Start Location & Basic Guide

Here is a very basic starter guide with some tips.

The easiest place to start a home base is somewhere next to the water and preferably surrounded by water. The reasoning is that critters prefer not to swim if possible and will only swim towards the player in case they are engaged in an attack. An ideal location would be a small island because it is easily defensible.

By far the fastest way to gain experience is to kill critters however as talents are unlocked, repeatedly crafting some items that do not cost much in terms of resources, is also a good way to speed up leveling.

One of the easiest tactic to kill critters and even large animals such as bears, is to run towards the water and swim away from them while throwing spears or firing a bow. Animals tend to swim slower than the player such that even going backward and away from the animals makes it such that the animals never get near the player.