Permafrost Beginner Guide: Tips for Your First Hours
Updated 2026-10-14 · Last checked 2026-10-14 · Early Access
Prioritize warmth, sleep and food before expanding your base. Robert N. Adams reports in the Steam starter guide that Body Warmth at zero drains health and that you cannot sleep while too cold. Arrange a heat source near your sleeping place before setting out for more materials.
This is a source-based guide, not a played-save walkthrough. Starter advice comes from Robert N. Adams on Steam; numeric tool rows come from a community file archive. Official known issues override item descriptions, especially the iron-pick mining claim. The archive includes hidden and NPC entries, so costs do not establish a live unlock route.
First-hours checklist
These priorities combine the starter guide with file costs; they are not a timed speedrun.
- Finish the opening tutorial and reach shelter. Keep wood available to fuel warmth before sleeping.
- Make a stone pickaxe with 2 stone + 4 wood, then gather from a flint deposit.
- Build a workbench when available: the structure file lists 10 wood. A flint pick needs 2 flint + 4 wood there.
- Secure food through looting, trading or hunting. Cook raw meat rather than assuming it is risk-free.
- Keep the first storage setup modest. The starter author recommends moving a larger base toward House Camp as quests take you away from the opening town.
The stats that actually kill you
The starter guide names Body Warmth, Health, Hunger, Energy, and Stamina, plus an Effects row. Energy is the sleep need. A campfire or wall torch is the heat source. Keep a wood pile at the base, or walk to a place that already has heat.
Tool order
The starter guide describes stone, flint, copper, then iron progression. The following damage and mining descriptions are community-extracted file parameters, not tested yields or guaranteed unlocks.
| Pick | Base damage in files | File description / caveat |
|---|---|---|
| Stone | 12 | Flint, stone. Breaks quickly. |
| Flint | 16 | Sulfur, copper, coal, flint, stone |
| Copper | 20 | Iron plus the flint-tier ores |
| Scrap | 24 | Same band as copper |
| Iron / Refined | 29 / 31 | File claims moonrock; official post warns basic iron pick does not mine it |
| Quality / Moonrock | 32 / 35 | Described as mining any formation |
Before leaving shelter
The starter guide separates clothing protection, the sleep-related Energy stat and short-term Stamina. Use those distinctions to plan a gathering trip rather than relying on an unverified mining route.
- Check clothing protection before entering colder terrain; the starter guide warns against extended stays in Cold Zones.
- Inspect the Effects row in your inventory. The starter author says hovering over a debuff explains how to remove it.
- Keep warmth and sleep available at the base. Energy and Stamina are different needs; sprinting uses Stamina.
- Choose the next tool upgrade from your current recipe list. The file table is a material reference, not a source of deposit coordinates.
Questions
How much wood should I gather?
The starter guide suggests about 100–200 wood and around 50 stone for early use. Do not spend the first day stockpiling.
Can I farm food?
The starter author says farming was unavailable in their Early Access build, while the file archive contains farming structures. Current unlock availability is not verified. Looting, trading and hunting are the documented alternatives.
Related pages
Sources
- Steam guide — Permafrost Starter Guide — Attributes, warmth, tool order, and food sources. Checked 2026-10-14.
- ITRIABOV — game-file reference tables on Steam Community — Downloaded and checked 2026-10-14. Archive files dated 2026-10-09; game build not identified. Includes hidden, NPC and quest variants, not just player-accessible content.
- Developer — Known Issues & Workarounds — Developer-tagged post, edited 11 October; checked 2026-10-14. Iron-pick description, unavailable refined flint sledgehammer, controller crafting and co-op. Newer patch notes take priority.