Fade to Silence is a recent survival action game from Black Forest and THQ Nordic. You can check out our review of the game here. The game places the user in an unforgiving winter wasteland full of monsters and environmental threats. It doesn’t explain much, so getting started and avoiding the permanent death mechanics will be difficult for some.
Pace of Play
In Fade to Silence you have to move fast. Nearly everything that is thrown at you is an obstacle meant to run out your clock. Blizzards drain your temperature and health fast, monsters delay your travels, crafting causes a dwindle in your supplies. In order to keep up, you need to lock down resource locations, and capture Outposts as quick as you can.
Don’t Freeze to Death
Obviously, the most important thing to remember about is keeping warm. That means:
- Keeping track of shelters (marked on your map with a blue dot and a house icon)
- Ensuring that you have enough crafting material to either craft a campfire or have one ready to place in a shelter
- Upgrading to the fiber coat as soon as possible for convenience
- Staying put in the event of a blizzard.
Shelters are especially handy for avoiding death Remember: Hypothermia is as dangerous as any of the monsters you may run into!
Don’t Starve
Once you make sure your future as an ice cube is kept at bay, it’s also a good idea to make sure you don’t perish because of lack of food.
Hunting wildlife – marked with an orange dot and a deer’s head on the world map – is a good source of nutrition, but get used to something far less palatable: Grubroot. Although it won’t win any cooking show awards, grubroots are commonly available and can be easily cooked using a campfire. Always keep a stock of those on hand and rather than let your food languish in the home base, carry it on your person. As they say, a snack a day keeps a horrible death at bay.
Recruit Followers
Where’s the fun in turning into an icicle? Why, in doing so with a team!
Recruiting non-player characters to help you can be done in two ways: Waiting until they find their way to your camp or proactively seeking them out. The former will naturally occur in time. The latter requires a bit of leg work. First, you need to find them. Survivors usually spawn at special points of interest, marked with a yellow dot and a star on the world map. Finding such a point of interest does not mean that they will definitely spawn, as the chance is random. It’s perfectly possible to spend six hours alone and only find one fellow survivor at the end.
Once they are found, they are usually imprisoned by a hive. Once that hive is destroyed, the survivors will actually attack you – since they are themselves corrupted – and need to be persuaded to stop attacking you, violently. Survivors will collapse to the ground in a wounded state once they’re knocked down to 25% health. At this point, you can let them die, or heal them up and talk to them. Once the conversation is over, you will get a chance to view their stats and decide whether to recruit them.
Your Camp
In Fade to Silence, your camp serves as a refuge from the harsh environment outside. However, it’s not just a safe haven – it’s also a hub for crafting and gathering resources. But be warned – monsters may raid your camp from time to time, so it’s important to be prepared.
To help you manage your camp and its resources, recruiting a follower is crucial as soon as possible. Keep an eye out for notifications indicating that an event is nearby, as this often signals the opportunity to recruit a new follower. Once you have followers, you can assign them to various tasks, such as gathering, building, or crafting.
It’s worth noting that certain resources, such as tainted wood and meat, can only be crafted by followers with the relevant specialty, such as woodcutting or hunting. You’ll need to construct specific buildings to facilitate these tasks. Don’t forget to build a hut for each follower you recruit, as well. Here are the requirements for each of these structures:
- Hut: 48x firewood, 4x pristine wood
- Woodcarver’s Corner: 12x firewood, 4x pristine wood
- Butcher’s Corner: 12x firewood, 4x pristine wood
Keep a close eye on the crystal icon in the upper right corner of the UI – this indicates when your camp is about to be raided by monsters. With a well-managed camp and a loyal team of followers, you’ll be better equipped to survive in the frozen wasteland of Fade to Silence.
Make Sure you are Well Equipped
When venturing into the icy wilderness of Fade to Silence, you must bring the right tools. A few key items can make all the difference between surviving and succumbing to the harsh environment.
First and foremost, you’ll want to make sure you have at least 12 pieces of firewood on hand. This will ensure that you can start a fire and stay warm if you get caught in a blizzard and there’s a shelter nearby. Alternatively, you can bring a makeshift shelter to provide protection from the elements.
It’s also a good idea to have some healing items, such as poultices and tonics. Poultices restore your current health, while tonics restore your maximum health. The latter is especially useful when effects like hypothermia have “locked out” a portion of your health bar. Be sure to craft these items before you head out:
- Makeshift Shelter: 24x firewood, 1x pristine wood
- Healing Poultice (current health): 6x eldritch essence, 3x bloodhaw, 1x grub root
- Healing Tonic (max health): 6x eldritch essence, 3x blightbane, 1x grub root
Additionally, you may want to consider bringing a dog sled summoning item and stacks of arrows for later in the game. With these essential items in tow, you’ll be better equipped to face the challenges that await you in the frozen wasteland of Fade to Silence.
Be Aware of Bugs
While Fade to Silence is undoubtedly a visually stunning game, it’s not without its fair share of bugs and glitches. In Survival Mode, where every decision counts, a single glitch can easily derail your progress and cut your run short.
Some common issues players may encounter include sleds getting stuck, characters getting stuck, enemies shooting through textures, and more. One particularly frustrating instance occurred when I traveled to the next zone, only for my sled to get stuck on a cliffside. I managed to make it to a shelter with only a sliver of health remaining, but then a random enemy somehow lobbed a boiling pustule through the roof and killed my character.
Given these issues, you may want to consider save scumming to avoid losing progress due to glitches. To do this, simply make a backup folder and copy the “autosave.sav” file before heading out. This can come in handy for particularly dangerous or distant treks, but it’s important not to rely on this method too often as it can ruin the immersive and unpredictable nature of the game.
Overall, while the bugs in Fade to Silence can be frustrating, the game is still a worthwhile experience for those looking for a challenging survival adventure in a stunningly rendered frozen wasteland.
