Darkwood - Beginner Tips for the Curiously Daring

A short little guide that includes a few little tips for starting out.

Introduction of sorts..

1.1 Hotfix 4 ***Before I begin on this little mini-guide, I am in no way telling you how to play the game. Just a few tips here and there to make life a little easier in Darkwood (that I could of used starting out and didn't know). I try to be spoiler free. This game is amazing, so have fun and enjoy it! It's okay if you get scared, and become afraid of the Dark..

*Update - July 2020* - I added to this guide a bit. Hope it helps.

What Time is it??

Telling time is an important thing in Darkwood. I figured out on my own that if you get the Watch it will keep the time in the corner (military time). For some reason this was really important to me. It's nice to know that if you are losing daylight, you can time your scavenging/exploring and make it to your hideout before darkness sets. If you don't have a watch, you pretty much have to guestimate how much time you have in the daylight. If the light starts to turn yellowish and then orange it means you should book it to your hideout as soon as possible. Hopefully you made preparations ahead of time, because there won't be much time to do so before bad things start to happen.

Funny thing, I kept trading with the Trader or the Wolfman (can't remember which), got the watch and kept losing it on my corpse. When you die it will be marked on the MAP with any items that you lost. Go get your stuff back! Look for a Backpack where you died.

I finally traded the watch for a Toolbox to upgrade my Workbench (which is really important, more on that later..)

I will trade for another one later...

First things First!

Get some Boards and some Nails and craft yourself a Nailboard weapon (unless you are lucky enough to find a better weapon, like a shovel or an axe). It will be a while before you can craft any decent weapons until you get your Workshop upgraded a handful of times. If you kill Savages make sure to loot their Sticks, because they seem to do a bit more damage than the Nailboards. But once they break, they are gone.

*Update* - The staffs (formally known as sticks) that the savages carry can be used to make other weapons like the shovel etc.

*Update* - The Nailboard is going to be your goto weapon for a good while. Don't be afraid to upgrade it to do more damage. As far as Guns are concerned, if you get lucky to find one early save it for 'Oh crap!' situations.

I'm holding out to craft me a Shovel, cause right now I'm on Day 10 and I am in it deep...


A Torch makes a handy melee weapon in a pinch, but don't rely on it.

*Update* - Dude, don't use a frigging Torch to fight. Bruh. Find or craft a lantern because you can have this on your hotbar and use a weapon at the same time with light.


A Bandage is your best friend! Bring three! Bring a whole bunch! Wait, nevermind.. you can only stack '3' per inventory slot.

*Update* - I carry bandages but it isn't good to try to use them while fighting. Good to use them after a fight though. Use the Painkiller pills during a fight if you need to if you need to heal.

Keep your weapons in tip-top shape by repairing them. It sucks when you are fighting something and it breaks on ya.

*Update* - I love the shovel, but it is so dang slow and seems to take a lot of stamina to use. Now that you can upgrade weapons, I made it do more damage and decreased the stamina to use it.

Journal for the Weary

Press 'J' for your Journal. It has all kinds of cool stuff for you in there. It keeps track of your Skills, Story Progress with any ongoing Quests, Special Items you pick up (that don't go in your inventory), and any Keys that you might find.



Also important to note, the 'HELP' option in the main menu has helpful stuff if you forgot something from the Prologue. It will have your basic moves and how to 'clicky' on stuff the right way. I haven't used a Gamepad yet, I might try it one of these days just to see how it is or if it plays any better than the Keyboard/Mouse combo.

Explore!

Always be on the lookout for Loot. Explore everywhere! There are corpses and crates out there just waiting for you to loot. Later though, beware of some corpses that will explode, hurting you in the process. I always carry a Lockpick or two for random chests and crates (2 Wires crafted = 1 lockpick).
*Update* - You start finding the exploding corpses in the 2nd area. They don't even drop loot so don't mess with them. Especially if you took the negative trait that deals more damage when you get poisoned.



Beware running blindly along in the woods!

There are Poisonous Mushrooms everywhere that will sap your health and give you 'tunnel-vision' if stepped on. They are white-ish circle clusters on your screen. These blend into the background of the forest ground and they are really easy to miss if you aren't paying attention. They are not harvestable like the ones that makes 'squish squish' sounds and move. The ones that you cook can be accidently stepped on and ruined. You can still use Ruined Mushrooms to craft Poison Bottles for Molotov Cocktails (I guess maybe you can throw the poison bottles, haven't tried that yet..probably just poison myself..)

*Update* - I actually used the poison gas cloud bottles for the first time. After you throw one and make a cloud, stand back and toss a match into it and watch it gleam.. Good to use if you can't craft molotovs yet.

Bear Traps are another hazard to avoid while walking/running around. You can walk up to them and click them for Scrap Metal and later craft your own traps. I haven't found much use out of traps yet, but I don't think I'm placing them right. Today I found myself fighting in my 2nd hideout and accidently killed myself in my own bear trap. Sometimes you can find bear traps as loot.

*Update* - I've been using these a lot more. It's nice when a savage or beastie gets trapped in one because you can get some good free swings in. I usually put these in front of doors and windows in my hideouts at night. Just don't get caught in your own traps.

If you know the area, running a bit here and there will save precious time, I find myself doing it more and more. But I always leave some Stamina (at least 1/2 bar) in case I run into a hostile creature. Choose wisely between fight or flight! Don't even try to try to kill an Elk with that silly Nailboard.

*Update* - Elks are tough! Not worth the risk for the reward in my opinion.

Hot from the Oven!

