Once ready-made food runs out, farming and hunting produce the raw ingredients that the cooking fire turns into meals. Farming is till → plant → grow → harvest → cook (tomatoes are the named example crop), and hunting is track → kill → process → cook (deer are the named example animal). Both loops end at the same fire.
On this page
Farming and Hunting at a Glance
A farming guide for THE DEAD WE KNEW: Open World Survival starts once ready-made food runs out: till the soil, plant vegetables, harvest them and feed them into the cooking fire. The same survival loop adds a hunting guide for animals such as deer that roam the forest — hunt, process, cook. Both loops end at the same fire that turns raw ingredients into meals.
This page covers the food-production systems as the developer has confirmed them before Early Access on October 22, 2026, and flags what stays unknown until players get the game.
Farming: Plant, Grow, Harvest
Till the soil
Prepare a plot near the shelter.
Done when: A tillable plot is ready to be planted.
Plant vegetables
Tomatoes are the named example crop.
Done when: Seeds are in the ground.
Grow and harvest
Wait for the plants to mature, then harvest.
Done when: Harvested vegetables are ready for the cooking fire.
Cook the harvest
Send the harvested vegetables onto the fire.
Done when: Cooked meals are ready to keep the hunger meter fed.
Hunting: Track, Kill, Process
Track the animal
Locate the animal in the forest.
Done when: The target animal is in sight.
Kill it
Bring the animal down with the tools you have on hand.
Done when: The animal is down and ready to be processed.
Process the meat
Butchering is listed in the Steam content descriptors.
Done when: Processed meat is ready for the cooking fire.
Cook over a fire
The processed meat joins the fire with any harvested vegetables.
Done when: A cooked meal — a simple bite to a warm bowl of soup — is ready to eat.
Foraging Around the Farm and the Hunt
Foraging natural resources sits alongside farming and hunting. Plants, scrap and picked-up materials all feed the same shelter loop — walls, fires, crafted tools — and any of those can become food once cooked.
How Farming and Hunting Connect
Farming and hunting converge at the fire. Both loops exist because cooking turns raw ingredients into meals that feed the survival meter. The cooking step is the same whether the meal is a simple bite or a warm bowl of soup, so the farm and the hunt are two parallel inputs for the same pot.