Beginner guide · Steam Demo
Exploration basics: energy, resting and warmth
Spend your exploration hand with a purpose, read the rest preview and leave before optional rewards cost too much health.
Demo build 23718635The short answer
Use your exploration cards on matching room interactions, then decide whether another rest is worth its displayed health cost. The room’s Rest control refreshes exploration resources; it is a different action from playing the healing card named Rest.
In this guide
Cards explained in this guide
Match the card to the object
Look around the room and hover over interactable objects. Match Dig, Fix, Reveal, Unlock, Ignite or Feed to an action you actually hold. A card can offer alternatives, so decide which interaction matters most before spending it.
Your exploration deck is your access to rewards and preparation. Keep enough useful interaction cards to open the way, improve attacks or recover. Adding every Camp card you see can leave you with facilities and no convenient way to use them.
- Check current health and exploration energy.
- Identify the exit and the interaction it needs.
- Find one optional reward or upgrade worth pursuing, and check its required action.
- Reserve energy and a suitable room space before placing a Camp facility.
- After each action, recheck the room and hand rather than automatically spending the rest of your cards.
Resting is not the same as playing Rest
| Action | What it does | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| The room’s Rest control | Refreshes your exploration hand and energy while the room’s rest consequences apply. | Read the threat, warmth and resulting health-change preview before clicking. |
| The Rest card | Costs 2 energy, heals 10 at base and increases its own healing by 3. | Needs available Camp space. It does not mean the room’s Rest control always heals you. |
| Camp Fire | Places a Camp structure that contributes warmth and can be ignited. | The actual room state and available space; warmth is part of the rest calculation. |
| Marshmallows | Provides healing scaled by warmth and grants energy. | Its up-front cost and current healing preview; do not substitute a fixed healing value. |
Read the net result, not just the threat number
The rest tooltip separates threat from warmth and shows their resulting effect. Warmth offsets threat. If threat exceeds warmth, resting can cost health; when warmth is higher, the room can be safe for further resting. Special healing effects can also change the outcome.
Use the displayed result for this room. Do not subtract the threat number from your health a second time after warmth has already been included, and do not assume a campfire makes every later rest harmless. The state can change after you act or rest.
When should you leave?
Leave when the next optional reward is unlikely to repay the health and resources needed to reach it. Before taking another damaging rest, name the exact action you are trying to draw and the useful thing it would let you do. If the answer is only “maybe something good,” move on.
A key upgrade can justify a deliberate cost; an extra low-impact reward often cannot. Compare the cost with the health you need for the next fight, not just the amount you can survive losing in the current room.
| Situation | Practical response |
|---|---|
| A facility is ready and you need one affordable interaction | Check whether one more hand can reasonably finish that upgrade. |
| You are missing several pieces | Avoid repeated rests chasing an entire combo in one room. |
| The next rest would leave you dangerously low | Take available recovery or leave; a card reward does not prevent immediate death. |
| You have no usable Camp space | Do not spend energy as though the facility can be placed anywhere. |