What's hot and cooking you ask? Besides her? Well, you can click on an Oven to save. If you light an Oven in a different hideout, you will spawn there instead of your last hideout (like when you DIE... and DIE... and DIE..) If you go back to your old hideout and decide to use it, you will have to relight the old Oven to spawn there.

Cooking Mushrooms and other things will give you 'essence', needed to 'level' up and gain skills. Different ovens have different efficiencies. Basically that means if you cook in a higher efficiency oven (like in the 2nd hideout), it will extract more essence than a lower efficiency one. They will have a different number, go for the highest one. Just beware that if food has a rotting status (like the Mushrooms you trade for or for Big Dog Meat), you need to cook them soon or you will waste the food and it will become almost useless. The more RED you see on the icon means it is rotting. When it turns all the way RED (like a broken weapon), then it is rotted. You can still use Ruined Mushrooms in crafting though. Cook some Rats for some good essence!

Can't cook a potato, oh the agony! I like potatoes.

Crafting/Trading/Upgrading..

Don't craft stuff you don't need! And try not to Trade for stuff you can't craft yet. I find myself doing this all the time and then I regret it. All it will do is take up inventory slots and frustrate you to no end. DO upgrade your Workbench whenever you can! It will take a handful of upgrades to your Workbench to craft some decent weapons. Molotovs are key. So is an Axe, but some prefer the Shovel. Either one is better than the Nailboard or a Stick. Guns..

When you upgrade your workshop, it will show you what you can craft the 'Next' crafting upgrade. Oh Darkwood! You tease!

I crafted a lantern today, has to be better than a torch??

I had a shortage of nails and boards at the beginning of my game, on 'Day 6' the trader had lots of materials so I traded all my reputation for them. Trade for what you need at the time. Trade useless junk. Special items that have value are always good to trade. (Ammo and Weapons to the Wolfman; Eggs, Shiny Stones, and Pills to the Trader, unless you save your pills - they do different things).

*Update* - Don't trade anything you can cook in the oven to get essence, unless it is about to go bad. Everything has a use, you just have to decide if you need it at the moment or not. There are a few things you should save for the future. If you get something that is usually worth 450 reputation when you buy it from the trader, that probably is a keeper. The Toolkit is kind of an important thing to trade for though from the Wolf, and you have to do it a few times to upgrade your workbench. This might be a factor in trading that one big item for reputation to get it.

It's good to plan ahead though, just don't plan too far down the road...

Last thoughts ~

Time Paused? Perfect time to Craft/Trade/Upgrade/Fortify! When you leave the area, time will resume.

If you fix the Wells at the hideouts, you can drink from them once a day to refill your health.

One of the pills will give you a bit of a boost to your Stamina. The other one heals you and is good to keep around in emergencies.

When lost, check your MAP ('M'). Get your bearings, don't panic.

Lost inventory will show up on your MAP. Go get your stuff n' thangs..

Some of the pictures and different items have Numbers, 'codes' for chests and doors and such.

Time stands still in the Village with the Chicken Lady. Loot everything that isn't nailed down!

Upgrade your craft bench when you can and as often as you can! Try to get some molotov cocktails going and craft a shovel. I took out the meanest beastie with a molotov and a few shovel swings.. yes those!

Don't get killed at the Wedding with anything you aren't willing to lose. I made this mistake and couldn't get my stuff back because the area went back on lockdown.

If there is a knock at the door, answer it. It might be the Pizza delivery guy.

It's rumored that if you kill the Wolf man you can steal his assault rifle. Not sure if my son was just messing with me or not. But I believe him yo.

The Wolf's chests in his 2nd camp are locked and requires some cheating to get them open. There's some good loot in there though Manard!

Got the time? NO? Get a watch!

*I hope this guide helps the few that are having trouble with the game, or are new and wondering what is going on. Because I still don't know half of the time.


When it gets dark, stay safe.

[Keidence]

Good Guide.

I just wanted to add something to the Elk / Bear Trap section. Elks are indeed very dangerous early in the game, and they take a long time to kill safely with a Nailboard. However, the Bear Traps function like a 10 second stun to all enemies.

Therefore you can kill Elks very safely early on by placed a bear trap between you and baiting a charge into the trap. From you can just beat on the Elk while perfectly safe and you will kill it before it recovers.

The Antler it drops sells for far more than the cost of the Trap so this is actually a very safe, and lucrative way to get money in the first forest zone.

[mun-nekku]

Excellent guide thank uuu

[Vampster]

Gonna play this game around Halloween!

[Vampster]

It's about that time to play this game again!

[Personman]

Thank you for the useful guide .

[Vampster]

It def is a hidden gem! This was my first guide and I was mostly just messing around with the guide creation. I'm glad I updated it after I played the game a bit more. I need to do more guides for the games I enjoy. They are fun to do but take a lot of planning and time. I'm currently playing Graveyard Keeper and I might do one for that. That game is another hidden gem. I'm glad somebody found this guide a bit useful. Have fun! -Vamp

[Token Poptart]

can confirm this game is a hidden gem, thanks for all you wrote.

[Vampster]

A wedding ring. Was he wearing it? I wonder if he had kids. You monster.

[ÏDF ツ]

Well I can confirm that your son was right.
I managed to kill him, and I got his Assault rifle and also a Wedding ring which I'm not sure yet what I can do with it.
I just wonder how it affects the story lol, as I'm pretty sure the Wolf had some missions for me

[Vampster]

Ya, I'm sure he was pretty much messing with me about that. I literally just asked him and he doesn't remember. The last he launched that was 2018. Sorry for any inconveniences this may have caused..