How Does The Game Teach You (In Game)?

[Verdant Shade]

Good afternoon! After anticipating playing VS for a few years I've finally got myself a 4 pack to share with friends. I'm definitely a survival-craft simulation player, while the others don't necessarily like or dislike survival craft itself, they've played a fair few and are happy to at least try it out so we can all spend time together. 

I'm -mostly- going in blind, and that's how I want it to be. I've learned some things of course from the 2022 trailer and from the various videos that got me hooked on VS for a while, but a lot of that learning has kind of leaked out of my head. Like I could NOT tell you how to pan or mine or prospect anymore, even though I think those were big parts of the progression and videos. 

That said, I'm curious how much you can actually learn through in-game sources besides just "experiment." Is it all logical deduction and progression, are there in game sources of information on how to do things like smithing and crafting and cooking and etc? Obviously there's the answer of "Go try it out", and I would, but I've got both some technical issues (I'll sort them out with support, they were great help even when I couldn't buy the game a year ago) and some obligations which means I couldn't jump in and play yet even if I want to. Obviously there's also the wiki, I'm just trying to learn what I can before having to stick my neck in there. 

So go ahead, I don't particularly want spoilers, I just want to know how VS teaches you. Is it through harsh process of "learn or die", is it intuitive, are there in game hints you can find like the one big ol' rune rock in Valheim that teaches you to tame Boar, et cetera. 

[Thorfinn]

Welcome to the forums, @Verdant Shade

The handbook (press "H" in-game, or Alt-H to get information about whatever it is you are currently looking at) is your friend. It has guides on all the significant gameplay loops that I can think of.

Once one knows the stuff there, it's a little hard to know whether it's understandable to someone new to the game, so it would not hurt to post things you find a little too cryptic in the handbook.

Edited October 21, 2025 by Thorfinn

[Verdant Shade]

Oh that's an excellent start. If there's an in-game handbook that's probably going to set everyone on the right track to start with. 

Thanks a lot for the prompt reply @Thorfinn

I'll try to remember to actually note anything that comes off as cryptic, though I'm definitely prone to overthinking things instead. 

I guess I totally forgot - hosting a multiplayer session and then logging into my own hosted session would be about the same as multiplayer games like Minecraft or V Rising? I know this has to be answered somewhere else, but I figured it's the other starting question I should have actually looked up before sharing gift copies. 

Edited October 21, 2025 by Verdant Shade

[LadyWYT]

Welcome to the forums! @Thorfinn has covered most of it, in that the handbook covers pretty much all the information you need/could want to know about various game items and systems. It has a Guide section that includes a brief summary of different progression "tiers", and the general steps of how to advance through them. The handbook is also good about cross-referencing things, so there are often links on one page that will take you to other relevant game items and concepts. It's a lot to handle at first, but reading through the Guide section and picking simple first goal from there is a good place to start.

I will also note that there is an optional tutorial upon first creating a world, that will walk you through the process of learning basic controls and acquiring your first set of handbaskets and starter tools. It's not much, but if you haven't played the game in quite some time it could be a handy refresher.

2 hours ago, Verdant Shade said:

So go ahead, I don't particularly want spoilers, I just want to know how VS teaches you. Is it through harsh process of "learn or die", is it intuitive, are there in game hints you can find like the one big ol' rune rock in Valheim that teaches you to tame Boar, et cetera. 

Overall, I would say that the general vibe of VS is that the player needs to learn to think quickly on their feet, as well as get good at planning certain activities well in advance. Death happens a lot, especially for newer players, however, I will note that the game is rarely unfair about it. Most of the time, there was something the player could have done to avoid death, so when it does occur it's important to review the circumstances and figure out how to improve in order to avoid similar situations in the future.

As for in-game hints...there aren't any for standard gameplay, at least if you exclude the handbook. You can learn certain bits about the world through simple observation, but the handbook is still going to be the primary source of information when it comes to learning gameplay systems themselves. In-game hints apply more to the game's main story and lore--a lot of the storytelling is done via various clues hidden in location design and certain flavor texts for certain items, and the player is often left to draw their own conclusions. I will note though, that if a lore item/NPC makes a point of describing something as dangerous, you should absolutely pay attention, as those warnings do actually mean something.