Getting started in The Survivalists

Deserted on an island, with nothing to your name, having to learn how to forage what you can from whatever is around. Having to find basic supplies so that you can keep warm at night. Eating fruit, not knowing if they're even safe to eat. This is your life now, the life of a Survivalist, and here's how to get started!

All islands are procedurally generated, meaning all islands are random when you being your game, so using pictures as a guide for directions sadly will not work! However, you always start on a beach, and next to a wooden raft!

The first thing to do is interact with the raft and check its inventory, and luckily it's full of starting items that are essential to begin your new life! Items such as Pebbles, Rope, Berries, and Palm Leafs.

Next to the raft are a few bottled messages; these contain hints and tips on how to survive on the island.

How to craft tools

To survive, tools are essential; without tools to build things, life will be tough. But to craft things, materials must be acquired! Normally you begin to craft the Hand Axe, but we've already covered that in our how to get grass guide!

Once you've acquired all the grass you need. Open up the crafting menu by pressing C if playing on PC, and you'll see more tools have been unlocked to craft. Make yourself a Flimsy Multitool by using up 1 Rope and 2 pieces of Timber.

How to build a Bed

A bed allows us to sleep and saved our game, so check out our how to save guide for more information on how to create a bed and how to use it.

How to build a campfire

Now we've got a bed to sleep on. Next, we need some food in our bellies, as your Life Meter will slowly be declining, since you've been focusing on other aspects of survival first. Check out our Cooking Campfire guide for more information on how to craft a campfire as well as basic recipes to get you started!

How to build a room with walls

By now, you should have a bed, a Campfire, and something to eat! The next step is to get some added security to your little patch of heaven. It's time to add some walls.

Enter Build Mode, and place some Straw Walls surrounding your equipment, but also give yourself some space to move around, as more items will be built in the future. Or perhaps you can expand your home, with more rooms! Remember to leave a square so that you can leave your humble abode.

For the Straw Walls, you're going to need Straw Bundles, which we mentioned in our how to save guide. Go collect some Long Grass, and turn them into a Straw Bundle; for one Straw Bundle, 3 Long Grass is needed. Each Straw Wall needs 2 Straw Bundles, so if you have a 5 x 5 room, that's a lot of Straw Bundles required.

Luckily, while on a deserted island, you've got nothing better to do! Remember, while acquiring Straw Bundles, you should keep an eye on your Health Meter; if it starts to get dangerously low, cook something to regain your health, and sleep often to save the game!

How to build a chest

Now, you should have some walls surrounding where you sleep, which would have taken some time, and no doubt, your inventory is hitting the limit. Meaning you'll soon not be able to pick up anything. The next step is to create a Small Chest. This allows you to store items inside, 16 items, to be exact!

To build a Small Chest, go onto Build Mode, select the Small chest, and place it somewhere inside your home area, preferably in a corner. The materials required are 2 Rope and 2 pieces of Timber, then craft it using your Multitool.

Chests are a great place to store your handy items like Grass and Straw when it's not currently needed! Anything that you use to build with around your house put inside the chest, but it's advisable to keep tools on you!