How to Survive Your First Days on the Farm in Dread Fields

The secret to surviving Dread Fields is understanding it's not a farming simulator; it's a horror game wearing a farming simulator's skin. Your success hinges on methodically completing a daily cycle of chores while bracing for the supernatural terror that escalates with each passing night. The core gameplay loop is simple: wake up, follow the task list, manage your resources, and try not to lose your mind when the sun goes down. Your first day is a crash course in the farm's layout and basic mechanics, but it also plants the seeds of the dread to come.

This guide provides a step-by-step walkthrough for your first two days, detailing every chore, the location of essential tools, and how to handle the increasingly bizarre and dangerous events on your supposedly peaceful new homestead.

01

Your First Day: A Rude Awakeningtag

After arriving at the farm and a brief, unsettling encounter with the old man who sold it to you for a mere $3,000, your first day begins. The game operates on a strict task list. Follow these steps in order to progress from morning to night.

Morning Chores: Tending to the Animalstag

Your first set of tasks involves caring for the cow and the chickens. This sequence will introduce you to the basic layout of the farm and the tools you'll need to get by.

1. Ventilate the Barns: Head to the two large barns. Open the three windows in the cow shed and the single window in the adjacent chicken coop.
2. Fetch Water: You need a bucket. You can find one right next to the well in the center of the yard. Interact with the well to lower the bucket and winch it back up, now full of water.
3. Water the Animals: Carry the full bucket to the cow shed and pour it into the water trough. You'll need to repeat the process, getting a second bucket of water from the well for the chickens' trough.
4. Mow Grass for the Cow: The cow needs 20 bundles of mowed grass. To do this, you first need a scythe. Find the scythe inside the small storeroom (the building that looks like an outhouse but isn't). Take the scythe to the patch of tall grass and start swinging. After mowing, you'll need a pitchfork, which is also in the storeroom. Use the pitchfork to gather the grass. You can only carry 10 bundles at a time, so this will require two trips to the cow's feeder.
5. Feed the Chickens: The chickens eat grain. Find the bag of grain near their coop and use it to fill their feeder.

Once these tasks are complete, the game will prompt you to eat breakfast back inside the house, officially ending the morning segment.

An Afternoon of Fishing (and Foreboding)tag

After breakfast, a new set of tasks appears, centered around fishing. This quest will lead you to explore the wider farm area and uncover some unsettling items.

1. Find the Shovel: You need to dig for bait. The shovel is leaning against a large, dead tree near the back of the property, close to the pond.
2. Dig for Worms: Head to the tilled garden area in the backyard. Use the shovel on the dark patches of soil to dig up seven bundles of worms.
3. Locate the Fishing Rod: The fishing rod is on the terrace of the main house. The cat, Chicha, will often be sitting near it, seemingly leading you to it.
4. Catch Seven Fish: Go to the pond at the edge of the property. With the rod and worms, you can now fish at the designated spots. You need to catch seven fish. During this process, you will also fish up a mysterious necklace and an old boot, your first clues that something is amiss.
5. Gut and Salt the Fish: Return to the house. Outside, near the side entrance, is a small table for processing the fish. Interact with it to gut each fish. The guts will fall into a bowl for the cat, Chicha. After gutting, take the fish and click on the nearby salt sack before hanging them on the drying rack. Repeat for all seven fish.

With the fish hung up to dry, it's time for lunch, which transitions the day into evening.

Evening Routine & The First Incidenttag

The final chores of the day are straightforward, but the atmosphere shifts dramatically as night falls. This is when the horror begins.

1. Chop Firewood: Go to the wood chopping area. Grab a log from the pile and place it on the stump to chop it. You need to chop eight pieces of wood. Carry them back to the house and place them in the wood-burning stove.
2. Light the Stove: The matches are on the dining table. Use them to light the fire in the stove.
3. Collect Eggs: Head to the chicken coop and collect the four eggs from the nests.
4. Milk the Cow: You'll need the bucket from the well again. Take it to the cow, Starlight, and milk her. During the milking animation, you'll be locked in place and hear a disturbing sound to your right, but you won't be able to see what caused it.
5. Store the Food: Back in the house, use the empty jars by the sink to portion out the milk. Place the four eggs and the three jars of milk into the refrigerator.

After storing the food and eating dinner, a loud cry will come from outside. You are forced to investigate. You will find the rooster has been killed and beheaded in the coop. The game warns you it's dangerous outside, but upon returning to the house, you'll see a disembodied head briefly appear over the fireplace. The game then tells you the fire must burn, forcing you back outside to chop another eight logs of wood. After this terrifying sequence, you're instructed to sleep, triggering a nightmare where you wake up with a shovel in your bed as someone pounds on your locked bedroom door.

02

Day Two: The Nightmare Continuestag

You awaken to a new day and a new list of chores. The events of the night were real. The rooster is gone, and the farm feels different—more hostile.

The Two-Headed Cowtag

The morning routine is similar to Day One, but with a horrifying twist. When you enter the cow shed, you'll find that Starlight now has two heads and a single, bloody third eye between her horns on the original head, just as described in 'A Tale of the Beast's Eye'. Despite this grotesque transformation, your tasks remain the same.

1. Water and Feed the Cow: Fetch water from the well and fill her trough. Then, head out to mow and pitchfork another 20 bundles of grass for her feeder. Her monstrous form doesn't change her dietary needs.
2. Care for the Chickens: Water the remaining hens and feed them with six cobs of corn, which you can pick from the stalks growing in the backyard garden.

After eating another strange meal from the pot (which appears to contain horns), your next major task begins.

Planting the Seeds of Dreadtag

The game directs you to plant radishes, a multi-step process that requires manure from the cow shed.

1. Get the Seeds: The radish seeds are in a sack in the dark, creepy cellar, which is accessed via the small shed near the outhouse.
2. Prepare the Soil: Using the shovel, dig nine holes in the tilled garden plot.
3. Fertilize with Manure: This is the grimmest part. You must go to the cow shed with the pitchfork and collect manure from the floor. You can only carry three piles at a time, requiring three trips to fertilize all nine holes.
4. Sow and Bury the Seeds: With the soil prepared, walk over each hole to automatically sow the seeds from the sack. Finally, use the shovel again to pat down the soil and bury them.

Completing this task triggers the prompt to eat dinner, ending your second day and leading you into another night of uncertainty on the haunted farm.

03

Unsettling Discoveries: The Tales of the Farmtag

Throughout your chores, you'll discover two pieces of writing that provide crucial context for the supernatural events. These aren't just flavor text; they are warnings.

• A Tale of the Beast's Eye: Found in the main house on your first morning, this story describes a cow named Starlight that grows a third, bloody eye. A hag explains it is a 'beast that lives between two worlds' and can only be stopped by plunging a knife that has 'tasted human blood' into the eye. This directly foreshadows your own cow's transformation.
• A Tale of the Classy Cat: Found in the outhouse, this tale speaks of a cat named Coley who becomes fixated on an old photograph containing the 'shadow of an innocent soul unjustly slain'. To break the curse, one must weave a wreath from 13 yellow 'cat's eye' flowers and place it on the cat's head, then shatter the glass with an axe. This hints at the protective nature of your cat, Chicha, and a potential future threat.

A Final Wordtag

Your life in Dread Fields is a perilous balancing act. The mundane routine of physical labor is your only structure in a world rapidly descending into a waking nightmare. Pay close attention to the folklore you find, keep your wits about you during the night, and never, ever assume you are safe. That $3,000 price tag came with a cost the old man failed to mention.