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Grit Lake is where everyone in the Gritlands begins, and it’s designed to ease you in without pressure. Your Uncle Roger has a cabin on the south shore, a rod you can borrow, and enough patience to walk you through everything before you head into rougher territory. Nothing at the lake will attack you without warning, nothing will take your gear permanently, and there’s no timer on your stay — take as long as you need, learn every system the game offers here, and leave only when you’re ready. The city skyline across the water will still be there when you go.

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What’s here

Roger's Cabin

Your uncle’s place on the south shore is where the tutorial unfolds. Roger walks you through gathering, cooking, and combat before sending you into the cellar — where a nest of rats serves as your first real fight.

Sal's General Store

The first Fence node you’ll encounter. Sell everything you gather here for your opening stack of CASH. Sal pays fair rates for a starter area and keeps convenient hours.

The Bait Shop

Marge runs the bait shop at the water’s edge and buys your best catches above the standard rate. The dock out front is your first fishing spot — grab Roger’s rod and start pulling in income.

The Campground

The open ground near the treeline is where you pitch your first tent. That tent becomes your earliest home and stash — keep it stocked and you’ll always have a safe fallback while you’re at the lake.

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What to gather

Grit Lake gives you access to the four core resources that power the early game. Every gathering system you encounter later in the Gritlands is an expanded version of what you learn here.
  • Wood — cut from the trees ringing the shoreline; your most-used early material for building and crafting
  • Fish — caught off the dock with Roger’s rod; sells well to Marge and cooks into reliable food
  • Stone — chipped from the rocky ground where the shore meets the path toward The Quarry; essential for your tent and first tools
  • Scrap — picked from the junk pile behind Roger’s shed; your introduction to scavenging and the only way to find certain components this early

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Things to do first

Work through these steps in order and you’ll leave Grit Lake fully equipped for Millside and the Quarry. Rush past any of them and you’ll feel the gap.
1

Build your tent

Gather wood and stone from the shoreline and the rocky path. Follow Roger’s prompts to raise your shelter at the campground — once it’s up, you have a stash, a respawn anchor, and a place to store gear between sessions.
2

Make your first sale

Fill your pockets with whatever you’ve gathered and walk it over to Sal’s General Store. Hand it over, collect your first CASH, and get comfortable with the Fence system — you’ll be using it constantly.
3

Cook at the campfire

Take your fish and any foraged food to the campfire beside the tent. Cook a meal, eat it, and watch your energy bar recover. This loop — gather, cook, eat, keep going — is the heartbeat of the Gritlands.
4

Clear Roger's cellar

Roger has a rat problem under his floorboards. Head down, clear them out, and pick up whatever they’ve been sitting on. This is your first real fight, your first weapon drop, and the moment the game stops holding your hand completely.
Stand at the end of the dock on a clear evening and look northeast. You’ll see the Grit City skyline across the water, with one tower standing noticeably taller than everything else — that’s Grit Tower, and its penthouse is the game’s ultimate milestone. It looks impossibly far away right now. Keep fishing.