Light the fire
Click light fire. The first light is free because you start with no wood, even though the button shows a cost. The fire starts at burning. Keep it at flickering or higher: it cools every five minutes, and a dead fire makes the room cold. Stoking costs one wood.
- →Click light fire once.
- →Stoke to flickering or higher when the fire drops.
- →Keep a few wood in reserve before you walk away.
Save the builder
A ragged stranger arrives, collapses in the corner, and the forest unlocks with 4 wood. Gather wood, keep the room warm, and wait. Once the room is warm she recovers, starts stoking the fire for you, and adds 2 wood every ten seconds. She is the reason the early game becomes manageable.
- →Gather wood from the forest as soon as it unlocks.
- →Keep the room warm so the builder recovers.
- →Once she is helping, the fire and wood income become automatic.
First build order
Build traps first, then a cart, then huts. Traps produce fur and meat while you are away; the cart turns each gather from 10 wood into 50; huts raise the population cap by four each. After that, build the lodge so hunters can produce food, then the trading post, tannery, and smokehouse to turn that food into leather and cured meat.
- →Trap: 10 wood, then 10 more per trap, up to 10.
- →Cart: 30 wood. Triples each gather.
- →Hut: 100 wood, then 50 more per hut, up to 20.
- →Lodge: 200 wood, 10 fur, 5 meat. Unlocks hunters.
- →Trading post: 400 wood, 100 fur. Buy the compass and sell surplus.
- →Tannery: 500 wood, 50 fur. Fur into leather.
- →Smokehouse: 600 wood, 50 meat. Meat into cured meat.
Assign workers
Open the village screen and assign workers. Start with gatherers, then hunters once the lodge is built, then tanners and charcutiers once their buildings exist. Do not assign miners until you have a surplus of cured meat; miners eat one cured meat every ten seconds, and an empty food chain stops them.
- →Gatherers: safe, steady wood.
- →Hunters: fur and meat, but only after the lodge.
- →Tanners: 5 fur into 1 leather.
- →Charcutiers: 5 meat and 5 wood into 1 cured meat.
- →Miners: only after cured meat is stable.
Do not leave too early
The Dusty Path punishes an unprepared bag. Before your first real trip, buy the compass, craft a bone spear, craft leather armour, and pack at least 20 cured meat and 10 water. A rucksack and waterskin make the trip much safer. If you cannot afford those, spend another ten minutes building the village instead.
- →Compass: 300 fur, 15 scales, 5 teeth from the nomad.
- →Bone spear: 100 wood, 5 teeth.
- →Leather armour: 200 leather, 20 scales.
- →Rucksack: 200 leather. Waterskin: 50 leather.
- →Pack 20 cured meat and 10 water for a first trip.
Three mistakes that stall first runs
Most early runs fail for the same three reasons. Fix these and the game opens up quickly.
- →Letting the fire die. The builder stops helping and the room cools; relight it and wait.
- →Building huts before food. Population without a food chain just creates idle mouths.
- →Leaving the village without enough water. Water is consumed every move, twice as fast as cured meat.
What to do next
Once the village is stable, read the full walkthrough for the mine order and the endgame, the map guide for exact landmark distances, and the perks guide if you want to plan a combat build. The first goal is the iron mine at radius 5; the long-term goal is the crashed ship at radius 28.
- →Next milestone: clear the iron mine at radius 5.
- →Then the coal mine at 10 and the sulphur mine at 20.
- →Endgame: the crashed ship and the Ravaged Battleship at 28.
Play A Dark Room online
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Start playing →Frequently asked questions
What should I do first in A Dark Room?+
Click light fire. The first light is free, and the fire brings the builder and unlocks the forest.
Why did the stranger collapse?+
She is cold. Keep the fire at flickering or higher and the room will warm; once she recovers, she helps with wood and the fire.
How do I get more wood in A Dark Room?+
Gather at the forest, and build a cart as soon as you can. The cart raises each gather from 10 wood to 50.
How many huts should I build?+
Build huts as your population grows. Each hut supports four people, up to 20 huts.
When should I leave the village?+
After you have the compass, a bone spear, leather armour, and at least 20 cured meat and 10 water.
Why can't I assign miners?+
You need to clear the mine and build the food chain first. Miners also consume cured meat, so build charcutiers before assigning them.
Why is the room cold?+
The fire is dead or low. Stoke it to flickering or higher and wait for the room to warm.