Beginner Guide: Your First 10 Days, Step by Step

Your first ten days follow one chain: bury a body, get the certificate past Herbert, earn Village reputation, build bronze tools for Jack, open the church, and hand Herbert 3 Faith before the first battle. Below is that chain in order, with the costs along the way. This page is the step-by-step route for a first run; if you want shortcuts and rules the game barely explains, read Tips and Tricks.

The opening quest chain at a glance

Dust in the Kitchen opens at the same time as step 1 and completes on its own during Sweet Dreams, so ignore it until then. Two short side quests are worth doing on the way: Yummies (2 Town Gratitude) and The Quiet Art (2 Town Gratitude, river fish dishes).

The prologue: prison, Town, new home

You wake in the Inquisition Dungeon in the far north of the map and leave with Larry, a talking skull with opinions. Grab everything lying in the open on the way out, above all the Inquisitor’s medallion: it opens the Abandoned Tower many days later.

The scripted defence of the Town follows. If the exit of Jack’s workshop will not let you out, take the Rusty Sword and Rusty Armor from the output chest and equip them; carrying them is not enough. After the retreat, Herbert walks you to the abandoned Inquisition Base west of the Crossroads. Go into the house and sleep. You wake up to the A New Beginning achievement and the Donkey arriving with your first customer.

Day 1: the first burial and the certificate

Empty the starting chests

The base comes pre-stocked, once per save. Take everything before you spend a single coin:

• Graveyard chest: Rusty Shovel (+1 Farming in the tool belt), Rusty Hammer (+1 Smithing), 3 Wooden Sign and 1 Cheese.
• Home chest: 8 Bread and 5 Berry.
• Simple Chest on the base grounds: 2 Board, 1 Beer and 100 Water.

The Cheese is worth 50 energy, but it also studies for 50 green and 50 blue tech points (3 Science and 1 Faith) once the Study Table opens, and studying keeps the item. Eat the Bread first.

Bury the body

Mark a grave at the graveyard desk, dig it, drop the body in, fill it and set one of your Wooden Signs on top. The grave pays a Burial Certificate I. Keep it: the next step only works while you carry it.

Choose the spot with care. A filled grave cannot be demolished, it locks the graveyard area it sits in, and the only undo is a paid exhumation. The pre-built Grave Area I holds 6 grave spots and 1 bench spot, so think in tidy rows from the very first hole.

Show the certificate to Herbert

Walk to the Crossroads, east of the Graveyard, and show Herbert the certificate. He only looks at it. The guards now let you into the Village, you gain 10 Herbert reputation and a bronze Story, and Expand graveyard I unlocks (12 Piece of stone). Grave Expectations, What the Fairy? and Yummies open.

Days 2 to 4: the Village and the wood line

Meet the Village

Go to the Village Tavern, talk to Januarius and sell him the certificate. He pays a fixed 1 silver for a Burial Certificate I, and each sale adds 1 Like, up to 5 a week at his first trade level. Then ask about fairies to finish What the Fairy?.

Next, Herm. Ask him how to help with the food shortage: Supply and Demand opens Planted and Delivered, Two Peas in a Pod, The Quiet Art and Jack in a Boat. Buy Wheat seed, the cheapest seed (about 2 bronze each, and one planting takes 4), and, if you are short of nails, a little Bronze Scrap.

Village reputation is the first real gate. You need 10 for the twins to row Jack’s boat and 10 for Good Fellow, and this early only quests raise it: nothing you buy from Herm counts. Planted and Delivered (5 Wheat) and Two Peas in a Pod (6 Clay Plate) pay +5 each, which is exactly 10. Plant Wheat on day 2 so the harvest comes in while you work on pottery.

Yummies is a night job: bring 1 Berry Pie and 2 Beer to the Village guards by the campfire near the Hangman’s House. Januarius sells both, and your starting chest already holds one Beer.

Your first techs

Tech points pop out as small orbs: walk over and pick them up. Breaking stones gives 1 to 3 red, felling a tree 0 to 2 red and 1 to 3 green, clearing bushes 1 green, harvesting a garden bed 2 to 12 green, and digging or filling a grave 2 red. Crafting pays too (a Board 1 red, a Wooden Plank 2 red). Red is the colour that runs short first, so craft your own planks and stone.

