest controls reference.

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