This guide is for anyone just starting out. We'll go over how to control Cubby, where to find your first chest, how to open it, and how not to get lost in the dark.
How it all begins
Your first adventure is underground. Cubby comes to in an old mine, and you need to get him back up to the surface: walk, jump, ride a mine cart and drill through a cave-in. By the time you're out, your hands will know the controls.
Then you pick Cubby's name and look, and there he is at home, at the edge of the forest. His belt holds a drill (in the first cell) and ten torches. That's all for now: everything else you'll dig up and make yourself.
Controls on a computer
- A and D or the arrow keys: walk.
- Space, W or ↑: jump.
- W and S: climb a ladder up and down.
- Left mouse button: drill a block next to Cubby (hold the button), pick up a chest or a key, swing a weapon.
- Right mouse button: place a block, a torch or a ladder, eat what's in your hand, plant a seed, read a letter or open a book.
- E: the most important key. A thought bubble pops up over Cubby's head: "Workbench", "Bed · take a rest", "Spot for a chest"... Press E and Cubby does what he's thinking of. With no thought, E works like the right mouse button wherever the cursor is.
- 1 to 9: pick a belt cell.
- I or Tab: the inventory with all your things.
- Q: throw away one item from your hand; Shift+Q: the whole stack.
- L: the task journal; K: the Adventure Diary.
- Enter: chat; Z and X: zoom out and in; M: sound; Esc: pause.
Controls on a phone
- The joystick: walk, climb ladders and aim the drill.
- The action button does whatever suits the thing in your hand: drill, hit, place, eat. When there's something nearby you can use, it lights up gold. That's the same as E on a computer.
- A separate jump button.
- The belt at the bottom: tap a cell to take that item in hand. The backpack next to the belt opens all your things.
- Pause is under the hero's picture, with the task journal button beside it.
Grandad's letter and your first chest
A letter from Grandad Oldby lies by the door of the house. Read it! Grandad writes that there's an old stump next to the house, and under its roots he hid your first chest and its little key. Dig right by the stump: it's not deep at all.
Found it? Left-click the chest and it goes into your things. Same with the key.
Now carry the chest home to the treasury, where the chest stands are:
- Stand by an empty stand, and Cubby thinks "Spot for a chest".
- Take the chest in hand on your belt and press E. The chest goes onto the stand.
- Press E at the chest once more. If you have a key that matches the chest (a Wooden Key for a Wooden Chest), it turns, and an alarm clock with the time appears over the chest.
A key only turns on a stand in your own house's treasury, so you can't open a chest out in the field.
A Wooden Chest opens in 2 to 3 minutes. The richer the chest, the longer the wait: a copper one takes 6 to 9 minutes, a golden one an hour or an hour and a half, and the richest of all, the infernal one, a day or a day and a half. The clock runs in real time, so feel free to get on with other things.
When the alarm rings, walk right up to the chest and open it. An artifact flies out and lands in your belt.
The shelf and coins
Put the artifact on the mantel shelf over the fireplace. There it starts earning coins, which pile up next to it. Walk over the pile to collect it. Don't forget to drop by home: a pile stops growing after 3 hours.
The shelf has 5 places, and the artifact Cubby stands under shows how many coins a minute it earns. More shelves and vault levels under the house are bought with coins.
The drill and the workbench
To dig, point the cursor at a block next to Cubby and hold the left button. Trees come down the same way: drill the trunk and the wood goes into your things.
The workbench is in your house: walk up and press E. A 5×5 grid opens; lay things out in it by the recipe. The very first recipes:
- Wood in any cell: 4 planks.
- Two planks, one over the other: 4 sticks.
- Coal over a stick: 4 torches.
- Seven sticks in an H shape: 3 ladders.
- Wooden Sword: two planks over a stick.
- String: three bunches of grass in a row. Your drill cuts the grass too.
- Bow and Fishing Rod: sticks and string.
- Arrows: a stone over a stick makes 4 at once.
Recipes go into the Crafts chapter of Grandad's Book and unlock there one by one. A recipe you haven't unlocked yet shows as a shadow with a hint: "Make ... to unlock". And if you guess a recipe on your own, the workbench makes it anyway, and the book writes it down by itself. You can also try recipes right here on the site, on the Workbench page.
