Prepare the demo garden and first night

Choose the tutorial when entering the farm from town. This demonstration begins inside its prepared starter garden.

Checked on screen · Oct 25, 2026

2:48–3:17 · 29 sPlant, harvest and fill the crop haul in the demo tutorial

1. Follow the highlighted planting prompt in the starter garden, then use the watering tool on the planted tile. The tutorial advances to harvesting.
2. Walk up to the ripe strawberry plants marked by the tutorial arrows and interact with them to collect the crops.
3. Approach the large crop pile and open its inventory. Transfer harvested crops from your inventory into the Haul panel. Check the haul’s crop total after moving them.
4. The haul panel describes stored crops as the garden’s life points. Only crops can go in it, and at least one must remain. Finish the defense tutorial before advancing the night.

At 3:16, the tutorial identifies an empty haul as the run-loss condition. At 4:03, the haul screen shows that only crops can be deposited and at least one crop must be present. The HUD crop count represents the haul’s contents, not everything carried in the inventory.

Before starting a night, check that count. A crop in your inventory has not yet been put into the haul.

Checked on screen · Oct 31, 2026

4:01–4:10 · 9 sDeposit crops into the haul in the demo tutorial (creator-disclosed sponsored video)

1. Follow the tutorial marker to the designated plot and plant the supplied seed.
2. Select the watering can and water the planted plot.
3. Walk to the strawberries and interact to harvest them.
4. Open the haul and transfer crops into it. Check that the haul count has increased before leaving.

This sequence is the guided demo introduction. It does not establish an optimal layout or guarantee survival on later runs or higher difficulties.

1. Select the supplied sprinkler and place it between the strawberries, as the tutorial marks.
2. Use the sprinkler’s Upgrade prompt to complete that tutorial step. Read the changed coverage before continuing.
3. Complete the remaining tower prompt on screen, then hold Space when the tutorial asks you to start the night.
4. Defend the haul when the raccoons arrive; use the weapon and dodge bindings shown by your own tutorial.

Caldera’s March 12 demo update changed health depletion to a faint, time penalty and respawn. That differs from the empty-haul loss condition shown in the September-uploaded tutorial. Older footage that treats every health depletion as the end of a run predates this change.