Map, platform and update differences are noted where they affect the steps.
Start Medieval Dynasty by choosing your map, securing food and water, making essential tools, and completing a manageable home. Next, establish reliable building-material supplies and a small field before recruiting more people. This is our suggested starting order: a village is easier to manage when its daily needs grow alongside its production.
This guide covers the original Render Cube game on PC and current-generation consoles. Co-op details apply to supported PC versions, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Medieval Dynasty New Settlement is a separate VR game, so its instructions do not belong in this walkthrough.
Choose the map that fits your plans
The Valley is a single-player map, while the Oxbow supports both solo play and online co-op. Their stories and playable zones are separate, so you cannot walk from one into the other during a campaign. Choose Oxbow if inviting friends matters to you, even when you expect to begin alone.
For a solo start, either map can give you the village-building experience described on the official store page. Think about whether you want a private campaign or the option to share your settlement later. Our Valley and Oxbow comparison explains that decision before you commit time to a village.
Pick a practical home site
Look for enough usable ground for your immediate buildings and a future patch of farmland. Nearby water, trees and a convenient route to an NPC settlement can reduce the amount of travelling you choose to do. Treat this as a scouting checklist, rather than searching for one objectively perfect spot.
Farming deserves particular attention because farmers physically work their fields. The developer FAQ advises keeping their homes and Farm Shed close to the fields they tend. Leave room for that arrangement instead of placing the future farm wherever a gap remains after building houses.
Oxbow players can compare the community suggestions in our building-location guide. Those areas suit different preferences for scenery, field space and travel. Scout your chosen area yourself before planning a large settlement around it.
Build shelter with materials you can supply
Keep the first house achievable with your current materials. A recurring beginner problem is choosing a roof that requires planks before establishing plank production. Community players explain that an unfinished roof can be changed with the hammer, allowing a straw roof while you work towards another material.
This makes roof selection a useful first lesson in reading construction requirements. Inspect the required materials before beginning a long gathering trip, and check whether you selected the intended building section. The planks guide covers the Woodshed route when you are ready to produce them.
Learn the basic resource chains
Straw and planks solve different building problems, even though both may appear in house construction. Community guidance identifies reeds near water as an early straw source, with grain processing and worker gathering offering later options. Use our straw guide when you are unsure what to look for along a shoreline.
Planks come from processing logs at a Woodshed, and merchants offer another possible supply. A finished product is often easier to understand when you trace it back to its raw material and workstation. Apply that habit whenever a recipe shows something you have never made before.
Keep spare tools in mind while gathering because the official game description includes tool wear. A lengthy expedition becomes less convenient when your equipment needs replacing partway through it. Before leaving home, decide what you need to collect and what you will use to collect it.
Start farming at a scale you can finish
Choose a modest first field that you can prepare, sow and harvest without abandoning your other needs. Check the seed or grain description for its planting and harvesting seasons before buying supplies. A field is useful when you can complete its seasonal work, not simply when it occupies a large area.
Community farming discussions show why the calendar matters: flax is planted in spring and harvested in summer, while rye runs from autumn to spring. Different crops can therefore occupy your attention at different seasonal boundaries. Our farming and seasons guide brings those windows together when you are ready to plan beyond one crop.
Fertilizer needs its own supply plan. Community players describe buying it from farming vendors or producing it in the Barn from rot or manure. Start with the route you can support now, then use the fertilizer guide to compare a continuing production setup.
Give workers a complete job
Recruiting residents is part of the game, but a new worker needs more than an empty place in your village. Before adding one, decide which job they will perform and how you will provide its inputs. Keeping the first workforce small makes a missing tool or ingredient easier to notice and correct.
For field work, distinguish the Farm Shed from the Barn. Community guidance describes farmers using seeds, fertilizer and tools from Resource Storage or their own Farm Shed chest, while Barn workers handle processing. Read each item's storage label instead of assuming every nearby container supplies every workplace.
If a farmer is idle, check the assigned crop plan and whether the current season permits the intended work. Then check materials, suitable tools and a clear route into the field. This short inspection is more useful than immediately hiring another farmer to repeat the same blocked task.
Treat mining as a separate project
You do not need to solve every production chain while establishing your first home. When mining becomes your next goal, distinguish exploring a cave from constructing a Mine. The developer FAQ explains that a built Mine opens the deeper section containing iron, with an existing Skauki mine providing an early Oxbow exception.
Make the trip answer a specific need rather than carrying every unfamiliar material home. Decide what you will do with the ore before interrupting your current building or farming project. The mining guide explains those stages without requiring you to memorize a complete map first.
Agree on a host before starting co-op
Oxbow co-op supports up to four players in total, with crossplay across supported modern platforms. The host saves the game, and the session closes when that host leaves. Choose a host whose availability suits the group before everyone invests time in the shared village.
You share a settlement, so agree who will handle the next building project, material run and farming task. This division is an organizational suggestion, not a required character class system. Read the multiplayer and crossplay guide for hosting details before arranging your first session.
Review your village before expanding
Finish one dependable loop before adding the next: gather materials, build what you need, and supply the work you have already planned. Review food, water, tools and upcoming field jobs whenever a new project competes for your attention. Add houses, workers and production when you can explain what each addition will contribute and what it will consume.