Tinkerlandsthrows you straight into crafting, exploring, and surviving on a colorful island world teeming with secrets. While it shares DNA with games like Terraria or Core Keeper, its layered systems and biome-based progression come with a learning curve. Even seasoned sandbox fans might find themselves caught off guard.

There are plenty of mechanics that are hidden or easily overlooked early on and building your first town, exploring dark cave systems, and surviving harsh biomes like the desert or snow all come with unique challenges. These beginner tips are here to help you along the way and avoid common mistakes as you learn the ropes in Tinkerlands.

A portal visible in the middle of a dense part of forest in Tinkerlands.

Build Near A Waypoint

Before you get too attached to your starter town, make sure youbuild close to one of theisland’s waypoints. It saves you tons of travel time later, especially once you starthopping between islandsand expanding your operations.

Buffs & summons reset when island hopping,so don’t pop buffs before fast-traveling. They’llvanishas soon as you change islands. The same goes for summoned creatures.

Low Specs Mode in the Graphics Settings in Tinkerlands.

Setting up near to a portal from the start meansless backtrackingand makes it quick andeasy to jump back to your starter townto pick up any items you may need.

Turn On Low Specs Mode In Caves

Exploring caves is tough when youcan’t see anything in the darkness. This is wherelow specs modecan help. To enable it:

Thisbrightens everything upand also removes most of the cave’s ambient darkness, making it wayeasier to spottreasure, enemies, and branching paths.

Stack To Nearby Chests floating text above open Inventory Window in Tinkerlands.

Use Quick Stack And Rename Chests

Is your inventory always full, and you can’t find where you placed certain items? Open yourinventory with Tab, and look for the icon that looks liketwo overlapping chestsnear the bottom left.

This Stack to Nearby Chestsbutton in your inventory will automatically sort items into nearby containers. It will move theentirety of your inventoryto the container and stack together what’s already there, so put what you want to keep in your quickslots.

Fishing from a dock at a secluded pond with pet crab in the forest in Tinkerlands.

Accidentally sold or stacked something important? Lock items in your inventory withAlt + Left Clickto protect them.

To help organize all those items, you canright-click the chest, go to the small scroll icon near the bottom left, and press it. A window will appear where you’re able to name your chest something helpful like “Ores” or “Gear.” It’s a small change that makes a huge difference.

The Magic Axe in a chest on the southest corner island in Tinkerlands.

Use Recall Scrolls To Return To Your Ship

Using aRecall scroll or potionwill send you directlyback to your ship,not your settlement. This is great for when you don’t want to trek all the way back home and yourinventory is full of loot,since you can teleport with your inventory.

You candrop off lootinto chests stored on your ship during your adventures to keep your inventory clear while exploring. Recall scrolls are sold randomly byTravelling Merchants, and require 20 MP to use. These scrolls are especially useful whenplaying with friends.

The Guide’s Information Window with Wood in the item slot, showing all applicable recies that use it in Tinkerlands.

Grab The Magic Pickaxe And Axe Early

you may findsome of the best tools, theMagic Pickaxeand the Magic Axe, early in the game by sailing or swimming totwo of the fourislands in the corners of the map.

They work like iron-tier tools butcost manainstead of durability. They’re not stronger, butgetting them early skips some crafting tiers,and is helpful if you want tomine goldor rare materials fast.

Standing next to a few Fire Flowers in the Desert Biome in Tinkerlands.

Swimming is a viable butslow way to crossthe distance between the main island and these special corner islands. Youwon’t run into hazardsin the sea, butit’ll take a whilewithout speed buffs, boots, or your ship.

Once you arrive at one of the corner islands, you’llsee a chest. Open it, and if you’re lucky, you’ll find one of the tools you’re looking for. If not, you’ll still find somerandomized loot. Unfortunately, which island has the Magic Pickaxe and Magic Axeis randomized per world, so you might have to end up visiting all four corners of the map.

Travelling Merchant Dialogue Box in Tinkerlands.

Talk Frequently With The Guide

Don’t ignore the guide NPC,they’re actually very useful. Speaking with them gives you quests, which show you how to progress through the game. The Guide also has a handy information panel.

Right Clickon The Guide, and you’ll see a “Guide” buttonnear the bottom of the dialogue box. Press it to open a blank information panel. Drop any item into the top slot, and you’ll instantly seeevery recipe or itemit’s used to craft.

This is especially helpful for tracking items that havemultiple crafting stages. Also, don’t forget to turn in any completed quests. They’ll often reward you withpotions or silver.

Prepare For Desert And Snow Biomes

Tosurvive harsher zones, you’ll need protection. Before you enter the Desert Biome,find the BardNPC wandering around the Grasslands biome. Speak to him, and he’llplay you a magical songthat gives you a ten minuteheat resistance buff.

For more protection in the desert, you cancraft yourself some Desert Gogglesat a Working Table. You’ll need:

To survive theSnow Biome, you want tofind Fire Flowers, which are found in the Desert Biome. Theseglowing, firey flowersare then used to brew Hot Drinks, giving youprotection from the Frozen debufffor five minutes. You can alsobuy Hot Drinks from The MerchantNPC.

Once you have frozen protection, you can start tofarm Yeti Furin the Snow Biome tocraft a Warm Scarf. The Warm Scarf gives youpermanent protectionfrom Frozen. To craft one at the Working Table, you’ll need:

Buy A Healing Staff From The Travelling Merchants

Having aHealing Staffcan help you survive early in the game. It’s aranged weapon that fires a restorative projectilecapable of healing whoever it hits,including the user.

It’s especially useful because you can use it to recover health even when yourpotion is on its 30s cooldown. Just aim and fire to restore HP.

Food buffsdon’t stack. However, potions and candy, even though it is a “food”, can be used alongside food without overriding its effects.

You can buy the Healing Staff from Travelling Merchants when they’re in stock. These merchants always have at least seven items in stock, and sella variety of unique weapons and potions,like Teleport Potions or the Fireball Spell. Always check their stock, as you might stumble on a huge upgrade.