The Core Loop in One Sentence
Catch → Work → Build → Fight → Breed
You catch Pals, assign them to base work (mining, farming, crafting), expand your base, fight bosses for ancient tech, and breed perfect offspring. Every system feeds the next — that's the whole game.
Difficulty & Death Penalty
| Mode | Enemy power | Death penalty | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casual | Reduced | Drop nothing (keep items) | Builders / relaxed players |
| Normal | Standard | Drop some items on death | Default balanced experience |
| Hardcore | Increased | Full inventory drop | Challenge runs (a death can end your progress) |
Tip: death penalty and world settings are fully customizable before creating a world — you can enable "keep items on death" even in Hard mode.
First 30 Minutes — Step by Step
- Pick a spawn point on the Starting Plateau. All starter pals (Lamball, Cattiva, Chikipi) spawn here.
- Craft a Stone Pickaxe (Tech level 2, requires 5 Wood + 5 Stone). Gather stone from the big rocks around you.
- Capture your first Pal: hit a Lamball until it's low HP (below ~30%), then throw a Pal Sphere (craft 3 of them: 3 Paldium Fragments + 3 Wood + 3 Stone).
- Build a base with the Pal Box (Tech 2, 1 Paldium Fragment + 1 Wood + 1 Stone). Place it on flat ground near the waterfall.
- Craft a Fireplace, Campfire and 2 beds so Pals rest and recover SAN.
- Assign Pals by picking them up and throwing them at work stations — Cattiva to the mining node, Lamball to farming.
- Craft 10 more Pal Spheres and capture 2-3 extra pals for your team.
- Reach Tech level 3-4 by catching pals (XP) — unlock the basic wooden tools and a first bow.
- Cook berries on the campfire (food restores hunger + SAN).
- Start the first side quest ("Open the way to the Rayne Syndicate Tower") to learn combat basics.
Base Location — 5 Principles
Picking your first base spot
- Near resources: ore nodes and wood within a short walk (or in-base).
- Flat ground: steep slopes break pathfinding — Pals get stuck constantly on hills.
- Away from raid paths: a base on a cliff edge is easier to defend than an open plain.
- Water access: early you'll want a pond for watering/ranch pals (or be ready to build a well later).
- Room to expand: you'll double the footprint at mid-game — leave 2× the space you think you need.
A classic starter spot: the waterfall area on the Starting Plateau near the Rayne Tower — flat, ore-rich, water nearby.
Beginner Must-Do Checklist (Prioritized)
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| # | Task | Priority | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Capture 3-4 basic pals | 🔥 High | More team = more work + more XP |
| 2 | Build Pal Box + 2 beds | 🔥 High | Beds stop pals from going insane |
| 3 | Unlock & craft a bow | 🔥 High | Ranged damage changes early combat |
| 4 | Cook food on campfire | 🔥 High | Raw berries recover less SAN |
| 5 | Craft a Glider | 🔥 High | Best early mobility tool |
| 6 | Find 5-10 Paldium Fragments | Medium | Unlocks better spheres |
| 7 | Defeat the first Tower boss | Medium | Unlocks ancient tech points |
| 8 | Build a storage chest | Medium | Inventory is tiny early |
| 9 | Set up a berry farm plot | Medium | Passive food income |
| 10 | Unlock & build a Workbench (large) | Low | Enables advanced crafting |
Common Newbie Pitfalls
What everyone does wrong at first
- Killing work pals — don't fight Lamball/Cattiva for XP; catch them instead. They're worth more alive.
- Building on slopes — pals pathfind terribly on hills; always flatten or pick flat ground.
- Ignoring SAN — a pal with 0 SAN stops working and goes crazy; beds and food fix this.
- Overextending at night — night spawns are tougher; sleep or return to base before dark until you're level 10+.
- Wasting spheres on full-HP pals — always weaken first; capture chance scales massively with low HP.
- Not picking up pals — you can carry pals to reposition them; forgetting this wastes hours of pathfinding pain.