The masteries these steps check

Many early recipes check a mastery level as well as a tech. You start at Building 2 (the rusty axe and rusty pickaxe give +1 each in the tool belt), Smithing 1 (rusty hammer) and Farming 1 (rusty shovel); the Basic Rod from Two Peas in a Pod adds +1 Farming, and bronze tools give +2 each instead of +1.

The way up is the Inspirations menu: level I of most inspirations is free, and two claims of the same colour make your first talent point, which buys the first +1 mastery node of that tree. For Building, smash 3 stones (Rock Breaker) and clear one obstacle (Clear the Way). For Farming, dig 3 garden beds (Gardener) and grow 3 plants (Earth Power). For Smithing, smelt 3 bronze (Bronze Age) and craft 3 bronze items (Bronze Crafter). A bronze axe or pickaxe also lifts Building by +1 over the rusty one. If a station shows a mastery above your level, claim these before you buy more techs, and keep every Faith for Herbert. The talents and inspirations guide has the full trees.

The whole list costs 145 red and 64 green, no blue. The story may hand you The Concept of Wood for free, so treat that total as a ceiling. Swords and Bell later adds a second bill of its own (180 red and 45 green, detailed below), so the full early path is about 325 red and 109 green. Every listed prerequisite is required, so buy in the order shown. Wooden Gravestones I sits in the Anatomy and Alchemy tab, which opens with your first body on the Autopsy Table I (see below). The full research order for the next stages lives in the tech priorities guide.

What to build first, and what it costs

Logs are carried in your hands one at a time, so put the Sawhorse close to the trees you fell most. Recipes burn Fuel, not Firewood: a Firewood shed turns every 2 Firewood into 20 Fuel that every station in the same work zone draws from, and Firewood shed I comes with Bronze Melting, so buy that before you plan your first batch of bricks.

The Morgue in week one

Your Morgue starts with room for exactly one body: the pre-built Autopsy Table I. The Donkey delivers at 13:12 on Gluttony, Lust and Pride, and only if there is a free slot. Build a Corpse Pallet I early (4 Board + 4 Bronze Nails, +1 capacity; its blueprint arrives with your first body on the table) so one body on the table does not send him home. Until the Morgue’s front door is repaired, he drops bodies at the Corpse Dumping Point and you carry them in yourself.

Put every new body on the table before you bury it. Picking pockets never fails, needs no mastery and pays 1 blue point. Take out the Fat and Blood (one red skull each) and leave the Flesh (one white skull): red skulls eat your grave score, white skulls raise its ceiling. Keep the Blood, since the Magic bell needs one. Bodies stored in the Morgue never rot, but one left lying on the ground vanishes after about 75 real minutes off-screen, with no reward. More on reading skulls in the corpse quality guide.

Days 5 to 7: bronze, bread and Jack’s boat

Bronze for Jack

Since patch 1.007, Jack wants 5 Wooden Plank first, then one Bronze Axe and one Bronze Hammer. Each tool is made at the Wooden Anvil from 2 Stick, 2 Bronze Detail and 1 Bronze Ingot (Smithing mastery 2), and Bronze Detail needs the Hardening Bucket beside the anvil. Make a second axe for yourself: bronze tools add +2 mastery in the tool belt, against +1 for rusty ones, and mastery is what gathering checks (clay spots want Building 2, sand pits Building 3). Plan two Bronze Axes here.

With 10 Village reputation, ask the twins to row, ask Jack if he is ready to sail, then sleep until the twins bring his letter, which can take a couple of nights. The quest pays 20 Jack reputation in two halves (planks, then departure), and the letter brings the Magic bell recipe, A Man of Many Talents and the Nun to the Village.

Bread and the kitchen

Repair the home Kitchen Table (2 Wooden Plank, Building mastery 3) and Kitchen Oven (2 Piece of stone, Building mastery 3). The bread chain is then 4 Wheat into 5 Flour at the Millstone, 6 Flour and 2 Water into 6 Dough at the table, and 4 Dough plus 10 Fuel into 4 Bread in the oven, which runs on its own once started.

