Mountain Shadow walkthrough: your first ten minutes
Your first ten minutes in Mountain Shadow go like this: choose a save slot, pack the sledge, walk five days to the mountain, then plan your first spring and press Go!. The game fills in your first plan for you, so you can't get it wrong. This page walks you through each step.
1. Choose a save slot
After the Contenta intro and the game's own intro ("Spring 1856. Off to the mountain!"), you see Choose your adventure with three save slots. Pick an empty one and press New game. Each slot is its own family in its own valley. A slot you have played says Continue, and shows the chapter, the year and the season.
2. Pack the sledge
The first chapter is Five days to the mountain. A story card says goodbye to the village, and then you see "What goes on the sledge?"
- The sledge has 8 spaces. "Tap things to put them on or take them off. The axe and the goats come anyway!"
- The sledge starts with a good pack already on it: the cooking pot, the fishing net, seed potatoes, dried food and salt.
- If you change it, keep the fishing net and the seed potatoes. Without the net, fishing is only half as fast. Without seed potatoes, there is nothing to plant this spring.
Press Off we go! when you are ready. Every item is on the trek page.
3. Walk five days
The family walks one leg each day. Every evening there is a small question, like "The river is still frozen. Where do we cross?" Tap an answer, read the story card, and press Walk on!. On one day the goats run off and you look for them. If they are not there, it says Not here! and you look again. No answer is wrong: the family always arrives safely.
Press Faster (F) to walk quicker. If you have walked the trek before in this browser, you can press Skip the trip (K).
4. Arrive and look around
On the last day you see Marsfjället, and the family decides where to live. Now chapter 2, Our place, begins in Spring. You are on the farm view. Try the Valley and Fell buttons (T) to see the whole map.
5. Your first plan
The game has already given everyone a job. A short lesson shows you the buttons:
- "Pick someone in your family." Tap a face at the bottom.
- "Now pick a job for them." Tap a job in the ring.
- "Ready? Start the season!" Press Go!.
- "Open the build menu to see what you can build."
- "Look around! Try Valley or Fell."
The three goals for the first spring are Build a lean-to, Plant the seed potatoes and Children catch fish. A good first spring:
| Who | Job | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Father | Fell trees | Logs for the lean-to. You start with none |
| Mother | Build | She builds the lean-to as soon as there are 2 logs |
| The eldest child (13 or 14) | Plant | Seed potatoes go in the ground in spring only |
| Children from 7 | Fish, or Wood | Fish for food, firewood for the cold |
| The little ones under 7 | Animals or Rest | These are the only jobs they can do |
6. Press Go! and watch
Everyone walks out and works for one minute. Logs, fish and wood come in. The lean-to grows. If a building is slow, tap it: its card says why, for example No logs or It needs a grown-up.
7. Read the report
"Look what you did!" shows your three piles. The first goals get a tick. Press Next season and plan Early summer. Your jobs stay, so you only change what you want. The next big goals are Start the cabin and Hang fish on the rack.
Common mistakes on day one
- Nobody fells trees. Every building costs logs, and only Fell trees gives logs.
- Forgetting the potatoes. Plant only works in Spring. Miss it and you wait a whole year.
- No drying rack. Fresh fish and berries spoil at the end of a warm season. A drying rack turns them into winter food. See the winter piles.
See also
- How to play: the plan, Go! and report loop.
- Jobs: every job in the ring.
- Buildings: what to build after the lean-to.
- Tips for new settlers: your first year, season by season.
- Like a gentle start? The Bloom Haven guide and the Lofoten Catch guide have walkthroughs too.
- Your family is waiting: play Mountain Shadow.
