If you’re new to Ancient Savo, this guide provides essential tips, tactics, and a list of hotkeys to help you get started and make the most of your gameplay experience.
Game Overview
In Ancient Savo, the game is open-ended with no clear objectives. Your main goal is to keep your family alive, surviving in the wilderness. You can marry, have children, and teach skills to the next generation. As your children grow up, you can send them out to start their own homesteads. The game focuses on long-term survival, where your entire family works together to complete tasks, learn new skills, and grow over generations.
You don’t control a single character but the entire family. You assign them tasks and set their daily routines. Over time, you can split the family into smaller groups and assign different jobs to each. The game simulates gradual developments over generations, such as learning difficult skills like ironworking.
Starting the Game
When launching Ancient Savo for the first time, the game will ask you to set basic hardware settings. Generally, it’s recommended to go with the default options unless you need to customize the data storage folder for your saves and mods.
Starting a New Game
The starting situation affects the supplies you begin with. If you select the Pioneers mode, you can choose the age of your children, and it’s easier to start with older ones.
Difficulty levels determine how harsh the simulation will be. Higher difficulty increases the chance of accidents and illnesses. Your family size at the start will grow naturally during the game.
You can also customize your family name or stick with the randomized one.
Start Modes:
- The Pioneers: You start fresh with no history. After trading for supplies at the market, you select your starting location.
- The Third Generation: Your grandparents have already established a house, and your parents have raised their first child. The game begins when the child is 18 years old, and you start with a homestead and fields.
- The Offspring: Similar to the third generation start, but the game begins when the children are still young. You can’t control the game initially and must observe the AI-run household to simulate learning from your parents.
Tutorials
Selecting a tutorial will guide you through the basics, like how to use the UI, plan tasks, and adjust routines.
2D and 3D
You can switch between 2D and 3D modes during gameplay. If you want to save system resources, you can disable one mode. This option can be changed whenever you load a saved game.
How to Play
Click on a map tile, and a radial menu will appear, showing available tasks based on the tile and the time of year. Add tasks to the queue, and your family will perform them in order. For tasks like MARKET or HUNT, it doesn’t matter which tile you select, as these actions send the family away from home on extended trips.
Almost all actions are accessible via map tiles or UI widgets, though using hotkeys can make some tasks easier.
Hotkeys
Here are the default hotkeys to streamline your gameplay:
BASIC
| Action | Hotkeys |
|---|---|
| CANCEL | ESC |
| CONFIRM | ENTER |
| HELP | F1 |
| SETTINGS | F2 |
| SHOW MESSAGE LOG | F3 |
| PAUSE / RESUME | SPACE |
| GAME SPEED SLOWER | Z |
| GAME SPEED FASTER | X |
| FAST FORWARD TO SPRING | CTRL + X |
MAP
| Action | Hotkeys |
|---|---|
| BACK TO HOME | HOME |
| GO TO LOCATION 1 | 1 |
| GO TO LOCATION 2 | 2 |
| GO TO LOCATION 3 | 3 |
| PIN LOCATION 1 | SHIFT + 1 |
| PIN LOCATION 2 | SHIFT + 2 |
| PIN LOCATION 3 | SHIFT + 3 |
| FIND TERRAIN | END |
| ZOOM IN | NUMPAD PLUS |
| ZOOM OUT | NUMPAD MINUS |
| RESET ZOOM | NUMPAD * |
| TOGGLE 2D / 3D | 4 |
| TOGGLE HELPER GRID | NUMPAD 0 |
| SCROLL NORTH | ARROW UP |
| SCROLL SOUTH | ARROW DOWN |
| SCROLL WEST | ARROW LEFT |
| SCROLL EAST | ARROW RIGHT |
Experiment with these hotkeys and gameplay tips to effectively manage your family and survive in the wilderness of Ancient Savo!