The Best Hideouts in Darkwood

Darkwood is a survival horror game that adds new life to the horror game genre. Players will have to explore and scavenge their environment during the day and find hideouts to stay in till morning. Hideouts in the game are safe houses for the Protagonist's protection. Players are supposed to stay within the confines of the hideout throughout the night to protect themselves.

There are four hideouts in Darkwood, three of which are accessible at different points throughout the game. The last hideout, the Swamp Hideout, is the final hideout. Each of the hideouts has resources to help the protagonist survive. Some resources are constant such as an Oven and a Workbench, while others vary from one hideout to another.

4 The Dry Meadow Hideout

This hideout is within the Dry Meadow. The building is the first hideout the player comes to. There are four different rooms in the building, each with different pieces of furniture and tools. These tools can be used to obstruct doorways and close open paths and can also be stored for future use. There is a small shack containing the hideout's generator too, though it is unsecured because it has a broken wall. There is also a big wardrobe with a few accessories like a rag, a few nails, and a picture of a road. The smaller wardrobe houses the mushroom book, a rope, and a couple of empty bottles. The Dry Meadow hideout also contains a broken well that the player can repair using the four boards located right outside. To restore health, the protagonist can drink from the well once a day.

The easiest room to defend is the small room with the workbench because it already has a barricaded window. There is a fair amount of room within for the player to move around, although the double windows can pose a problem when trying to prevent enemies from noticing the light within. The huge wardrobe doubles as both a storage locker and a barricade to block open paths and doorways. However, it can be broken by a strong, committed enemy, making it difficult to use this spot as a hideout for long. The front door can be barricaded easily making this spot an easy location for players looking for a quick spot to spend the night. The only problem with this hideout is the lack of adequate room for maneuvering.

3 Silent Forest Hideout

The Silent Forest Hideout is the second safe house in Darkwood and contains two main buildings, one of which houses a workbench and an oven. Compared to the Dry Meadow Hideout, which provides two good options for defending at night, the Silent Forest Hideout offers the oven room as a much better option for the player to stay in. There is only one window in the oven room and one set of doors leading outside. There is another set of doors leading to the lobby. This location is good enough for nighttime defense because the door that leads to the lobby doesn't need to be barricaded. The entryway into the oven area can also be blocked by a bathtub already present in the room. More furniture can also be brought in from the foyer to serve as an extra barricade.

It is also relatively easy to barricade the remaining door and window. Setting traps and defenses in the oven room will also be easier and more effective than trying to secure all the doors and windows in the lobby. The lobby area is defendable, but it might be a bit difficult for a new player. It has seven entrances with a larger room than the oven room, hence, it will require more resources and time to secure. Enemies have more options and openings to attack from when night falls, so defending all points of entry will be difficult even for an experienced player.

2 Old Woods Hideout

The Old Woods Hideout contains two generators, but only one is functional. Useful items can be scavenged from the second one. The functional one takes up its position on the other side of the wall opposite the oven, while the broken one is in the oven room. To survive in this room, the protagonist needs to be very stealthy. Unless the player has been spotted, it is important to stay hidden and make as little noise as possible. There are several hallways and rooms in this hideout that the player can use to escape from enemies when fighting is not feasible. When escaping, the player can lure enemies into a gas tank with meat and then set the gas tank on fire, killing several enemies at a time. If the player is experienced, they can even try to hit the gas tank using a Melee weapon and let it launch toward the enemies.

The Old Woods Hideout has several cracked walls and the only room that can be fully secured is the entry hall. When players spend a night in the Old Woods, they need to be prepared to run or escape at a moment's notice. Having gas bottles or Molotov cocktails on hand will come in useful because certain enemies are more common and difficult to evade in this spot. Players need to be careful not to go outside or expose themselves unless doing so is unavoidable. Players also need to have a quick way to get back into the hideout if need be.

1 Swamp Hideout

On the game map, the Swamp Hideout is designated with just "Hideout." The safe house is located within the Swamp biome and is the first place the player gets to after going through the Bunker Entrance at the beginning of Chapter 2. The hideout contains repairable fences that the Protagonist can vault. Some enemies can't get past this fence. There are also four broken Wardrobes that can be repaired easily. The hideout even features a repairable well.

There are growths on one of the pathways that respond to the presence of creatures. These reactions can serve as alarms when enemies are around. Of all of the hideouts in Darkwood, this hideout provides the most storage space for the player. The room next to the Oven is also very easy to defend and can be fortified without too much effort, making the Swamp Hideout the best hideout in Darkwood in the eyes of many players.

Darkwood is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Google Stadia.

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