Grave Expectations: graveyard quality 10

A grave scores the lower of two numbers: its wreaths (headstone plus fence) minus the body’s red skulls, or the body’s white skulls. A Wooden Sign is worth 1 wreath (2 Board + 2 Stick), a Wooden Cross I 2 and a Wooden Fence I 1 (2 Wooden Plank + 2 Bronze Nails each). Early bodies are the lowest tier, and with Fat and Blood removed they keep 0 or 1 red skull, so a Cross plus a Fence on a cleaned body scores 3 when no red skull is left and the body has at least 3 white skulls, and 2 otherwise.

Three graves at 3 give 9. A fourth grave, or an Exterior Bench I on the bench spot (+3, from 3 Wooden Plank and 5 Bronze Detail via Graveyard Keeper I), carries you past 10. Clear stumps, trees, bushes and stones inside your graveyard areas, since each one subtracts, and never leave an open pit or an unburied body in a grave (-3 each). Then tell Herbert the graveyard looks better. The full scoring is in the graveyard quality guide.

Days 8 to 10: the church, Faith and the road to battle

Holy Moly! and your first sermon

Meet the Nun in the Village Tavern; she hands you Church Cleaning for free. In the Church, smash the 13 broken pots and repair the 4 Blockages (1 Bronze Detail + 1 Board each, Building mastery 2), then place three Interior Bench I (2 Wooden Plank + 6 Bronze Nails each, +3 Church quality).

With the donation box already there (+1), that makes exactly 10. Likes cannot pass 10 before the first battle, so a bigger church adds nothing yet.

Attendance is the lower of your Likes and your Church quality. The Basic Prayer needs at least 4 attendees to start and 8 for a sure success, so arrive with 8 Likes or more: each Town Gratitude item adds 5, and certificate sales add 1 each. This first sermon works on any day; every later one waits for Wrath.

Afterwards, pick up the Faith that drops on the floor in front of the lectern (10 attendees pay 6 Faith) and the coins in the donation box. The Words of Faith achievement pops. The Theology tab opened when you met the Nun, and Writing Basic joined it when you reported the church at quality 10. The weekly routine that follows is in the sermons and Faith guide.

Faith for Herbert, then the tower

Carry 3 Faith to Herbert for Fighting Spirit Required, and do not spend them on milestones or inspirations first (claiming free inspiration levels costs nothing). Faith is an item from sermons only: Church quality and tech points do not count. The Barracks and the mercenaries open.

With 10 Village reputation, ask Januarius about the fairies again (Good Fellow), then ask Larry what to do next. The hatch in your house leads down to a blockage that takes 3 Wooden Plank and 3 Bronze Detail; the prison medallion and the Secret combination open the bars to the Abandoned Tower. Open the hatch for Albert, the Plague Doctor, and ask him about Dream Dust. The Alchemy Lab on the tower’s top floor comes fitted with a Laboratory I and the Study Table.

Show Albert the Dream Dust (he checks it, he does not take it, and a later quest consumes it) to finish Sweet Dreams and receive your first two zombie workers.

Swords and Bell, then the first battle

Herbert wants Barracks quality 12 and a Magic bell, in any order. The mercenaries cost 5 silver (Hooligans for Hire) and add 8; two Barricade I add 2 each, and that is where the second tech bill comes from.

The Barricade I tech bill. A Barricade I takes 6 Bronze Nails, 2 Short Log and 2 Reinforced Plank. Unlocking it needs Bronze Forge (20 red), Reinforced Plank (45 red, behind the Herbert 20 gate that Certificate, Please and Grave Expectations already paid) and Simple Barricades (60 red, 25 green). The planks also need Tool Rack (35 red) and Oiled wood (20 red, 20 green). Together that is 180 red and 45 green on top of the table above, which already holds Bronze Melting and Bronze Craft.

