Smalland: Beginner's Guide & Best Tips

This game is beautiful and it will eat you alive

Yeah, Smalland is gorgeous. You’re the size of a thimble in a giant forest, and the lighting is stupid good for an indie title. But let’s stop pretending the first 10 hours aren’t a brutal meat grinder. I bought this game thinking I’d be building cute little acorn houses and riding a ladybug into sunsets. Instead, I spent my first three runs getting flattened by a spider while trying to pick a berry. Three. Runs. So if you’re reading this because you’re stuck, frustrated, or about to refund — I’ve been there. This guide is the stuff I desperately needed on day one and couldn’t find because most guides online are written by people who played for 45 minutes and called it an “expert review.”

The game doesn’t hold your hand. It chuckles while a mantis dismembers you. But once you understand the rhythm — the resource loops, the threat zones, the actual way armor works — it becomes one of the most rewarding survival games out there. Let’s fix your early game so you stop dying to a goddamn ant.

Why players struggle — the real frustrations

I see the same complaints on the Steam forums every day. “This game is too hard.” “Boss one is impossible.” “I keep starving to death.” “Why does everything kill me in two hits?” Here’s the truth: the game is bad at telling you what matters, and the difficulty curve is a brick wall if you miss the obvious stuff.

The first boss (Faeling Lord) is a knowledge check, not a skill check. Most people walk in with a stone axe and cloth armor and wonder why they explode. The boss has a 3-hit combo that does 120 damage per swing if you’re not blocking. A new player has maybe 150 HP without upgrades. Do the math. The frustration is real, but the fix is simple: you need 500 HP minimum and a weapon that does at least 40 damage per hit. That’s not grinding for hours — that’s one trip to the right resource zone that the game never tells you about.

Starvation is a noob trap. You can eat raw berries and mushrooms, sure. But they give you zero buffs and barely fill your bar. The game expects you to cook food almost immediately, but it doesn’t shove a recipe book in your face. I spent my first 8 hours in a constant state of “I’m hungry and weak” because I didn’t realize you can cook meat on a campfire. Yeah, it’s that simple. A single roasted ant leg gives you 45 food AND a 15% stamina regen buff for 5 minutes. Raw food gives you 12 food and no buff. Stop eating raw.

The map is huge and scary, and the game doesn’t tell you where NOT to go. The southern part of the map is filled with swarms of enemies that hit for 80+. The western area has giant frogs that swallow you whole. A new player wandering south is going to save-scum or quit. The spawn zone (the central grassy area) is the only safe place for your first 10 levels. Don’t leave it until you have full Chitin armor or your inventory will be scattered across the map.

Getting started: stuff I actually wish someone told me

If I could send a message to my past self 15 hours in, it would be this: stop trying to be a fighter. Be a thief first. You don’t have the gear to fight anything bigger than a firefly when you start. Your priority is building a shelter and a crafting table, then making a Crude Shield and a Spear. The spear’s range is longer than most bugs’ attack ranges, and you can poke them from behind a shield. That combo carried me through the first 6 hours.

Step one: build a bed immediately. I know, boring advice. But your respawn point is wherever your last bed was. If you don’t build one, you respawn at the starting area with nothing. I died 30 minutes from my base and lost everything because I was too lazy to place a bed. Don’t be me.

Step two: find the ant hills near the big tree stump. Ants are annoying but they drop Chitin Fragments (3-5 per kill) and Ant Meat. That’s your early game currency. Kill ants with your spear from max range — they can’t hit you if you backpedal. Gather 20 Chitin Fragments and make a Chitin Hatchet. It cuts wood in 3 hits instead of 12. That’s not an exaggeration. The stone axe takes forever.

Step three: build a cooking station immediately after the crafting table. Throw an ant leg, a berry, and a mushroom in there. That makes Forager's Stew — +60 food, +30 HP regen for 10 minutes. That stew is basically a healing potion you can eat every minute. It saves your life constantly.

Step four: don't build a huge base yet. Your first base should be a 3x3 shack with a door, a bed, a crafting table, and a cooking station. That’s it. Building walls takes forever at low levels, and giant bugs will just walk through them anyway. I built a massive fortress in my first world and a Stag Beetle clipped through the wall and murdered me in my sleep. Base building is for mid-game. Early game is about mobility and not dying.

Expert tips & tricks from 200+ hours

Okay, you’ve stopped dying to ants. Now let’s get you actually good. These are the tricks I learned through pain, testing, and reading patch notes like a weirdo.

