Forest – Walkthrough

There are two types of choices in Forest. The first kind we call "date choices" because they consist of a number of leaves with dates and scene names on top of them. Clicking on one of these leaves causes you to read the corresponding scene. If there was only one leaf, then afterward you are given a brand new date choice (unless you reached an ending of some kind). If there was more than one leaf, and you didn't choose the bottom one, then you are returned to the same date choice but without all the leaves above and including the one you previously clicked on. Thus, always click on the top leaf, and you will read all of the scripts. It's that simple. Choosing to skip certain scripts for whatever reason has no effect on anything (the important ones are always unskippable because they're put at the bottom).

The second kind of choice is perfectly ordinary and just like you'd expect in any other visual novel. For the most part, only the major scripts (which have a roman numeral in front of their names) have any choices, so I'll simply cover each of those files in turn and ignore the little ones in between. Warning: VII. Treasure contains a bad end triggered by major scripts III and/or V, so you may want to read that part in advance to avoid getting a nasty surprise later.

I. Prologue:

Completely linear; no choices, no bad ends, no branches.

II. An Invitation Carried on the Wind:

Completely linear; no choices, no bad ends, no branches.

III. Shinjuku Drifters:

Three choices, each with two options. For each choice, one option leads to an immediate bad end, and the other does not. The options that do not lead to bad ends are: "Outside", "Yes" and "Yes". I recommend reading the bad ends too, since they're quite short and extremely puzzling.

IV. Midsummer Night Pirates:

One choice, with two options. Neither option causes a bad end here (which might surprise you), so read both. However, "Bring her back" will cause a bad end in VII. Treasure, so you should choose "Let her rest" now to save yourself some ctrling.

V. The Game:

Now there's finally a point in having a real walkthrough. Save before starting this script, because I highly recommend reading through the whole thing multiple times to see all the interesting stuff (simply getting through the script is easy, but there are some very interesting scenes you'd probably never stumble across on your own). Make sure you use the double arrow at the bottom of the textbox for skipping previously read text, since the setting for stopping at unread text doesn't seem to affect the control key. Because this script is so insanely complex, there is some more information about it after the rest of the walkthrough. Here are my recommended playthroughs for V. The Game:

(if you ever get the "Akeru will bet on──" choice, just pick either one, it never matters)

Playthrough 1:

Nagatsuki

We've only just started, play it safe

Don't rush, take a break

Begrudgingly give up <-- Before you make this choice, save, click "Try something else" to see some other options. At the moment they all cause a bad end, so choose any of them, read that bad end, then reload.

Rolls it confidently

I'll use my gift

Playthrough 2:

Mayuzumi

Put all your heart and soul into them!

Press onward!

Make a last stand

She wanted to go to heaven

Throws it at the Rider <-- Save before making this choice so you can retry it several times. Immediately after you make the choice, there's a three-way random branch. Retry until you get the branch where the Black Rider evades (that one has 1/5 probability, the other two each have 2/5 probability), read the bad end that follows, then reload and move on.

I'll run onward

Playthrough 3:

Nagatsuki

We've only just started, play it safe.

Don't rush, take a break

Make a last stand

Amamori

Throws it at the Rider

I want to go!

after this, do whatever you want

VI. Dawn Treader Chronicles:

Has almost as many choices and branches as V. The Game, but they're nowhere near as messy and confusing. On the other hand, getting to the end of the script is no longer trivial. In order to reach the end, you have to:

1) not choose "finished" on the first "Touch the words──" choice

2) choose "Remember" on the second "Touch the words──" choice (should be obvious since "Sleep" causes an immediate bad end)

3) choose "Kinosaki Akeru" on the fourth "Touch the words──" choice

4) choose "Torunga" on the sixth "Touch the words──" choice

5) choose "Right here, right now" if you get a "Touch the words──" choice with that option (should be obvious since "In the real Shinjuku" causes an immediate bad end)

Getting 1, 3 or 4 wrong causes a bad end much later in the script than the places where you make these choices, so those are the conditions you want to actively remember. Also, most of the two-option choices I didn't mention cause very different things to happen at the end, and which ending you get changes a lot of text in VII. Treasure.

All the scenes I consider must-sees are effectively forced on you by the conditions given above. Evidently the author also considered them must-sees. So, I have no detailed recommendations about which other branches to explore; just click on anything you're curious about.

VII. Treasure:

No choices, but one bad end. If you either 1) chose "Mayuzumi" at the beginning of V. The Game, or 2) chose "Bring her back" at the end of IV. Midsummer Night Pirates, then you will get the bad end. Also, large chunks of this file vary depending on which kind of ending you got in VI. Dawn Treader Chronicles.

VIII. Alice in Endingland:

Completely linear; no choices, no bad ends, no branches.

IX. Epilogue:

Completely linear; no choices, no bad ends, no branches.