Welcome to Elderfield Elderfield First-Week Planner
Seven days that keep the Tax Man bored and the Hall Monitor optional.
This planner is a calendar, not a speedrun. Welcome to Elderfield will let you walk into the dead mall on day one. It will also let the crows eat your only wheat. Follow the days below, then break them once you understand why they exist. New players should still skim Getting Started and controls. Hardware sits on system requirements. The parent tools hub is the index.
The full PC game is dated September 10, 2026. The Steam demo has been playable since October 2024 and is the right place to rehearse this week. Single-player means nobody else waters the field if you spend six days in the food court.
Before day one
Pick Cozy if you came for townsfolk. Pick Normal if you want a real RPG. Leave Nightmare off. That argument is on the combat ranks page. Confirm you can save, bathe, cook, and sleep. Sleep is a tool with luck attached; read sleep and curses before you skip nights “to get more done.”
Day 1 — home, Tanner, Hans, wheat
Leave the house. Talk to Tanner by the Old Woods cabin. Walk west to Farmer Hans. Cleanse enough tentacles to plant wheat. Water. If you have a second plot, plant radish. Cook whatever leftovers exist in the kitchen. Do not go to the mall hungry. Do not go to the mall at all unless you are only scouting the entrance and walking back.
Hans’s wheat task is the week. Everything else is optional flavor. If you gift Tanner, use the gift guide — no eyeballs, no ice cream.
Days 2–3 — expand, scarecrow, Molly’s copper
Free more plots. Place a scarecrow before you congratulate yourself. Water every morning. Talk to Molly at the workshop on the farm path. Take the rusty pickaxe, mine copper in the beginner mine, and turn it in. That furnace is how you stop living on a stick. Details: farming and fishing and mining.
If rain hits, Ellie is home and Tanner may be too. That is a gift window, not a reason to skip watering. Cook again. Keep one meal in the fridge that is not earmarked as a loved gift.
Days 4–5 — news, mysteries, Sam’s note, gifts
Watch the news. Elderfield’s broadcast is a quest log wearing a local-TV costume. Chase one mystery you can finish without a boss kit. Find Sam in Greystone Apt 1. Her note (43_81) is the hint for Dave’s door (43681). That is a neighbor puzzle. It is not the mall.
Start a real gift loop: one loved item for Tanner or Sam, never pumpkin pie for Sam, never teeth for Molly. Roster geography is on townsfolk. If the Tax Man appears on the farm path, pay with the cheap loops you planted — this is why wheat and radish are S-tier.
Days 6–7 — mall with food, Hall Monitor when ready
Now you may enter the mall dungeon. Conditions: two cooked meals, a bathed body, a weapon that is not a plan, and a brain that will flee. Hall Monitor is the first real wall. Administrator is the second. Do not fight either on an empty stomach. Weaknesses: Shoppers take Insanity/Curse, Rats take Curse/Light. If that sentence is new, you are not on Nightmare.
Day 7 is not a deadline. If the field is dry or the scarecrow is still in a chest, skip the Monitor and farm. The demo and the full game both reward a living field more than a heroic wipe.
Daily loop (pin this)
- Bathe if you came home cursed or bloody.
- Water every crop. Check the scarecrow.
- Cook if the fridge is thin.
- One town errand (gift, note, Klaus quote, Elroy book).
- One dungeon errand or none.
- Saloon after 6pm only if you missed a person.
- Sleep on purpose. Staying up is a curse/gift gamble, not free overtime.
Links this planner expects you to keep open
- Farming for tentacles, water, and scarecrows.
- Combat for AP and why food is gear.
- Sleep and curses for night luck.
- Mall dungeon for Hall Monitor routing.
- Gifts so you do not pay for hatred.
- Crop ranks if you want to plant beans instead of vibes.
- Demo notes if you are unsure what the demo even contains.
Failure modes this week is designed to prevent
Going to the mall hungry. Gifting Sam a pumpkin muffin. Planting cauliflower because it looked funny. Picking Nightmare to “get the real game.” Skipping Hans for the playground kids. Selling the wheat you still owe. Sleeping through a curse and then blaming the Monitor. All of those are legal. None of them are the plan.
Romance can wait. The romance guide is a later-week tab. Old God offerings can wait. Old Gods are a specialization, not day two. Klaus house upgrades wait for gold the radishes have not minted yet.
When week two starts, you should have: looping wheat, a radish habit, Molly’s furnace alive, Sam’s note used or in hand, and a mall you can enter without praying. That is a successful first week in Elderfield. A successful first week is not a 100% map. It is a farm that still exists when the Tax Man’s horse shows up on the path.
If you finish day seven with extra energy, cook a second stew and leave it in the fridge. Future-you in the food court will not care that you missed a playground dare.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
What should I do on day one of Welcome to Elderfield?
Home, Tanner, Farmer Hans, plant wheat, cook leftovers. Do not enter the mall hungry. Controls if you are stuck: controls.
When do I visit Molly?
Days two and three. Mine copper with her rusty pickaxe and turn it in so furnaces exist before the mall.
When do I go to the mall?
Days six and seven, with food, a bath, and a real weapon. Hall Monitor first. Walkthrough: mall dungeon.
Where does Sam's door code fit?
Days four and five. Her note `43_81` points at Dave's `43681` door. It is a mystery, not a boss. See mysteries.
Should I pick Nightmare for week one?
No. Cozy for story, Normal for a real RPG. Ranks: combat tier list.
Where are hardware notes?
On system requirements, next to this planner in the tools hub.