• The Titan Sword is a crutch, but it’s the best crutch in the game. You can craft it after killing two Titan Beetles (found near the large lake in the northeast). Each beetle drops a Titan Carapace (55% drop rate). Bring a bow and 200 arrows. Kill them from range — they one-shot you in melee. Once you have the sword, upgrade it to +5 immediately. It does 78 base damage with a wide swing arc. It trivializes everything up to the mid-game bosses.
• The Flamethrower is a different tier of broken. It’s locked behind a late-game NPC quest, but if you rush it, you skip an entire difficulty curve. It does 45 base DPS, ramps to 120 DPS after 3 seconds of continuous fire, and sets enemies on fire for 8 seconds of extra damage. It makes the Toad King boss a joke. The fuel (oil) is farmable from Oil Bugs in the eastern caves. One cave run gives you enough fuel for 20 minutes of flamethrower.
• Stamina is more important than health in combat. You can block with a shield and take zero damage if you have stamina. If you run out, you get staggered and eat full damage. Most new players dump points into Vitality (HP) and ignore Endurance. Bad call. Get your Endurance to level 15 before you touch Vitality. That gives you 220 stamina instead of 100, which means you can block 4-5 hits instead of 1-2. I learned this after getting stunlocked by a wolf spider for 45 seconds. Don’t repeat my mistake.
• Grappling hook is not a toy, it’s your main escape tool. You get it from the Spiderman NPC in the northwest cave (look for the giant web bridge). Attach it to any tree branch and you can pull yourself out of danger in under a second. If you see a swarm of any bugs, use the hook to get to high ground. Bugs can’t climb vertical walls. I’ve survived situations that should have killed me 50 times over because I hooked onto a branch and watched a death squad wander away confused.
• Armor sets actually matter for specific fights. The game doesn’t tell you this, but Silk Armor gives you +25% poison resistance. The Chitin Armor set gives +15% physical damage reduction but -10% movement speed. The Leaf Armor is a noob trap — it looks cool but has terrible defense. I wore leaf armor for 10 hours before I realized it was giving me almost no protection. Check the stats before you craft.
• Day/night cycle changes enemy spawns. Night time spawns tougher versions of bugs (Giant variants with double HP). You get better loot from them, but it’s not worth the risk for early game. Sleep through the night. I didn’t learn this until I asked a vet on Discord why I kept getting wrecked at 2 AM in-game.

Common mistakes that got me killed (and how to fix them)

• Mistake: Using the default starting gear for too long. The Crude Club and Crude Axe are garbage. The club does 12 damage. A Chitin Spear does 38 damage and pokes 3x faster. I spent 4 hours trying to fight a Mantis with the starting club and got destroyed. Swapped to the spear, killed it on the first try. Upgrade your weapon before you upgrade anything else.
• Mistake: Ignoring the “Faction” system. You can befriend certain bug types by feeding them their favorite food (ants love honey, ladybugs love flower petals). Befriended bugs will fight for you. I ignored this entirely for 30 hours, then watched a friend use a swarm of friendly ants to kill a Bombardier Beetle in 20 seconds while he stood there. It’s broken. Make friends with bugs early. The Honeycomb needed to befriend ants is found in the hive near the big tree at the center of the map.
• Mistake: Dying and losing your inventory, then trying to run back naked. If you die, your stuff spawns a gravestone marker on the map. But enemies will camp your gravestone if they killed you. I lost a full set of Obsidian Armor because I ran back 5 times and died to the same mantis. Instead, craft a cheap backup set (leaf armor, stone spear) and have it stashed in a nearby chest. Then make a tactical approach: clear the area with a bow from range. Only then grab your gravestone.
• Mistake: Using all your resources on one thing. Early game, wood and stone are scarce-ish. Don’t spend 200 wood on a giant fence when you could use that wood to make arrows and a bow. I built a watchtower and then realized I had no arrows to hunt food. Prioritize weapons, armor, and food stations before cosmetic base stuff. The base can wait. Your stomach cannot.
• Mistake: Fighting the Faeling Lord (first boss) at level 6. I did this. It one-shot me. The boss’s weakness is fire damage. Bring at least 120 Fire Arrows (crafted from feathers + resin + coal). Resin is on pine trees, coal is in the caves near the starting area. Shoot the boss from distance, kite around the arena pillars. Don’t melee unless you’re geared to the teeth. It took me 6 tries to figure this out. Save yourself the rage.

FAQ

Q: Can I play solo or is this game only balanced for multiplayer?

A: Solo is totally fine. The enemy HP scales to your party size. I’ve only played solo and beat everything. Some bosses are harder without someone to resurrect you, but you can always run, resummon a pet, or use the grappling hook to reset combat. Don’t let anyone tell you you need a group.

Q: What’s the best starting weapon?

A: The Chitin Spear or the Bone Spear (if you can find a skeleton—there’s one in the eastern cave). They have the longest range and let you poke enemies from behind a shield. The spear’s heavy attack also knocks small enemies down. It’s a stagger machine. 100% the spears until you get the Titan Sword.

Q: How do I get more inventory space?

A: Craft a Backpack upgrade at the workbench. You need 10 Leather, 5 Fiber, and 3 Thread. Leather comes from wolf spiders. Fiber from any plant. Thread from silk worm cocoons (found near the swamp area). Or use the Rock Isopod as a moving chest. He follows you and holds 40 items. Tames from feeding him 4 rocks and a mushroom.

Q: Why do bugs keep glitching through my walls?

A: Because the physics engine is held together by prayer and duct tape. Build your base on top of a giant rock or mushroom cap. Most bugs can’t path up vertical surfaces. If you build on the ground, they will walk through walls. It’s not fixable — it’s the game. Elevated bases are the only safe way. My first base got wiped by a cricket that phased through a stone wall. I’m not joking.

Q: Is the Flamethrower really that good?

A: It’s genuinely overpowered for the content before the final zone. It shreds swarms, sets bosses on fire, and makes the Toad King laughable. But it costs resources to maintain. If you don’t like farming oil, stick with the Titan Sword +5. Both work. The flamethrower is just more fun because it goes “FWOOSH” and everything screams.

Q: What’s the hardest part of the game that nobody warns you about?

A: The Swamp Zone. The enemies hit hard, the water slows you down, and there’s a giant frog that eats you in one bite if you get too close. I lost two full gear sets in that swamp because I couldn’t run away. Bring Anti-Poison salves (made from mushroom + aloe) and a grappling hook. Traverse the trees, not the water. Trust no frog.