Permafrost: Getting Started & First Shelter

Permafrost is a game about margins: fuel, warmth, and how far you can travel before the weather closes the door behind you. Your first session should not chase a big haul — it should establish a loop that can be repeated.

First session, in order

1. Establish warmth before anything else. A working heat source is the boundary between playing the game and losing to the temperature bar.
2. Repair and secure your starting shelter. Do not build a second base yet — make the first one dependable, with storage and a place to recover.
3. Take inventory of what the area gives you. Note the ruins, materials and routes nearest to shelter; that is your practice ground.
4. Run one short scavenging trip with a defined target. Pick a material you actually need, go get it, and return — do not improvise the destination mid-trip.
5. Use the dog as a scout, not a passenger. Send it ahead on unfamiliar routes and let it carry the load on the way back.
6. Push your safe line outward by one shelter at a time. Each new shelter should shorten the walk to a resource you already use.
7. Upgrade cold protection before ambition. Better insulation widens your map more reliably than better weapons do.

The loop to repeat

Scavenge → return → craft and repair → extend the shelter network → scavenge further. Every step should reduce the risk of the next one. If a trip does not make the next trip safer, it was a shopping run, not progress.

Co-op notes

With up to four players, give each person a job on every expedition: one anchors the shelter work, one hauls, one scouts. Because exposure is the real enemy, a teammate who turns back early is doing more for the group than one who pushes on.