Courtesy of ladycfii

Your little band of villagers has washed up on a remote island, and they’re lost and confused. Now what? There are two basic objectives in Village Sim: successfully managing the day-to-day routine of your little band of castaways so that they are able to thrive in their new home and unlocking the mysteries of Isola. The former is absolutely necessary to make sure that your little villagers survive, which will allow you to pursue the second objective of solving the puzzles. The trick is finding the right balance between the two. The more villagers you have, the faster they can research new technologies and solve the puzzles, but having too many mouths to feed can quickly deplete available food supplies and spell disaster for your tribe!

The first thing you need to work on in Village Sim is making sure that your villagers’ basic needs are met. Their most urgent need is food, which you’ll find in limited supply at the berry bush. They will soon need additional housing, too, and there is already a foundation for a new hut that your builder can get to work on. Turning on tutorial mode the first time through the game will help familiarize you with the mechanics of playing Village Sim.

A good strategy for success early in the game is to make sure that you keep the food supply above the 300-400 level, if at all possible. Don’t be in too big a rush to create a baby boom, or you might find yourself scrambling to save your tribe from the brink of starvation. There are some important points to keep in mind as you develop your own strategy for playing Village Sim:

  • The berry supply is limited and you'll need to find another food source as soon as possible.
  • Nursing mothers devote all of their time to caring for their baby and don't do any productive work in the village for 2 years of game time.
  • Babies eat as much as adults, and making too many babies too soon can quickly create a food crisis.
  • Any adult villager (even a sick one) can heal another villager, but healing is only possible when a villager's status is "Sick" (check the Details screen).
  • Sometimes a villager will "resist" healing attempts by a specific doctor. If that happens, try to heal your sick villager again with a different villager.
  • Sick villagers need to be healed or they will weaken and die
  • Villagers can become weakened by prolonged disease, starvation, on-the-job injuries, or old age.
  • Villagers who show a status of "Weakened" will generally improve in health over time unless they are sick, elderly or continue to suffer on-the-job injuries.
  • The villagers need to be taught to perform a new job - they will not initiate tasks in an occupation in which they have no skill.
  • Selecting a technology on the Village Tech screen and clicking on the "Info" button will give you information that will be helpful in choosing the order in which to purchase new technology.
  • The villagers' curiosity is often a clue to puzzles.



General puzzle strategy guide:

Most of the puzzles are dependent upon some combination of Village Tech, population, and other puzzles. Although some puzzles depend upon the completion of specific puzzles, the 12 puzzles are rarely completed in the order that you see them on the puzzle screen. Pay attention to the things that your villagers are curious about and the messages that you see when you take one of your villagers "exploring" around the island. These often provide clues that will help you solve the puzzles. Another good strategy is to drag one of your adult villagers around the island after every tech purchase and look for new things that they can work on. Most of the frustration related to solving the puzzles is brought on by impatience. It takes time for your villagers to gain the necessary skills and technology to work through all of the puzzles.