Smalland Starter Guide

Our Smalland Starter guide will help you begin your adventure in the Overworld, build your first house, find Food, and start exploring the wider world!

Quicklinks: HUD Explanation | Starter Guide | F.A.Q.

Smalland HUD Explanation

Smalland: Survive the Wilds puts you in the very tiny shoes of a Smallfolk, a brave adventurer exploring the world above ground. It's full of hazardous environments that are fun to explore, useful resources, and deadly enemies.

The world of the Smallfolk is filled with danger. You'll need Food to stay alive in the short term and a sturdy Building to protect you from storms in the long term. We'll get into the Smalland Starter Guide in a moment -- before that, let's break down the HUD and explain what you'll be seeing on the screen while you play.

1. Compass - This shows what direction you're facing.
2. Enemy Weaknesses - This shows what damage types the enemy you're fighting is weak to. Some enemies can have multiple weaknesses.
3. Enemy Resistances - This shows what damage types the enemy you're fighting has a resistance to. Some enemies can have multiple resistances.
4. Buffs / Debuffs - Any Buffs or Debuffs you currently have will be shown above the Health bar.
5. Health - Your bog-standard Health bar. If it drops to 0, you die. Getting stuck in a storm will cause the Health bar to rapidly turn blue, limiting your maximum Health until you get back into warmer temperatures.
6. Nourishment - You need to eat to survive. Having your Nourishment above 70 (which is marked by a small vertical line on the Nourishment bar) will activate a small passive Health regeneration. If your Hunger gets too low, your Health will drop to a maximum of 10.
7. Temperature - This is a measure of how comfortable you are in terms of the ambient temperature. Storms typically cause the Temperature to drop; you can keep your Temperature up by being sheltered.
8. Hotbar - The Hotbar is where you can equip Weapons, Tools, and other items like Food and healing items.
9. Stamina - Stamina is drained when you run, dodge, or attack. If your Stamina is too low, you'll be unable to attack.

Smalland Starter Guide

Now that you know what's going on with the HUD, it's time to break down the basics of the game with the Smalland Starter Guide!

The very beginning of the game introduces you to some basic mechanics. One of the most important (and most useful) is Antenna Sense, which you can activate by pressing either V on the keyboard or LB on a controller. Antenna Sense will point out anything that you can loot in the area. There is a fair amount of Crafting supplies to grab on your way out to the surface, so make sure to grab everything you can. You'll want to keep an eye out for Wood, Fiber, and Resin, in particular.

One of the guards will tell you to keep an eye out for Owl statues. These statues will tell you tips about the game that will be permanently saved in the Compendium in the menu. The tunnels you start in also have some food items, most notably Insect Eggs. Pick these up -- they'll be useful for keeping your Health up in the early parts of the game.

Meeting Herne and The Elder

Follow the path out of the underground and you'll come across Herne, one of the first useful NPCs that you'll meet in the game. You can talk with him and learn about the basics of the game's mechanics.

Just past Herne is a fork in the road. Head to the left and you'll meet The Elder. The Elder will give you some information about the world and its lore. You'll also find some more Crafting materials inside.

Getting More Materials

You've collected some basic materials, but you'll need to get a handful of more advanced materials before going forward. Head to this location:

You can find some Screws and a Bottlecap by the river. These items will help you unlock the second tier of Crafting, but there's a bigger priority to take care of first -- you're going to need a house.

Building a House

The giant bugs aren't the only threat in the Overland -- the weather is a danger, too. Storms can reduce your health and they can rapidly cause you to freeze to death. That means you're going to need to Build your first house.

A good location is important. You're going to want to avoid being too close to enemies while also being near useful resources. I recommend that you Build your first home in this location:

First and foremost, this location is fairly safe -- you won't have to worry about any particularly tough bugs. Secondly, it's right next to a massive log that is absolutely covered in Edible Mushrooms, providing you with an abundant source of Food. Finally, that same log gives you access to both sides of the river -- that makes this place an excellent centralized location for exploring the world.

Build at least a 2x2 square of Foundations. Place walls and a roof, then Build the following items inside of your house:

• Workbench
• Simple Bed
• Campfire
• Simple Chest

Interact with the Simple Bed. You'll now respawn at your house if you die. You can store excess materials in the Simple Chest, and the Campfire can be used for some early game Cooking.

Moving Up a Tier

There's just one more step to go -- moving up to the next tier of Crafting. We're going to need the following items to Build the Stonecutter:

• 1 Bull Ant Mandible
• 5 Resin
• 15 Wood
• 5 Fiber
• 10 Stone
• 1 Bottlecap
• 2 Screws

Unfortunately, you won't be able to get Stone until you Craft a Pickaxe. You'll have to find and kill a Bull Ant in order to get a Bull Ant Mandible. Once you have that, take 1 Bull Ant Mandible, 5 Resin, 5 Fiber, and 5 Wood to the Workbench and make the Mandibular Pickaxe.

With the Mandibular Pickaxe in hand, you can now look for Stone deposits in the area. Run around searching for them and harvest 10 Stone. Then, head back to your home and Build the Stonecutter. You'll probably need to expand your house a bit to fit it, though.

The Stonecutter will allow you to Craft the next tier of Weapons and Tools. These won't just allow you to get more materials -- a new tier of Weapons will allow you to fight even tougher enemies.

Exploring the Overland

You now have a house, a source of Food, and a Stonecutter. These things will serve as a good foundation for expanding your home and exploring more of the world.

Continue to collect Wood, Fiber, Resin, Stone, and Food wherever you find them. You should also make a particular effort to find Flint since it's a critical item for the next tier of equipment.

Once you have some Flint Tools and Weapons, you should work on finding Kalev and Drustana by following your Map. These NPCs will be able to Craft new kinds of Armor for you, and your conversations with them can also point you toward new interesting locations. Good luck, and make sure to check out our other Smalland guides to learn more about this game!

Smalland F.A.Q.

What is Smalland: Survive the Wilds?

Smalland: Survive the Wilds is an open-world survival crafting game where you play a Smallfolk trying to survive in the Overland and save your queen from a terrible sickness.

Is Smalland Multiplayer?

Yes, Smalland supports multiplayer.

Where is the Smalland Save File?

You can find the Smalland save file in this location:

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\SMALLAND\Saved\SaveGames

Where "USERNAME" is your Windows username.

What Happens When You Die in Smalland?

If you die in Smalland, you'll drop a gravestone containing all of your items (except for your currently-equipped Weapon/Tool and Armor). You'll respawn back at your bed or at the default Spawn Point if you don't have a bed.

Thanks for reading our Smalland Starter Guide. Make sure to check out our other guides below!