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Survival Island beginner guide: the first day

Mayday: The Survival Island, the Windows game from Pequi Studios, opens as a scavenging loop. Two full-release playthroughs from 3 and 4 November 2026 show the same order: pick up what is on the ground, make a stone axe and a stone pick, place a workbench, then a trap, a campfire, a bed, and a raft. The second island is a conversation with a stone figure that unlocks the furnace, the forge, sewing, and drying. I am writing that order because both videos walk it. Where they disagree, the cell says so.

First-day sequence

Opening route. Empty costs were not readable in the footage.
StepActionCostStatus
1Pick up wood, leaves, twigs, stone, flint, coconut, carrot, beetNone2 sources
2Craft a stone axe and a stone pickTwigs, leaves, stone chips; counts not read2 sources for materials, 1 for any count
3Place the workbench12 wood and 5 leaves1 source for the exact count
4Place a burrow trap for rabbits or crabsRecipe not read2 sources for the purpose
5Place a campfire and cookWood; count not read2 sources for the purpose
6Place a bed and sleep10 leaves and coconut wood; a second account also mentions twigs2 sources, recipes conflict
7Place a small chest4 boards and 4 leaves1 source
8Build the raft3 boards in one video; coconut wood and leaves also mentioned; full counts unresolved2 independent videos · partial recipe
9Fill the raft food slot to 35 and sail35 food in both full-release videos2 independent videos
10Talk to the stone figureUnlocks furnace, forge, sewing, drying2 sources
11Smelt at the furnace, then forgeFurnace: 20 stones. Forge: 3 iron, bricks, guts1 to 3 sources
12Make an iron sword for the first guardian2 videos for the item · exact cost unresolved

Do not craft a pile of the same tool

The videos show tool durability and the need to gather materials for replacements. Keep enough wood and leaves for the workbench before spending spare materials on extra tools. Boards come from the bench, not from the ground, so the bench is the step that turns the rest of the route on.

Night, fire, and food

The campfire is a fuel timer. When it burns out it leaves charcoal, which later smelting wants. Bats show up after dark, and a torch or a live fire keeps them off in both videos. Hunger is a daytime problem too: cooked food is worth more than raw food, and a soup made in a pot or a coconut shell is worth more when it has more ingredients. The videos do not publish the exact points, so I am not inventing them. A raft trip to an island you have already found is free. A new island charges a food value. The 35 / 48 / 90 / 130 figures are demo-era readings. A November clip shows 48 / 90 / 210 without naming the islands, so I am not pasting those onto the release map.

Chests and moving house

After the 19 October update, crafting can pull materials from chests on the same island, and a small chest can be upgraded in place. You do not rebuild the whole camp on every island. The 23 October note cut the forge’s iron cost from 5 ingots to 3 and moved the sewing table earlier, ahead of the drying frame. Slimes were weakened in that same note. The release on 2 November may have moved numbers again. Treat every cost here as “last seen,” not as a permanent recipe.

After the first guardian

One video’s upgrade screen offers Fisherman, a logistics bump from 30 to 50, and a production boost of 50 percent. That is one player’s menu, not a published skill tree. The swamp trips that follow ask for 5 fish toward a mist flower and venison toward a blood flower, with demo food costs of 48 and 90. A public list of all 24 islands does not exist, so this guide stops at the route the footage actually walks.

Raft and fishing UI in Mayday: The Survival Island
Raft and fishing UI in Mayday: The Survival Island
Early farm with a well and drying frame
Early farm with a well and drying frame

Questions people ask

What should I build first?
A stone axe, a stone pick, then the workbench. The bench is what turns wood into boards.
How do I get a raft?
Prepare boards, coconut wood, and leaves. One video reads 3 boards; the public accounts do not establish every ingredient quantity.
Why can I not reach the next island?
A new island charges food in the raft slot. Already discovered islands do not. Both checked full-release videos show 35 food for the first new destination.
How do I get iron?
Mine ore, smelt it at the furnace after the stone figure unlocks it. The forge comes after the ingots, not before.
Do I need to rebuild my base on every island?
No. Travel between islands you already found is free, and chests on the current island feed the craft menu after the October update.
What happens when my tool breaks?
It disappears. Durability ticks down with each use. Make a spare before you spend the last one.
How do I get a bigger backpack?
At the sewing table, after the stone figure. The exact nail cost was not fully readable.

Crafting stations and recipesIs it on Switch?Price and demo

Sources