The plank chain. Each Reinforced Plank is 1 Oiled Plank + 2 Bronze Detail at the anvil (Smithing mastery 4), and 1 Melted Fat + 4 Wooden Plank make 4 Oiled Plank. Keep the Fat you pick from corpses.

The bell. 1 Blood + 1 Bronze Ingot at the anvil, Smithing mastery 3.

Break Through to the Port needs 12 defense power and takes at most one squad (the mercenaries fill it), and unlike most Town battles it starts on any day. Herbert hands you 2 Healing Potion at the briefing; equip a sword and body armour before you start. Lose, and he simply lets you retry. Win, and you get First Blood, 10 Herbert reputation and, since patch 1.008, 8 Town Gratitude from the battle itself. Battle prep for the fights after that is in the battles and army guide.

Energy, food and insanity

Max energy is 100 minus your insanity. Every swing of a craft, an axe, a pickaxe or a shovel costs energy, studying costs 6 to 32 per item, and an autopsy costs 3 per tick. Walking, carrying and zombie work are free. Eating above your maximum wastes the surplus.

Grim work raises insanity a little at a time: 0.2 per swing for digging, filling and setting headstones or fences, 0.3 for autopsy work. At 80 insanity the Keeper refuses grim jobs, and every point of insanity is a point of energy you cannot refill. Early cures are Berry Pie and Beer; Chocolate (-20) and Wine (-25 to -35) come much later. Ordinary sleep does not lower insanity. Details in the energy and insanity guide.

Sleep is your only save

• Getting up from bed saves the game. There is no manual save. The bed is in your house, next to Larry.
• The bed refuses you at full energy, unless you have Lack of sleep. To save at will, keep a little energy spent.
• The world keeps running while you sleep, 50 times faster, so never lie down just before something day-locked.
• Back up your save folder before big story steps and restart the game every few hours. The known issues guide has the folder path, the backup routine and the Lack of sleep rules.

The six-day week

The week runs Gluttony, Sloth, Lust, Envy, Pride, Wrath, then loops. At about 7.5 real minutes a day, a week lasts about 45 minutes. In your first ten days, the rules that matter are the Donkey’s three deliveries, the Pride reset of trader Likes caps, and the battle and sermon days, which your first battle and first sermon both ignore.

The day-by-day detail, including the Morgue clock between deliveries, is in the weekly calendar guide.

Money in week one

Early coins come mainly from certificates, plus the sermon’s donation box. Januarius pays a fixed 1 silver per Burial Certificate I, but his purse starts at 10 silver and refills only 75 bronze a day at his first trade level, so sell a few on each visit rather than a pile at once. Keep 5 silver for the mercenaries, and do not buy Town Gratitude at 10 silver while quests hand it out for free. No trader buys Clay, Sand, Stone or Short Logs, so do not stockpile them for cash. The money-making guide picks up from here.

Achievements you will earn on the way

Common early mistakes

• Digging graves at random. A filled grave cannot be demolished and locks its area; the only undo is an Exhumation Certificate at 5 silver 50 bronze per body.
• Burying bodies with Fat and Blood still in the pockets. That is one red skull each, straight off your grave score. Pick pockets first; it cannot fail.
• A full Morgue at 13:12. With a capacity of one, a single body on the table sends the Donkey away. Build a Corpse Pallet I.
• Expecting trade to raise Village reputation. This early, nothing but quests moves it: Planted and Delivered plus Two Peas in a Pod are your 10 points.
• Handing Jack your only bronze tools. The quest takes them and drops you back to +1 rusty mastery. Smith a second set for yourself.
• Buying a tech you cannot use yet. Check the station, the materials and the mastery first, and skip military techs and fancy graveyard decor until a quest asks for them.
• Trying to save at full energy, or not at all. The bed is the only save and it refuses a rested Keeper. Spend some energy, then sleep.
• Eating Flesh for energy. +10 energy for +10 insanity is a bad trade when bread costs almost nothing.
• Walking into the first battle unarmed. No sword or no body armour in the tool belt, no battle.

Next stop: the Port, Gunter and the Fairy. The walkthrough takes the story from here, the tips and tricks page collects the shortcuts, and the progression troubleshooting guide covers every early blocker.