Forager is a terrific crafting and farming adjacent pixel art game with an enticing gameplay loop. Your character must continually forage, craft, create, and expand in order to build a thriving world. While the game may not be complicated to get into, it certainly can be complex, despite the cutesy aesthetic. Forager is built upon player autonomy and thus can be overwhelming when deciding where to start.
One of the most enjoyable parts of Forager is the plethora of unlockable skills for players to discover. You are not able to acquire skills in any order, however, with the game instead opting for a skill tree of sorts that requires you to unlock adjacent ones before selecting new ones. The following skills should be prioritized and unlocked when possible.
16 Foraging
Easily the best skill to start with when starting the game is Foraging; as the name implies, this skill allows for better resource forging. Foraging permits wheat, beets, and cotton to spawn more frequently. This is a necessary skill that will help you unlock better ones on the branching skill tree.
15 Economy
The Economy skill is a very basic unlock but helps with expansion and building your coin coffers. The Economy skill gives you an extra 40 coins right off the bat but also grants you a new tile to expand your landscape. This is also another skill that while simple, opens up more of the tree.
14 Gathering
The Gathering skill, as the name implies, helps you to gather more resources. More specifically, this skill opens up four inventory slots to store more goodies. In addition, this skill also helps you gain 25% more experience from plants and crops, in turn helping you to level up more frequently.
13 Fishing
The Fishing skill is incredibly useful early on because the combination of the fishing rod and the fish traps, which are sped up with this skill, allows you to obtain a lot more resources for crafting. Fishing items can also be useful for healing when necessary.
12 Industry
The Industry skill is very useful due to it opening up two new resources: glass and steel. Glass and Steel are necessary for building structures and crafting items.
With this skill, you now gain experience in building structures. Since leveling up quickly in this game is a good strategy, any extra experience is helpful.
11 Sewing
Efficiency is key to success in Forager so the Sewing skill can really come in handy early on in the game. The Sewing skill makes sewing machines work 25% faster. This skill also opens up leather resources, a great component that can aid in crafting better backpacks.
10 Magic
Should you opt for any combat, especially early on, the Magic skill can really come in handy. The Magic skill increases experience earned by 25%. While this isn’t a necessary skill since it doesn’t really offer any tangible benefit to the world, it does help you level up more rapidly which will lead to other, more useful skills.
9 Geology
Geology isn’t a necessary early game skill but is highly useful since it will make all rocks drop coal, an important resource. Coal is used in many crafting recipes so it won’t hurt to gather as much as possible. Many players skip over the Geology skill but it can really aid you when building more items.
8 Storage
The Storage skill is a great one to prioritize when possible since it unlocks the ever-useful vault. The vault allows you to store your many resources and components, something you will get a lot of during the long game.
Unlocking this skill also leads to the alchemy skill which can be useful at a later time.
7 Mining
Another important part of the gameplay loop in Forager is the ability to mine. Mining leads to better components that can be turned into useful structures or items. Enter the Mining skill, one that allows rocks to drop 40% more minerals. More resources are always going to help you out in this game.
6 Cooking
The Cooking skill unlocks many things including the cookpot, mayonnaise, sugar, and cheese. While fish and meat are two of the best healing items in Forager, the Cooking skill at least opens up further recipe options should you be inclined to play that way. This isn’t a necessary skill but can help in a pinch when you need to cook to heal.
5 Trade
Simply put, the Trade skill unlocks the market. Trading isn’t necessary for this game but can be helpful if you need to get rid of one too many of your resources while obtaining quick items if short on time. Trade doesn’t need to be prioritized until later in the game but it can come in handy as you continue to expand.
4 Banking
The Banking skill can be ignored, but shouldn’t be. Since money is important in this game to expand and gain more land tiles, being able to get as much as you can is vital.
Gaining more land tiles will become highly necessary in the late game since space is limited as you continue to build and farm.
3 Colonization
Another useful skill is Colonization. If you play the skill tree right from the onset, the Colonization skill can help you to buy land at a 30% discount. This won’t be one of the earliest skills to get, however, it can be particularly useful since land is important in order to build and expand as you see fit.
2 Renewal
The Renewal perk is incredibly effective and should be a focus as you progress through the skill tree. With this skill, you can recover energy after defeating enemies, something that will mitigate the constant need for food items. You will still need to eat some food from time to time but will be much less overall.
1 Alchemy
One of the final skills to prioritize early on when possible is Alchemy, as it unlocks cauldrons. With the cauldrons, you can then unlock and craft bombs which are especially useful for clearing out large chunks of land. This skill will come in handy when you need to obtain a lot of resources at one time.
NEXT: Forager: Things The Game Does Better Than Stardew Valley
