How to play The Isle for beginners

The Isle can cause new players to die soon as soon as they step into the dinosaur world. Instruct The way to play The Isle game below will help you minimize the risk of “fading” too soon.

Mastering the core elements in The Isle will help prevent a quick end for “rookie” dinosaurs. Once you know the basic gameplay, you need to diligently practice, explore and overcome all challenges to master the game’s core mechanisms and systems, thereby making enemies fear your presence over time.

Map

The Isle has five official maps for players to experience. Two maps belong to the Evrima branch, the remaining three maps belong to the Legacy branch.

The two maps of the Evrima branch are Gateway and Isla Spiro. For players in the Legacy branch, you can choose one of the maps: Isle V3, Thenyaw Island and Test Level.

Players new to The Isle may consider starting their prehistoric journey at Thenyaw Island. This map is quite small in scale compared to other play areas in the game. Therefore, you will not need to worry too much about finding food while you get used to and master the controls.

Game Modes & Dinosaurs

The Isle game has two game modes: Sandbox (Open World) and Survival (Survival). As the name suggests, Sandbox mode provides a gentle familiarization experience, giving beginners the opportunity to try and get used to the game. Meanwhile, Survival is The Isle’s main game mode; This mode delivers most of the game’s features and systems the way they were designed to be run and experienced.

Sandbox mode

The Isle’s Sandbox mode allows players to choose any dinosaur species without being limited by the development stage. In other words, you don’t have to wait for a young dinosaur to grow into an adult to test its abilities.

The dinosaurs you can choose from in Sandbox mode include:

Dinosaurs eat meat

• Acrocanthosaurus
• Albertosaurus
• Austroraptor
• Baryonyx
• Herrerasaurus
• Pteranodon
• Spinosaurus
• Velociraptor

Dinosaurs eat grass

• Avaceratops
• Camarasaurus
• Orodromeus
• Psittacosaurus
• Puertasaurus
• Shantungosaurus
• Stegosaurus
• Therizinosaurus

However, you can only select Test Level maps (test maps) in Sandbox mode. Still, this is the ideal place to practice and master the controls without having to worry about being stalked by predators.

Survival Mode

This is the main game mode of The Isle. Each new player will start with a young dinosaur; They will grow into adult dinosaurs if they maintain a proper diet and receive adequate nutrition.

The dinosaurs you can choose from in Survival mode include:

• Allosaurus
• Carnotaurus
• Ceratosaurus
• Diabloceratops
• Dilophosaurus
• Dryosaurus
• Gallimimus
• Giganotosaurus
• Maiasaura
• Pachycephalosaurus
• Parasaurolophus
• Suchomimus
• Triceratops
• Tyrannosaurus
• Utahraptor

Game system

Hunger – Hunger

In The Isle, the rules of survival are very harsh: kill or be killed, eat or be eaten. In this dangerous prehistoric world, all dinosaurs can eat available food sources by pressing the key E (default key). However, adhering to a nutritional regimen suitable for the dinosaur you choose is a key factor for them to grow, survive, and thrive.

Pay attention to your dinosaur species. Then, check the in-game information to determine the exact diet of that creature.

For example, if you play as a carnivore like Allosaurus, hunt other animals and dinosaurs. On the contrary, if you are a herbivore like Triceratops, eat bushes.

Also, always keep an eye on the dinosaur’s hunger indicator bar. If you do not maintain the necessary level of satiety, your dinosaur may die of starvation.

Thirsty – Thirst

Just like when hungry, players need to make sure the dinosaur they own doesn’t get too thirsty. You can only drink water from fresh water sources, not salt water. Besides, some dinosaurs had the ability to walk, hide, and even swim underwater. For aquatic species, pay attention to the oxygen bar to avoid drowning.

Development process

Instead of the usual leveling system, The Isle uses a growth mechanic. It should be noted that this system only applies to Survival mode and not Sandbox.

When activating the development system, each new dinosaur will start in the juvenile stage. At this time, they are very vulnerable, so it is best to prioritize survival instead of confronting larger and more ferocious creatures.

Maintain a diet appropriate to your species, and gradually you will evolve into the next stage of development. Continue this process until you become an adult prehistoric creature.

Remember that each dinosaur species had its own food preferences and nutritional needs. Following the correct diet will bring benefits, such as increased growth. On the contrary, if the recommended eating habits are not followed, your dinosaur may suffer negative effects.

Communicate

NRemember that The Isle is primarily a multiplayer title. Therefore, like other games of the same genre, communication between allies is a vital factor to ensure survival.

In The Isle, players can communicate in many different ways. However, a quick method to communicate between friendly dinosaurs is to use calls. It should be noted that in The Isle there are four types of calls: Broadcast, Friendly, Aggressive and Help.

The Broadcast call is usually the loudest, allowing both allies and enemies to hear the dinosaur’s roar. Use the Friendly call to let other dinosaurs know that you have no intention of attacking; Its complete opposite is the Aggressive cry. Finally, the Help cry is used to let allies know you need assistance.

Unfavorable states

In addition to the power-enhancing effects (buffs), all The Isle players – especially new ones – need to watch out for adverse status effects. In general, you need to pay attention to two problems: bleeding and broken legs.

Fighting or falling from a height is often the cause of broken legs. When encountering this condition, your dinosaur can only limp but cannot jump, sprint, walk, move stealthily, stomp or pounce on prey.

As for bleeding, it often appears after fierce battles. Bleeding also causes damage over time, which can cause your dino to die if not careful.

Note that you can remove these statuses over time. However, you need to lie down (press the H key by default) and wait for the dinosaur to recover. At this time, the dinosaur is very vulnerable to attack, so find a safe hiding place to restore its health.

Damage

Damage in The Isle is proportional to the mass of the dinosaur. In other words, larger dinosaurs will deal more damage than smaller ones. However, small dinosaurs are often more agile. Take advantage of the special abilities of the dinosaur you choose and don’t just rely on high damage stats to win battles.