This is a Permafrost tips and tricks list built from habits that survive contact with the cold. Leave the starting area early, bank wood before night, treat warmth as something you schedule rather than something you hope for, and never trust a number that the developers have not published. Everything below comes from SpaceRocket Games and Toplitz Productions material or from guide-level play advice, and any figure that is not published is marked as unverified.
Twelve habits worth keeping
- Leave the starting area early. It is relatively safe, but you will run out of food quickly if you stay put. Move on while your Energy and supplies are still full.
- Bank wood before night. You cannot sleep unless you are adequately warm, so a lit fire near your sleeping spot is the baseline for every night and the wood has to be there before you need it.
- Sleep daily if you can. Energy is the sleep stat. Letting it run low affects your ability to survive, which is a bad state to discover during a storm.
- Sleep only where a fire is lit. Warmth, not the bed, is what unlocks sleep. A comfortable-looking spot that is cold will not let you rest.
- Use settlements for warmth. Some settlements are warm enough that Body Warmth stops draining, which resets the meter without spending any of your wood.
- Treat clothing as your temperature floor. Body Warmth drains whenever the temperature is below what your clothing resists you for. At zero you take health damage until you warm up or die.
- Read Effects and hover your debuffs. Buffs and debuffs sit in the top left of the Inventory screen, and hovering over a debuff tells you what removes it.
- Keep Stamina for emergencies. Stamina is spent by sprinting and similar actions. At zero those actions are locked until it recharges.
- Split roles in co-op. Up to 4 players can share a session, so put one person on fire and wood, one on food, one on salvage and one on scouting instead of everyone improvising.
- Do not buy into price speculation before 1.0. The Early Access FAQ says the price will very likely increase during Early Access and calls the lower starting prices a thank-you to early players. Treat anything beyond the current Steam listing as unverified.
- Distrust unsourced numbers. No drop rate, temperature, damage value or recipe output belongs in your planning unless it is published by the developer or publisher, or listed on the store page.
- Check the official Discord for developer posts. The developers use discord.gg/toplitz as their primary community hub, so it is the place to look for developer posts and clarifications.
What each stat does when it stops
| Stat | What happens when it empties | What protects it |
|---|---|---|
| Body Warmth | Health damage until you warm up, and death if you stay cold | Campfires, wall torches, warm settlements, clothing quality |
| Health | You die | Everything above it, in practice |
| Hunger | Negative effects begin | Food from hunting and scavenging |
| Energy | Too low, and it affects your ability to survive | Sleep, daily if you can |
| Stamina | Sprinting and similar actions become unavailable until it recharges | Keeping a reserve instead of sprinting everywhere |
Where these habits come from
The mechanical habits here, covering stats, warmth sources, sleep and the starting area, are guide-level play advice rather than an official specification, and they describe Early Access systems that can change inside the planned window of at least 12 months. The co-op count, the store facts and the price statement come from the Steam page and publisher material. When Early Access adds biomes, quests, NPCs, enemies, equipment and vehicles, parts of this list will need rereading.
What to read next
- Survival Basics : the five stats, Effects and how cold damage starts.
- Multiplayer and Co-op : how a 4-player group divides the same work.
- Getting Started : the Early Access build, the price and the buy checklist.
- Crafting Guide : where wood, warmth and gear actually come from.
Sources
- Permafrost on Steam : co-op count, the Early Access FAQ and the price statement.
- Permafrost beginner guide (TechRaptor) : stats, warmth sources, sleep requirements and starting-area advice.
- Permafrost game page (Toplitz Productions) : publisher overview and setting.