DARKWOOD - Useful Tips and Hidden Mechanics

This guide does not contain any big SPOILERS and it just tells you some tips and ''hidden mechanics'' without searching throught loads of Wikipedia pages. Many of the useful stuff can be located here in a single place.

Keep in mind that this might change every now and then either by adding something or by rewriting certain parts.

DISCLAIMER - Comments might contain SPOILERS


- This is an upgraded version of my guide on the Markiplier's video with over 2.7K likes on my comment found here I ALSO LOVE SPACE... | Darkwood - Part 4

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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Last Update - 15.1.2024 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Few more images were added to some Sections.

Extra tips:

Section 3 - Don't Make Noise!
Section 8 - Traps
Section 18 - Gasoline
Section 20 - Weapon test
Section 21 - Hotbar

Hid / removed some spoilers:

Section 6 - Knock Knock! = Hid a big spoiler for a Night Event.
Section 13 - Crows = Hid a minor spoiler for a new enemy.
Section 14 - Listen! = Removed big spoiler of a location name.
Section 27 - The Well = Hid minor spoiler for it's use.

Slightly rewritten:

Section 2 - Corpses = Added a detail about them + image.
Section 7 - Quest Items = Now named 'Items Don't Despawn' = rewritten since it applied to all items not just the quest items.
Section 11 - Odd Meat = Simply changed the name to 'Rabbit'.
Section 15 - Single Shots = Only slightly changed and added a note.
Section 16 - Controls = Now named 'Forgattable Controls' and added a bit more + image.
Section 17 - Random Landmark Traps = Changed the tip a bit. Instead of remembering, mark them.
Section 23 - Holes = Added a note in brackets to each one.

Completely removed and rewritten to something new:

Section 10 - Armor / Defense = Now named 'Skip Animations' = completely rewritten since it was obvious.
Section 12 - Elk Killer = Now named 'Time Freeze' = completely rewritten since it discouraged the player from a challenge and earning some reputation.
Section 29 - More reputation = Entirely removed due to kind of ruining the surprise of something after surviving the first Night. Also it was kind of unfair.


(All of this took me like 4 hours....)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= What's planned next =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

1. More sections (I instead rewrote some useless ones but I'll try adding a few, if I can even find something to add)

2. Possibly a list of ideas that I have for DARKWOOD (in a .pdf or something)?
Stuff like new features and items that could be useful but not alter the feel and difficulty of the game.
May be in Discussions that I'll link throught here.

1 - Bike Man

Bike Man will drink all the Alcohol when moving your items from Hideout to Hideout with the exception of Chapter 2 (you can't call him there). Take the Alcohol with you or you'll end up with Empty Bottles.

= To “summon“ Bike Man you have to use a Bike Bell.

(Image of the Bike Bell from Darkwood Wiki Fandom)

2 - Corpse

You can't loot a Corpse saying OPEN because it will explode and deal poison damage.
There's no need to even approach them as they can be recognized from a distance by their twitching movement.

= You can disarm them from a safe distance by throwing a Rock at them. The same can be done with Poisonous Mushrooms.

(Image of a Corpse from r/Darkwood Reddit)

3 - Don't Make Noise!

Don't make too much noise by sprinting or by moving furniture at Night. Noise will alert the enemies and they will go and investigate the source of the sound.

= Movement is required / recommended in later Hideouts so simply just walk and stay alert.
== You can use some extra furniture as a noise trap for distraction. However, don't place them in a way that the enemy can get stuck as they may destroy it if it gets in their way too much.

4 - Essence

Red Egg, Dead Rat and Embryo won't rot.
Embryo also grants 1 extra life when eaten in Hard Difficulty.

= With every Hideout you get more and more Essence for every item.

(Essense Needle image from Google used in Skills Guide from RedPine as a thumbnail)

5 - Night

Nightfall starts at 19;30 and Night at 20;00.
Turn the Generator on at around 19;45 to set up all the barricades, or if you have everything ready, 19:55 is also a good amount of time to get into position. You have to be fast tho.

6 - Knock Knock!

When you hear knocking open the door or stay near it if it's barricaded. It is a Wedding Invitation. However, for it to be a Wedding Invitation you need to be in the first / Dry Meadow Hideout or a second / Silent Forest Hideout. If the knocks slowly start to get louder and more frantic and you don't hear any grunting or growling behind the door, it is random loot.

(Image of the Wedding Invitation from Darkwood wiki)

7 - Items Don't Despawn

Pretty self-explanatory... You can keep items thrown on the floor to save space and they will not despawn or disappear.

= The Package from the Bike Man also doesn't despawn so it's awesome for a huge extra storage. But be careful as items taken from it cannot be placed back!

8 - Traps

Empty Bottles can be thrown and used as a trap that you can walk on safely and it can stack on top of other traps like a Bear / Chain Trap for extra damage.

= The glass shards disappear when an enemy walks over it. You can place them somewhat strategically to find out where the enemies are as they will make a hurt noise when stepping on it. This way you can figure out what you're up against before you see it.

