Fire: Your Lifeline and Best Friend
Green Hell is a hardcore survival experience focused on realism and psychological horror that pits players against the unforgiving Amazon Rainforest. In survival situations like this, one of the first and most important tasks for any survivor is to build a fire. However, you don’t have a lighter, matches, or even a dry place to work. You’ll need to find a way to create a spark using only what you can gather in the wild and then keep that spark safe from the jungle’s regular downpours.
At least you won’t have to figure it out yourself, though. In this guide, we’ll cover how to build a fire, light it, and keep it burning so you won’t have to face the jungle’s darkness without a light.
Step 1: Collect Materials
Gather Wood
Typically, fires are made using wood, and this time will be no exception. Start by filling your backpack with sticks and small sticks you find on the ground, or collect them by cutting down small trees with an axe or blade. You will need 8 Sticks and 6 Small Sticks to build your fire, but collecting more will only benefit you, as you’ll also need these materials to construct a simple firestarter. Bamboo and other burnable materials can be used as fuel once the fire is lit, but not for building the initial fire.
Gather Tinder
Tinder is any highly flammable material that can be used to spread a spark into a flame quickly. You’ll need tinder to create an ember you can use to light your fire after it’s built. Bird nests and dead palm leaves are the most obvious ways of collecting tinder, but you can also leave leaf piles to dry or harvest molineria leaves for fibers.
Step 2: Build your Fire
Once you have enough wood, it’s time to build your fire. Find a suitable location you won’t be likely to accidentally step into. This location should be sheltered from the rain, but if not, you can construct an artificial shelter later.
Next, open your notebook and flip to the food section marked by the banana. Click on the small fire and set down the building outline where you want your fire to be. (Note that the Campfire will also work but requires additional materials before it can be lit.) Once that is done, simply approach the outline and add in the wood.
Step 3: Make a Firestarter
With your fire built, you’ll need a way to light it. Fortunately, our character is pretty handy and can construct a simple Hand Drill with only 1 Stick and 1 Small Stick. Later on, players can find and craft more effective fire starters, such as the Fire Bow and Tribal Firestarter, but this is the cheapest and easiest option for now.
Step 4: Ignite!
Now comes the fun part: you have everything you need to start a fire, so it’s time to light it up.
To begin, stand near your fire and open your inventory to the fire section, marked with the corresponding icon on its tab. Next, right-click on your fire starter and select the “Use” option. Your character will set himself up in the proper position and wait.
To create an ember, drag any piece of tinder (bird’s nest, fibers, or dry leaves) from the backpack to the marked circle on the firestarter, and your character will start the process. Making fire by hand isn’t an easy task, so be sure you have enough stamina to finish the job, or you’ll just be wasting resources. (Your Fire Starting skill will determine how quickly and how much stamina it costs to create an ember.)
If you are successful, you will be holding the precious ember in your hands. It won’t last long, however, so quickly bring it over to your fire and hold the interact button to light the flame. Now you have a live fire that can help protect you, cook food, purify water, and even keep you sane!
Step 5: Maintain
You made a fire! Congratulations! Now you need to keep it burning, though, unless you fancy remaking it every time you need to cook. Maintaining a fire can be frustrating at first, but before long, it will become a regular part of your survival routine.
To keep your flames alive, you’ll need two things:
- Shelter
- Fuel
Shelter
The Amazon is a Rainforest, so named because it is extremely damp and rains A Lot. We aren’t joking when we say that sometimes it will rain for several days on end. Your fire will not survive long if left exposed to these downpours, so you’ll need to keep it dry however you can. One option is to build your fire in a sheltered location, such as a cave. You can also keep your fire safe by constructing any kind of roof over it to keep the rain out.
Fuel
Keeping a fire going will require persistence and lots of wood. Over time, the icon above your campfire will slowly turn white, indicating the amount of fuel (and time) it has left to burn. To restore this icon, simply drag any fuel from your inventory directly to the circle at the center of the fire. This timer cannot exceed its original maximum, regardless of how much fuel is added.
Different kinds of fuel will burn for different durations. Sticks will likely be your main source of fuel due to their abundance, but there are many flammable materials players can utilize. High-value burnables such as Charcoal and Planks will burn for much longer, therefore adding much more time to the fire. On the other hand, lower-value burnables such as tinder, leaves, rope, feathers, and herbs can also be used to add small amounts of fuel.
Final thoughts
The Amazon is a harsh, inhospitable place where developer Creepy Jar went to great lengths to capture the dangers. Surviving here will require grit, ingenuity, skills, and a proper understanding of survival techniques. By starting your fire, you’ve taken the first steps to prove you have what it takes to make it in this hostile green world.
Looking for some more pointers to help you get settled into Green Hell? Check out our 10 Tips for Getting Started or our guide on How to Survive your First Day.
