How to befriend Virginia in Sons of the Forest

How to befriend Virginia in Sons of the Forest
(Image credit: Newnight)

To befriend Virginia in Sons of the Forest and make yer like you as a companion requires you to actually do very little. It's more about what you don't do as standing still and putting away any weapons will slowly make her more comfortable around you. There are a few other things you can do, which I've outlined below, and over time she'll join your party, capable of using weapons to help fight enemies and bringing you supplies.

How to get Virginia in Sons of the Forest to join you

Sons of the Forest trailer screenshot of mutant companion Virginia firing a shotgun

(Image credit: Endnight Games)

As mentioned, Virginia will join you in Sons of the Forest simply after enough time has passed, assuming you don't hurt or scare her. The process goes like this:

  1. Early on in the game, you may notice Virginia nearby.
  2. As time goes on she'll slowly approach you occasionally. Put away any weapons and allow her to approach, without making any sudden moves.
  3. This will happen a few times and she'll run off into the forest after a short while each time. Don't worry, that's normal.
  4. This pattern will repeat for a while, with her emerging and disappearing again. Never do anything aggressive in these moments.
  5. Eventually, Virginia will warm up to you and learn to trust you. She'll start bringing you food initially and eventually simply start following you. At this point, she is a companion you can have limited interactions with.

Once she starts to hang around you can do a few things that will sped up the process of making her like you, such as standing near her without a weapon drawn and watching her dance. If she's standing by an unlit fire you can light it to increase her affinity as well. She'll also grow to like you more if she eats any food from something you've built, like a drying rack. So make of few of those to draw her in. 

For more details on what Virginia's capable of doing, we've got her details listed here in the Sons of the Forest companions guide, where you can find out the limits of her abilities, as well as how to give her weapons and clothing. 

Does Virginia respawn?

Sons of the Forest virginia

(Image credit: Newnight)

If Virginia is killed she won't respawn. As per the Sons of the Forest respawn system, she's not coming back unless you start modding the game or changing saves. You'll have a chance to revive her if she takes too much damage and goes into a , but that's before she dies and while she goes into a downed state - if you don't get to her in time, or she takes further damage while downed, she'll die and there's no in-game way to respawn her within that save file.

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Joel Franey
Guides Writer

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.

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