I’ve shipwrecked on an island with only a waterskin and some blood stones on what remains of the ship. It was time to find a place to set up a settlement. I needed to craft The Eye of Odin. I can only hope with limited combat abilities that I don’t run into death itself before setting up.

As I'm about to leave, there is a scary monster that must have been what destroyed my boat. Not knowing if it would come ashore, I quickly ran into a nearby meadow. It thankfully did not follow me. I know I have zero chance of taking it on.

I knew I needed to set up shelter somewhere. Where, however, was quite a good question. I run around at first, collecting sticks and rocks off the ground. I’d had no idea at the time that sticks would become such an abundant resource; there would be hundreds rotting on the ground at a time later.

While the meadow was nice and flat. It seemed like I'd have to be doing a lot of running for logs I'd be getting from trees. I decided, for the time being, I'd take my time and do some running around. If nothing else, I could settle in this area near my shipwreck. It would also be quite some time before I could even chop down the trees nearby.

I did end up crafting a fire. After running around the local area for a bit. I ended up returning for the night and spending it near my campfire. My second night, I would learn not to waste time like that. As things like sleep are not needed unless I need to recover from a battle.

At least the area I found myself in had some berries to pick for food. Since I could not drink the seawater, I ended up finding some water pooling around that I could drink as well. It would then become quite some time before I'd return to this location. I ended up walking off into the woods in search of a place to call home.

Along the way, I further cut down trees to collect logs and other things. I managed to craft some rather basic tools. At the time, I did not realize I should have been collecting blood stones. As later on I'd be traveling a great distance just to get another inventory full of them before making a long walk back home.

I ended up walking through the forest all the way across the island to the other coast. This island I found myself trapped on seemed huge. I knew even then I stood no chance of exploring the entire thing within a reasonable amount of time. I’d need to set up a village long before then.

Some places I found myself in were filled with trees I lacked the proper axe to chop down. Others were nothing but the lower-tier trees as far as the eye could see. Neither situation seemed ideal. So, I kept walking.

I was a bit more daring in the darkness. I did not return to the campfire I had made. I walked in the darkness. More than once, I ran into things I knew I stood zero chance of killing. Thankfully, they only seemed interested in keeping me out of the areas they inhabited instead of chasing me halfway across the island. I considered this luck.

I ended up finding a couple of spots I thought would be decent. They were not that far from the shoreline. As the shore had thatch, rocks, and creatures that dropped stuff I could use. Along with access to a little bit of food.

From a defense standpoint. I felt that having the beach on one side of any village I'd end up creating would be an advantage as well. While I did not know if there would be attacks from the sea. It just felt like I'd only have to worry about attacks coming from the three other directions.

I then found a sign that I was close to a place I'd call home. While out exploring yet another new area. I ended up finding this giant rock that claimed to be a cave network nearby. I’d end up needing to build a structure on it to mine inside. This would be an extremely important discovery that would set me up for success later.

I had no idea of this at the time. I just love caves. Tell me there is a cave in a game, and I'm going to go out of my way to try to camp near it or in it. Let alone set up a village nearby.

I ended up setting up right at the edge of a forest. Near me, there were lots of trees I could cut down. Off into the not-so-far distance that my one-day village would almost expand out to would be higher-tier trees. This setup would end up being yet another huge advantage in progressing along. I had struck gold with this location, I just did not know it yet.

After exploring nearby, I felt like this was better than any other location I had found. There were some enemy camps to the north of me. They were, however, far enough away that I did not seem to be an issue.

I ended up spending my third night next to a lit fire under a makeshift shelter. I now felt like I had a fighting chance in this unknown realm. I had no idea of the difficulties that would be ahead of me. I just felt like I had taken the first major steps in stabilizing my ability to deal with challenges head-on.

I’m rather glad I spent the first three days looking for the perfect spot. I’d end up making back those three days and then some in time saved by being at a decent spot. If I had to do it all again, I'm not sure I could have ended up at a better spot.

By the fourth day, I was now setting up The Eye of Odin. This would end up being something that needed to be protected at all costs. It would also be what I'd need to put five blood stones into to summon one villager. Making this thing quite important to my village.

My first villager ended up having some perks that made them ideal for being a fighter. For the time, however, Siv would just be a humble builder. I did not even have a shelter for him to stay in. Let alone food. He would be by my side for quite some time on the decent days and the ones filled with horror.

Final Thoughts

While you could say my humble start in a village was not out of the woods yet. As I had yet to chop down those woods around me. We also lacked walls, shelter, food, and guards. We were still rather defenseless. It was, however, in such an ideal location that we would only grow in power from here. At least The Eye of Odin was up and was not under attack.

Information

Screenshots were taken, and content was written by @Enjar about ASKA.

Disclosure: A review copy of the game was received for free.

Disclosure: This content was written during early access.