Clans of the Forest Gameplay and Core Loop

Clans of the Forest gameplay runs on a repeatable loop: take quests for Clan favour, travel the Lake Territories, forage materials and hunt prey, craft den items, then fight turn-based 3v3 battles where Stances and 75 unlockable moves decide the outcome. Characters, quests and stories are procedurally generated, so no two runs match.

• Turn-based 3v3 combat with 75 unique moves - no spells, depth comes from Stances
• Quests earn Clan favour and your choices steer both the story and the moves you learn
• Foraging, hunting and den crafting sit between the fights, not beside them
• Progression is Clan + level + training, starting from the bottom of the warrior ranks
• No fixed walkthrough exists, because quests and stories are generated per playthrough

What is the core loop of Clans of the Forest?

The published description is a loop, not a single feature: quests, exploration, gathering, crafting, combat, and then a return to quests with a stronger cat. The store copy sets it out in one paragraph - "embark on a variety of quests to gain favor with your Clan and battle others in turn-based combat to strengthen your cat and grow your legend".

The scale behind that loop is small enough to hold in your head: four Clan campaigns, six named locations, nine book cats appearing, and 75 combat moves to discover. The game overview collects all four campaigns and what each Clan's territory looks like on the map.

Where do quests come from, and what do choices change?

Quests come from Clan business rather than from a job board. The publisher's feature list promises "dynamic quests" alongside a branching storyline, and states that every choice influences your personal journey through a world guided by prophecies and spiritual omens. The store page's own summary is that no two playthroughs are the same, because characters, quests and stories are procedurally generated.

Two consequences matter for how you play. First, a quest log in someone else's run will not match yours, which is also why the Clans of the Forest walkthrough is route-based rather than a fixed quest list. Second, choices carry into combat: in the developer interview with IGN, Bamtang Games stated that your Clan, level and training shape your base stats, while "the choices you make along your journey determine the moves you learn".

What do you do between the battles?

The non-combat half of the loop is foraging, hunting, crafting and traversal, and the store listing names each one: "forage the land and find materials that can be used to craft items in your den", plus tracking and hunting birds, rabbits, squirrels and other prey. Traversal is part of it too - climbing trees, pouncing through undergrowth, tracking scents and solving environmental puzzles are listed as things you do while exploring.

Crafting is the part with the clearest stated purpose. The publisher describes personalising your den with unlockable decorations and crafting items such as bedding and a scratching post, and online den visits exist so you can show that den to friends. Crafting also has a social use: you can help friends by crafting items for them or gifting resources and materials.

The honest limitation is documentation. Bedding and a scratching post are the only two den items anyone has named. There is no published recipe list, no material table and no drop rates, so nothing on this page can tell you what to forage or what it costs to build something.

Official source: Customize your Den and Combat Style - the publisher's feature list names bedding and a scratching post and confirms den visits are asynchronous.

How does combat feed back into the loop?

Combat is the loop's payoff and its main source of growth. Fights are turn-based and run up to three cats against three enemies, and the move pool is 75 unique moves to discover and unlock. There are no spells; instead every move you make alters your combat Stance mid-fight, which the creative director described as turning battles into "a tactical game of reading your opponent and predicting their next move before they strike".

What combat adds to the loop beyond damage: specialised Clan moves, enemy weaknesses to exploit, ancestor attacks granted by StarClan, and bosses. Which enemies you meet is partly a location question. The store list names badgers, mice, squirrels, vicious foxes, imposing Dobermanns, rival Clan cats and "many more", with snakes and dogs recorded separately as predators you fight off. Birds, rabbits and squirrels are prey rather than enemies, which is why squirrels appear on both sides of the ledger.

The stance system is the reason the loop does not flatten into repetition: the move you spend changes what the next move wants to be, so a fight is a chain of consequences rather than a damage race. The combat and stances page goes through the 75 moves and the enemy list in full.

How does a run progress, and how long is it?

Progression is stated as three inputs - Clan, level and training - with no numbers attached to any of them. Rank matters thematically: the publisher says you rise through the ranks while your actions shape relationships, rivalries and reputation, contributing to your Clan's growth, and the developers anchored the player's path in the warrior ranks specifically so choices feed into Clan politics and leadership. You cannot play a Medicine Cat; they appear in the story as allies.

Length is not published. There is no stated playtime, no chapter count and no difficulty curve for any mode, and by the look of the loop that is deliberate - procedurally generated quests make a single completion time a moving target. What the material does support is replay value: four separate campaigns, one per Clan, each with its own prophecies, rivalries, characters and challenges, and a cat creator whose output carries into every run.

The developers framed that replay loop directly, describing multiple runs as "building your own personal legacy across the forest, populating the world with your own web of stories, rivalries, and characters across multiple playthroughs". Our beginner's guide covers the opening sequence and the game modes page covers what each mode asks of you.

How do the three modes change the loop?

Prophecy Mode is the mode the loop above describes. Defender Mode strips the loop down to its combat end: the store page describes testing how long you can last against the game's fiercest enemies in a single run, and Wikipedia labels it a boss rush. Skirmish Mode takes the same cats online asynchronously - you battle another player's setup, visit their camp and gift materials, with no requirement that both of you are online at once. Our multiplayer and cross-save page covers what that online layer does and does not include.

What is still undocumented?

Most of the numbers, and it is worth being blunt about which ones. No recipe list, no material yields, no damage values, no per-Clan stat table, no boss names, no difficulty scaling, no playtime, and no quest examples beyond what the trailers show. The trailers themselves are the closest thing to confirmed footage: the gameplay trailer published by the official Warrior Cats site shows the camp, the combat system and the first quest of the ThunderClan storyline.

FAQ

Is Clans of the Forest turn-based or action combat?

Turn-based. Fights are turn-based and run up to three cats against three enemies, with 75 unique moves and no spells. The trailer footage and every store listing agree on that, and the developers explained the choice: the combat in the books is about stealth, positioning and teamwork, so a turn-based RPG forced strategic thinking instead of button mashing.

Do I have to hunt and craft, or can I just play the story?

You can lean into the story, but the systems are wired together rather than separate menus. Foraging and hunting supply the materials that den crafting consumes, gifting materials is part of the online den-visit feature, and combat moves come from story choices rather than a shop. Skip the gathering and you are skipping the layer your den and your social features are built on.

How long does the game take to finish?

Nobody knows, and no official source has said. There is no published playtime, no chapter count and no mode-by-mode estimate; the quests and stories are procedurally generated, so a single completion time would not hold for the next player anyway. What is confirmed is the shape: four Clan campaigns, each a separate story with its own prophecy, rivalries and challenges.

Why is there no walkthrough for this game?

Because there is no fixed route to walk. The store page states that characters, quests and stories are procedurally generated and that no two playthroughs are the same, so a quest-by-quest guide would describe one run and be wrong for the next. The FAQ page collects the questions that do have published answers, and the news timeline tracks what changes after launch.

Is there real co-op in the story campaign?

No. Clans of the Forest is single-player first, and the online layer is asynchronous: Skirmish battles and den visits resolve without both players being present. There is no shared world and no real-time co-op, and cross-save and cross-play between platforms have not been announced.

Related Guides

• Clans of the Forest Overview - the developer, publisher, setting and headline features in one page.
• Clans of the Forest Game Modes - how Prophecy, Defender and Skirmish differ, and which one to start with.
• Clans of the Forest Combat: 75 Moves and Stances - the fight mechanics this loop keeps returning to.
• Clans of the Forest Beginner's Guide - the opening choices, in the order you make them.
• Four Clans and Territories - the four campaigns and the six named locations you loop through.