This guide might feel a bit random as it's mostly a collection of tips and tricks that I wish someone has told me. Hope someone will find it helpful. I'll continue adding more info, feel free to ask questions or ask for some specific subjects in the comments.

Which season to choose?
Feels refreshing to start your journey any other season than spring, isn't it? Choose Winter ONLY if you are up for some challenge, as most foragebles can't be found in winter- your start will be rough.

Human or android?
Human characters build social relationships faster and can get buffs from consumables. Androids lose stamina slower and can buy cool "late-game" (mid-game in reality) augmentations. I advice going for android as their augmentations gives better skill buffs (20% skill boost against 10% skill boost for human) and losing less stamina is crucial in the beginning. You have plenty of time to socialise with NPCs anyway + consumable buff is less reliable. But in the end, it's your choice.

Which recipes to choose?
You can choose 3 random recipes for your character. I advice choosing Rotisseur (meat) or Saucier (soup). Entemetier (vegetable) is also a viable option if you want to go vegan, just remember that vegetable dishes in general are less profitable. Poissonier (seafood) is nice as many seafood can be foraged, but fish require a fishing rod better than the beginner's one if you're a fishing mini-game struggler as I am. Patissier (dessert) and Mixologist (beverage) are questionable as the recipes may contain ingredients that are hard to find early-game.

Extra 5 skills points
You start with 1 point in every of 4 basic characteristics: Endurance, Gathering, Cooking and Social + you have 5 extra points to spend. If you chose human, I strongly advice to invest 2 points in Endurance for more stamina. Social is also a nice idea, especially for androids, as it makes buying and selling more profitable. Gathering and Cooking are not so important at this point, but you'd want to invest into Gathering if you plan to go achievement-hunting and wish for a headstart.

When you reach level 30, you'll stop getting points to upgrade your basic stats but you'll get an ability to reset your skill points once in 5 in-game days.

When you reach level 40, you'll stop getting skill points.

If you want to get some complicated achievements - plan ahead!

Achievement hunting

Several achievements require certain perks.

"Sustainable Ingredients"

• Farming - 2 skill points,
  
• Forest citizen - 2 skill points, 3 Gathering (Required for Farming perk)

"The First Brew"

• Brewing - 2 skill points, 3 Gathering, 3 Cooking

"What a Catch!"

• Oceaneer - 3 skill points, 5 Gathering
  
• Explorer - 1 skill point (Required for Oceaneer perk)

"Culinary Innovator"

• Research Facilities - 3 skill points, 4 Cooking
  
• Bookworm - 2 skill points, 3 Cooking (Required for Research Facilities perk)
  
• Home Cook - 1 skill point (Required for Research Facilities perk)

"Ultimate Recruiter"

• True Gourmet - 5 skill points, 10 Cooking, 5 Social
  
• Gourmet Gastronomy - 4 skill points, 7 Cooking (Required for True Gourmet perk)
  
• Research Facilities - 3 skill points, 4 Cooking
  
• Bookworm - 2 skill points, 3 Cooking (Required for Research Facilities perk)
  
• Home Cook - 1 skill point (Required for Research Facilities perk)
  
• Recruiter - 3 skill points, 5 Cooking, 5 Social (Required for True Gourmet perk)
  
• Staff Training - 2 skill points, 3 Gathering, 3 Cooking, 3 Social (Required for Recruiter perk)

"Party Mastermind"

• Party Planner - 3 skill points, 7 Social
  
• Friendly Neighbour - 1 skill point (Required for Party Planner perk)

"Knowledgeable Chef" "Unlimited Knowledge"
OPTIONAL! Just to make those achievements less tedious - I unlocked 50 recipes on my 15th hour of playing without any perk other than Bookworm. Recipes may spawn randomly in each's food vendor's roster, so make sure to check them out daily!

• Bookworm - 2 skill points, 3 Cooking
  Discover recipes while reading books in Library.
  