9 - Healing

Pills (capsules) is the best healing item. It heals almost instantly. Stock up on those because they are really useful in a fight when there is no time to slowly regenerate.

= It is better to use Bandages when enemies are not around because it's very easy to craft them.

10 - Skip Animations

Vaulting with an item in hand forces you to put the item away before doing it. However, you can vault immediately when you are empty-handed.

Opening the inventory starts an animation where the character bends down to search through a backpack. You can bypass this by looking into any lootable storage (workshop, wardrobe, wood pile...) It's very useful mid combat or just to safe a few seconds.

11 - Rabbit

You can kill a Rabbit for Odd Meat. They can be killed with a Rock so you can save durability and ammo.

12 - Time Freeze

There is a little blury edge around the Hideout in the Morning which is the area where the 'morning time freeze' is in effect. Unlike other locations, this is indicated with a Status Effect.

The time freeze is also happening while you are reading a note, journal or looking at items.

= In these 2 examples, the Generator won't be running out of fuel and Essence items won't rot. However, the light sources still loose their durability.

Notable presence is also in the Village but also every other location that requires a loading screen to get into.

So if you don't have a Watch yet to see the time, there's no need to rush in these places.

13 - Crows

When you see flying Crows during the Day that means there is a lootable Corpse somewhere in the direction they flew away from.
When you see them during the Night, you need to be careful because a Banshee spawned somewhere near the hideout.

14 - Listen!

Listen carefully for muffled grunts around Mushroom Fields (big area consisting of Poisonous Mushrooms). If you hear any, proceed with caution or walk around it.
The same goes for when you see bubbles and ripples on the water.

(Image of the Mushroom Field from Darkwood Wiki Fandom)

15 - Single Shots

Single Shot Shotgun only shoots 1 Shotgun Shell with each reload unlike Single Shot Pistol and Homemade Shotgun which breaks upon use.
The names are a bit confusing, I know. That's why I included this quick tip.

16 - Forgettable Controls

Many people forget, don't notice the prompt or even look at the controls in the settings so here's a few. Some are not even mentioned in-game.

Dodge by pressing CTRL or ALT.
Secondary/Quick Attack by pressing F or Middle Mouse Button (MMB)
Q activates a Skill Menu.
E switches between the things you can interact with if the ↓↑ arrows are present on hover.
Clicking a stack of items while holding CTRL takes only 1 item from the stack and holding SHIFT will take the whole stack (kinda like Minecraft)
Right Mouse Button (RMB) while holding a Flashlight will turn it off.

(Image from Darkwood wiki)

17 - Random Landmark Traps

When you see random Bear Trap in a forest do not Disarm them unless you really need the Scrap Metal (by disarming them you won't get the trap). These traps can be used for luring an enemy in them.
Throw an item like a Match on the ground next to them to see them better. That way they can also be used as a landmark of some sort (scattered Crates can serve as a landmark too).

= If you are sure that you won't be coming back to that trap or area, then Disarm it.

18 - Gasoline

This might be obvious but you can combine Gasoline just by dragging them together in an inventory. It basically puts the Gasoline from one container to another and you can save space.

= The thing is that the Gasoline containers do not stack automatically like other items so you have to do it manually.

You can also pour the Gasoline on the ground and light it with a throw of a Matchstick.
Poured Gasoline stays on the floor forever, even outside in the rain unless lit.

(Pour with Right Mouse Button (RMB) and then Left Mouse Button (LMB) when holding the Gasoline just like you do it for the Generator. The same controls are for throwing the Matchstick.)

= You cannot spill the Gasoline while filling the Generator if you don't notice it's full. It just keeps pouring in there forever.

19 - Storage

You probably already noticed the shoes near the front doors or a pile of clothes thrown on the floor in your Hideout. It can be used as an extra storage. The same goes for a dog house, cart, tractor near the hideout as well as a pile of wood and a Table Saw.

= All the items placed in those places can still be transfered by a Bike Man.

20 - Weapon Test

I recommend trying all the melee weapons and guns in the game. This is just something you should do to find your playstyle because some weapons, like a Sickle for example, has a very different attack pattern.

= Careful while trying the Knife. You can throw it by accident and lose it thinking you'll do a regular attack like you would do with other weapons with Right Mouse Button (RMB)

21 - Hotbar

All the items in your Hotbar will never disappear upon death. If you care about something or you are always using it and don't want to loose it, keep it there.

= Lantern will work when it's in your Hotbar and you can still use other items. Don't forget you have it there as it depletes durability.
== Light Armor only works if it's in your Hotbar granting you a Status Effect.

Max number of craftable slots is 6 but you can get 7 if you help the Wolfman by killing the Sow.

22 - Food

Pretty much all the food will grant you a stamina boost so you can run longer.

= You can eat food and quickly run to the Hideout when it's getting late or when you see an enemy that you don't really want to fight.