Sooner or later you'll want a stronger drill. It's made at the workbench too, from your old drill, coins and ore. The first one, the Steel Drill, costs 2,500 coins, 12 iron ore and 8 coal. After it come the Silver, Golden, Diamond and Infernal Drills.
Not every drill can take every ore. If your drill is too weak, it skids off the block in a spray of sparks, the cursor turns amber with a little lock, and a hint pops up: "Too hard — it takes the Steel Drill". Time for a new one!
Stamina and hearts
Next to the hero's picture you can see how many hearts he has (5 at first) and how many bolts, his stamina.
- Drilling uses up bolts. When they run out, the game tells you: "Out of energy — now the drill costs hearts". Rest for a bit and your stamina comes back by itself in about a minute. In your bed at home (E by the bed) you can take a rest or sleep till morning.
- Hearts don't come back on their own. Food heals them: mushrooms, berries, apples, fried fish. Food heals over 3 seconds, not all at once. And the Fly Agaric is poison, so don't eat it!
- You can't eat raw fish or crayfish: cook them in the Cooking Pot at the fireplace (E by the fireplace).
- If your hearts run out, Cubby faints and wakes up at home by his bed. But the chests and keys he was carrying scatter through caves all over the map, and you'll have to find them again.
You can get more hearts, too. Deep underground you'll come across Crystals of Life: take one to the Mage of Life (he lives west of the house) and he gives Cubby an extra heart. A Crystal of Vigor from the caves goes to the Mage of Vigor (east of the house) for an extra bolt. The mages take the crystal and some coins and put Cubby into a trance for a while. If you wake him early, you get the crystal and the coins back.
Darkness and creatures
Underground it's truly dark: without light, Cubby sees only three or four tiles around him. Place torches (right mouse button): they light up the caves and make it easy to find your way back.
Creatures live in the caves: spiders, rats, and bats at night. At first they're afraid of light, but they soon get used to it, so keep a weapon handy.
- The sword strikes in a combo of three, then your arm takes a short rest. Each strike hits the two nearest enemies.
- The bow shoots arrows from afar, which is handy before an enemy reaches you.
- A shield takes 70% of a blow. You don't need to hold it: it protects you as long as it's among your things. Shields are made at the workbench, from wooden to golden.
At night, Seasoned creatures show up more often: they're stronger than usual, and each has a trait of its own.
The Book, the Journal and the Diary
- Grandad's Book lies by the other door of the house. Pick it up and open it with the right mouse button (or E) while it's in your hand. The first chapter, Crafts, holds the workbench recipes. Next come the chapters of the lands, with their artifacts (just silhouettes until you find them) and a Finds bookmark. The last chapter, Nature, covers fish, forest gifts and creatures. Everything you find, catch and cook gets written into the book by itself.
- The task journal (L) holds up to three tasks at a time. Done with one? Press CLAIM and collect your coins. Later rewards also include star shards and keys.
- The Adventure Diary (K) is all about quests. Cubby writes down every adventure himself and draws pictures in pen. Each page has "What next?" and "Where": which way to go and how many meters. The forest has 11 quests and the desert 12. If you're stuck, check the quests page for hints, from a gentle nudge to the plain answer.
Neighbors
Every world has six houses, and other Cubbies live in the rest of them. The treasure underground is shared: it goes to whoever finds it first. So don't dawdle!
Saving
The game saves by itself, on the server. There's no save button.
Want to play the same hero on another device? In the main menu, press the ACCOUNT button in the corner. There you can link your hero to an e-mail (you'll get a six-digit code), Yandex ID, Google or VK ID, or get a CODE FOR ANOTHER DEVICE. On the other device, press I ALREADY HAVE A HERO on the first screen, or SWITCH HERO in the account menu.
What's next
Open chests, set out your artifacts, save up coins. When you have enough for a new land, the game tells you: "Enough coins for a new biome... Unlock it on the world map". The map opens from the pause menu: Esc, then CHOOSE BIOME. The desert costs 1,000,000 coins and 3 starcoins; starcoins are minted in Grandad's Fuser from star shards. And your coins are shared across all your lands.
Good luck down there, Cubby!
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