• Hands-On Approach - 3 skill points, 5 cooking, Vending Maniac and Bookworm perks unlocked
  Discover recipes while cooking.
  
• Eagle-Eyed Shopper - 3 skill points, 6 social, Friendly Neighbor and Salesman perks unlocked
  Recipes spawn in shops more frequently. Recipes may spawn in vending machines.
  
• Resourceful Hunter - 3 skill points, 3 Endurance, 6 Gathering
  Hunted down animals may drop a recipe.

It's much more fun to discover foragebles on your own, so go exploring! But some plants are hard to notice as they blend into the environment pretty great. I've discovered those while being 10+ hours into the game and I REALLY wish I've found it sooner.

Hunting is a great way to get a lot of free ingredients for your dishes. But it could be pretty stamina-consuming, so be mindful of that.

Main advice? KEEP YOUR DISTANCE.

• You can use bows (distant attack) and spears (melee attack) to hunt. I personally find spears not that useful as it's much safer and easier to shoot from a distance.
  
  
• Get a better bow ASAP. Bows can be purchased from Pomarine who lives to the West from La Sequoia. You can upgrade to Longbow and then to Ranger's Recurve - the latter one-shots birds and small crabs. Spears... Go for it if you like or if you have difficulties with aiming.
  
  
• Animals and animal loot reset when you leave the location and then re-enter it.
  
  
• Animals are easily scared if you come too close. (Except crabs. They don't give a heck.)
  
  
• Elks, boars and birds will attack you after you deal damage to them. Try to keep distance and continue shooting them while going backwards.
  
  
• When the animal's health gets low, it'll try to run away. Do not chase it. After some running animals eventually calm down and you can finish them off. That way you can shoot several animals and finish those who calmed down while the others are still running.
  
  
• This tip has a spoiler about the unlockable area. After unlocking the cave, I advice you to save time and hunt only there. The huge boars and crabs are easier to maintain in the corridors and they drop a lot of meat. Like... A LOT. Sell their meat and buy those types of meat you need - it's much more profittable in terms of stamina management.

After unlocking the “Research Facilities” perk you can talk to Prisca in the Town Hall to build your first facility. You can choose between:

BBQ: 20 Plant Roots, 8 Copper Ore, 10 Iron Ore, 5000 Credits;
Vegetarian: 30 Plant Roots, 5 Copper Ore, 10 Iron Ore, 5000 Credits;
Baking: 10 Uncut Quartz, 5 Copper Ore, 15 Iron Ore, 5000 Credits.

After choosing a facility type, you’ll have to wait 2 in-game days for it to be built. After that you can start your research. You can replace one facility with another, but you'll lose the ability to upgrade the recipes of that type + you'll have to pay the full price and wait 2 in-game days.

Researching a category from zero to Lv. 15 grants you 6 unique perks and 10 recipes.


The process of research is simple:

1) Put the ingredients into the fridge. You can use ANY ingredients to research any category so yes, BBQing raspberries is an option.
2) Choose the “Research” option in the menu. Each research uses 5 ingredients.
3) Play one of two thematic cooking mini-games, same as in the restaurant. The mini-games get progressively harder each level till they become almost unplayable and you start questioning your sanity. If you get a score lower than 70, the research is considered a failure - you lose ingredients and gain nothing.
4) Rinse and repeat.


It took me 45 mini-games including failed ones (225 ingredients) to research the category completely.


Research facility also allows you to increase the cost of a dish by adding an extra ingredient to the recipe. In my opinion, upgrading the recipes has an achievement-only value, as at the point I’ve started researching (late mid-game), I’ve already gained enough money from epic and rare recipes, but if you have too much of any ingredient and want to get more money - go for it!

I'm planning to add some more info on building relationships with NPCs, daily quests and my tips on running a restaurant smoothly. Feel free to suggest any topics you'd like to read about, and I'll cover it while my hyperfixation is flaming hot and the only thing keeping me from spending all my time in this game is the fact that I'm a functioning adult with a day job and responsibilities .

Happy cooking!