So I watched a video of some guy crushing a bird eating spider, watched it fifteen times and the spider wasn’t that horrible to look at and the killing was very comic-like. Therefore I ventured forth. Well, I had to die three times before I could build the shelter that lets you save. It’s very unforgiving indeed. And I had no clue how to get clean water until I looked it up. Now I have no clue where to find the stuff to make the clean water. Not sure if I really like all those survival riddles but the jungle looks and sounds gorgeous.
edit.: I have to correct myself: I just found out that you can carry more than one item at the same time; that makes everything a whole lot easier. And… it was a bad idea to wander off right from the start. There is drinking water at the starting location.
You can build a shelter pretty quickly once you craft an axe. I didn’t realize at first that you can right click on large stones to “harvest” them and get small stones. If you collect 10 rope and get enough stones (and gayer starting point bananas), then follow the path/river for 5 min and you’ll find an abandoned camp/village that is a good place for a first shelter. Just be careful not to step on snakes! You can easily get there and build a shelter and banana leaf bed before too late on day 1.
Starting playing this on a whim. It’s unforgiving, but I like it. Took me about 6 tries until I could survive long enough to build a shelter and save my game. Snake bite, jaguar attack, insanity, thirst, poison arrow frog, and exhaustion. Now I’m doing ok and making progress.
This game is really fun. It’s exactly what I was looking for. It’s tough. Provides almost no hand holding. Forces you to proceed cautiously and privilege survival. Exploration is not easy–there’s no blinking cursor showing your location on a map or anything–you mostly navigate by memory and topology (though you do have a rough map and GPS watch.) I’m really enjoying it despite dying many times. Some minor tips to smooth out your first couple of days (spoilered so you can feel the frustration if you want.)
You can break big rocks into small rocks by “harvesting” them. (You can harvest just about anything to break it into smaller components.)
Coconuts are your best friend. You can break open the outer skin with an axe or knife, drink the water inside, harvest them to break them in half, eat the flesh from both halves, then leave the shells out on the ground to collect clean rainwater for drinking.
Your first priority needs to be bandages.
Sleeping on the ground without a bed gives you worms and parasites. It’s easy to make a bed anywhere.
I flung a bunch of maggots on myself this morning, while trying to dispose of a dead bird with a poop scoop for dog shit. It was a lovely natural interaction.