23 - Holes

There are different types of holes and all of them can somewhat benefit you BUT there is a danger to them as well.

1) Big holes (SAFE)
If you find them at some point and there is an option to jump in, don't be afraid to do so. At first I was afraid of doing it because I thought that I might die but I actually just regreted that I didn't do it sooner.

2) Bug holes (ANNOYING)
If these appear at Night, be ready to swing at whatever comes out. It's really annoying to clean the mess after it's too late.

3) Centepide holes (DANGEROUS!)
I am not telling you when and where these appear and what a Centepide is but when you see a small singular hole (unlike Bug holes which has 3 openings) stay away if you hear noises and if there are small insects crawling around it. If there is nothing it should be save to aproach and you can pick up Odd Meat from it.

24 - Shiny Stones

Shiny Stones can be found if you are close to them or when you are holding a source of light. They will (obviously) shine and you can pick them up. The only purpose is selling. They cost 100 reputation each and they are just scattered around across the map.

= If you see them in a dream it's usually a good thing to follow their path like crumbs so you won't get lost.

(Image of a Shiny Stone from Darkwood Wiki Fandom)

25 - Save Your Progress

If you get paranoid about your progress, that the game may or may not have saved, you can easily just check the Oven or you can speak to any NPC. After that, you can safely exit the game.

You can also use this to choose a different dialog option if you are curious. The game will save AFTER you're done speaking with an NPC so you can exit the game, return to the NPC and choose something different.

26 - Reloading

When reloading a gun that you shot only ONCE you will lose the remaining ammunition. So be very careful with that R.

The same applies to a Flashlight that can be ''reloaded'' (with R) when you have a 9V Battery in your inventory, except you obviously won't lose any ammunition, but you will lose the charge that the 9V Battery had left in that Flashlight.

27 - The Well

When you get the chance to repair the Well, do it immediately!
Repairing it should be one of the top priorities when moving to a new Hideout because drinking the water from it once per day will fully heal you.
The use of it should also be limited shortly before the Night starts. Reason is that the Well will refill after it ends but when you use it in the morning, you have a full day without it.

(Image of the Well from Darkwood Wiki Fandom)

28 - The Oven

If you turn the Oven ON in one Hideout, the Oven will turn OFF in the previous one.
Don't forget to check the Oven when you change Hideouts frequently. The character will also warn you once the Nightfall begins that it's OFF.

= Having it turned ON is mandatory as it protects you at Night. It requires nothing to lit and to stay lit.

(Other Oven functions were also mentioned in section 4 - Essence and section 25 - Save Your Progress)

(The Oven.gif I made into a .jpg from Darkwood Wiki Fandom)

[MEDVED]

Good job! Great guide!

[M3RS]

: "Hello, Meat!"
I fully upgraded the guide
Come check it out! It took me so long...

[Leightul]

I Just see the mushroom eating perk as, well, Bad. But thanks for the info.

[Coneberry]

To make Gas Bottles, you need Rotten Mushrooms. You can get them by letting Mushrooms or Odd Meat rot in your inventory for a day or so. The Gas can hurt enemies through walls, so you can kill anyone before they tear down your barricades. If you light the gas with a match, it'll explode dealing even more damage. They're the reason i don't take Mushroom Healing perk, as i prefer to turn any mushrooms into Gas Bottles.

[Leightul]

No probs homeboi, thanks for the crafting info BTW .

[M3RS]

I am still well active on this guide and it needs a lot of writing and rewriting so be patient. There is just no time for me to get around it yet.
Comments gave me a lot of ideas. Believe me or not, it's actually kinda hard to write all of this xD
I did not expect to get so much recognition. Thank you all

[M3RS]

There is an event that moves furniture and an earthquake that also does it. The enemies can move the furniture too.

Do you mean drag stuff like a wardrobe? That takes a ton of time and it's dangerous. If you want, do it. Free space and a barricade is useful. I did it once with crates that are indestructable. It took me 9 days to get 4 of them. 9 days of just that so I was short on suplies. Luckily I had a pretty safe route.

Turrets would be OP in my opinion. In the world of Darkwood it would probably be impossible to get (motion or pressure sensor, mechanics of it...). It can also waste ammo on enemies that would just walk around not finding you.
BUT a Noise Trap can be handy and cheap. Bottles and a String. Modified Bear Trap rigged to explode? I have so many ideas that need a full document so I am not going to write it here xD
(Maybe I'll do that in the future)

Gas Bottles are crafted with Rotten Mushrooms and a Bottle. It needs to be light up with a Match (Section 18 can help)

[Leightul]

Wat? How do you get the gas item necessary to make them?

[Coneberry]

Against Banshees i use Gas Bottles. Gas has a bigger radius, it deals less damage than molotovs, but can still oneshot Banshee Babies even if you don't light it up.

[Leightul]

Do you guys think it would be neat if there were 'Turrets' in the game, they'd be FUCKEN EXPENSIVE and need to be placed inside the hideout, but i think it would be neat. And helpful.