The Carrier and Crows – Quick Guide, Tips, and Tricks

This guide has everything about how the game works, along with tricks to maximize what you’ve got, handling the day-night cycle, and more in The Carrier and Crows. Spoilers ahead, but they won’t spoil the story!

The Basics

Health and Food

• Your health is displayed as the red bar at the top of your screen. It decreases when you gather items manually or swim.
• Certain bushes and mushrooms won’t harm your health when gathered.
• To replenish your health, consume raspberries, mushrooms, or cooked meat. You can do this by right-clicking them in your inventory or assigning them to your hotbar and using the corresponding hotkey.

Objectives

• Your objectives are shown beneath the health bar.
• Progressing through the game and moving between biomes involves completing these objectives.
• Each biome contains a landmark that can be interacted with. Craft various key items and place them in the Landmarks inventory to finish the biome.
• You must fulfill all other objectives before the key item is accepted.

Menus and Interactions

• To access the inventory/crafting menu, press “I”.
• The crafting UI comprises two tabs: one for “learning” and one for “learned”.
• All crafted items must be learned before they can be crafted.
• Learning and crafting items involve dragging resources from the inventory to the crafting window, indicated by the box and arrow icon.
• For quick crafting of multiples, position all necessary resources adjacent to the crafting window for faster drag-and-drop actions.
• Press “E” to interact with toolboxes, placed items, locks, shrines, and other blockades.
• Some crafted items can only be made at placed workstations like the campfire or furnace.

Tools

• Using appropriate tools for gathering various resources saves health, as some resources require specific tools.
• You can gather with both your hands and any one-handed tools simultaneously.
• Gathering is animation-locked until the resource is gathered.
• The hit sound/particle effect from gathering can help time the next click.

Tool Boxes

Toolbox Info

• Red toolboxes are located at the starting area for each biome and near certain characters.
• These toolboxes contain stories about the characters and tools that enhance gathering speed.

Toolbox Locations

• Biome 1
  • On the dam beside the blue tent.
• Biome 2
  • Inside the crow spire next to the sleeping crow lady.
• Biome 3
  • At the starting area for the biome next to the tool bench.
• Biome 4
  • Beyond the biome entrance near the grave stone statue.
  • On the second floor of the scrap shed.
  • Inside the house near the river.
• Biome 5
  • In the crashed plane at the biome’s outset.
  • Past the mountain tunnel beside the large block of ice.

Biome 1

Hunting Rabbits

• Rabbits require 2 arrows to be taken down.
• They become spooked at longer distances, particularly if the player is moving quickly.
• When moving uphill, rabbits can outrun the player.

The Crow Lady

• If either the player or the crow lady leaves the outer circle, the puzzle resets.
• When in proximity, the crow lady will move away from the player.
• The player must maneuver her towards the smoke stack.

Day Night Cycle

• Once the bow is crafted, prioritize hunting rabbits during the day.
• Visiting smoke stacks resets the time to midday upon completion.
• Smoke stacks spawn extra crows when completed.

Food

• Berries and fiber are both obtained from the same bush.
• Gathering numerous berries is crucial for crafting in this biome.
• Store any surplus fiber; it’s needed in other biomes.
• Avoid consuming cooked meat you gather; it’s required for the key item.
• Collect all feathers from the crow spire platforms; they’re necessary.

Biome 2

Fishing

• When you swim, your health decreases, but you’re safe standing in shallow water.
• To regain lost health from swimming, eat food from your hotbar.
• The fishing action happens when the net is swinging, not when you click the mouse.

Day Night Cycle

• There’s no way to reset time in this area.
• During the day, focus on hunting salamanders and fishing, which takes a good chunk of time.
• Optimize wood and stone gathering for nighttime.

Food

• Collect mushrooms for sustenance.
• Cook salamander meat on a campfire for nourishment.
• Raspberry bushes grow on the biome edges.
• Avoid eating snowberries as they hurt your health.
• If your health runs out, swimming becomes impossible.
• Running out of food while swimming leads to teleportation to the stone shrine.
• At respawn, set up a campfire to cook hunted meat.

Biome 3

Sneak Sequence

• The cave dweller randomly selects a point near the player, moves there, and pauses.
• This pause lasts between 4 and 6 seconds.
• The cave dweller’s lantern light indicates its vision range.
• Stick to the right side of the cave and follow the lamp posts for the easiest route.
• You can save and reload at any point during this sequence.

Chase Sequence

• Upon sneaking to the far end of the cave, the cave dweller positions itself, initiating the chase sequence.
• Immediately turn around and start running towards the exit when the sequence begins.
• Use the tunnel’s rocks and lamp posts to slow down the cave dweller and create distance.

Biome 4

Furnace

• Place the furnace on the black rings located on the deck at the beginning of the biome.
• Rebar for the furnace and bellows can also be found in the starting area of the biome.

Wolf Dugout

• Iron can only be gathered once the wolf attack sequence starts.
• Exiting the area after the sequence begins resets the time to midday.
• Once all the iron has been mined, the sequence won’t reactivate at that location.

Giant Tree

• Breakable chunks midway up the roots must be chopped with hatchets.
• You’ll need at least 5 hatchets to reach the center.
• The hatchet found in the toolbox at the beginning of the biome can also be broken.
• There are 6 rings, each consisting of large chunks.
• When attempting to chop a chunk, the area around the hit location is checked.
• If chunks from outer rings are nearby, the hit is blocked, and you can’t destroy the chunk.
• Blocked chunks still damage your hatchet.
• The objective is to chop out a cone shape, starting wide on the outermost ring and narrowing to the center.

Food

• Cooked meat is the primary food source in this biome.
• If you missed the hatchet from the second biome, raspberries can be found near the lake at the base of the biome.
• Crafting bone arrows for hunting wolves should be your first priority to obtain meat.

Biome 5

Wolves

• Wolves attack upon sight.
• Hide in tall grass to evade wolves.
• Being attacked sends you back to the start of the biome.
• If you’ve reached and completed the scrap shed, wolf attacks send you there instead.
• Each wolf spawns with 3 crows.
• When a crow attempts to land, the wolf chases after it.
• Shooting all 3 crows permanently pacifies the wolf, unless provoked.

Scrap Shed

• When the sequence starts, the worm eater launches glowing rock clusters at you.
• The rock clusters target a point in front of you based on your movement direction.
• Dodge by changing direction after the rock cluster is airborne.
• As you approach the scrap shed, the worm eater ceases launching rock clusters.

Furnace

• The furnace can only be placed on the decking behind the house next to the river.
• Sneak past the wolves to the hilltop to reach this location.
• It’s situated at the base of the snow biome.

Biome 6

Bear Attack Sequence

• Upon initiation of the sequence, each light post activates as you approach them.
• Each activation of a light post carries a chance for a bear to spawn and attack.
• At the beginning of the biome lies a toolbox containing a pair of rifles and a crate of ammo.
• To reach the mountain’s peak, ensure most of your inventory is stocked with rifle ammo for defense against bears.