Welcome to the Island, Scumbag!
What is Scum?
Scum is an openworld survival game set on a prison island.
According to Scum Lore,
You are a supermax prisoner who is picked up by entertainment giant TEC-01 to participate in their television sensation SCUM. Inmates fight for survival and fame against other inmates, both living and not, and to gain the support of viewers, producers, and sponsors. SCUM features an unprecedented level of character customization tied into in-depth survival, biology, and physics mechanics including metabolism, inertia, wetness, disease and awareness.
Your life sentence is about to become your 15 minutes of fame.
This is my quick guide on how to survive the island. For a more in depth source head on over to the Official Scum Wiki. A lot of the information you will find here, comes from there.
The Island
Welcome to your new home Inmate. With a wide variety of Locations on the map, your next move determines how fast you’re going to die, because it in inevitable, but let’s try and get geared up first. Have a look at the map below and familiarise yourself with the main POI’s.
For more in depth info on the map, head on over to the Scum interactive map. There are a lot of valuable information on there like Bunker Layouts. You’re going to need this if you’re heading down there.
First Steps on the Island
Once you’ve landed on the island, the first thing you need to do is craft a basic weapon, and basic inventory. Remember, most clothing items you find on the island has some inventory space, so as you progress your inventory space will increase.
First you want to search the ground for stones and craft a Stone knife.
Once you have a Stone Knife , cut up your undershirt and underwear into Rags. You will also need to cut down a bush or three in order to craft some rope which you’ll use along with the rags to craft an Improvised Courier Bag.
Cut down some more bushes, craft rope again then you’ll be able to craft yourself an Improvised Bow and some improvised arrows.
You’re good to go from here. Remember you are geared with basic protection. Take it easy Rambo.
I`m Ready for Action, what now?
You are geared with a basic bow. You feel like you can take on the world when in fact you will probable not survive more than two or three puppets at once.
You need to head to the nearest LOW THREAT POI, like a small settlement , farmhouse etc.
While everything in Scum is useful the reality is that you can only carry so much. Therefor the early game items you are looking for are:
– a Backpack , Hiking Backpack being the largest.
– Food. (fruit, veg, canned food is always a good starter meal)
– Water.
– Lockpicks. (or most likely bobby pins)
– Screwdrivers
– Armour.
– Melee Weapon. (Blades are better)
While you’re gearing up it is advisable to stick to your bow and arrow along with something to swing(melee). As you progress and pick up weapons , remember that suppressed is better as to not attract too much attention to yourself.
Screwdrivers and lockpicks allow you to lockpicks lockers at police stations in order to get better weapons/gear. There are also plenty lying around, so keep your eyes open and be aware of your surroundings.
Let's do this!
The island is now yours to explore. Happy Surviving.
The following section goes more into detail in each of the many mechanics and features in Scum.
Character Creation
The first thing you do when starting the game is, yes you guessed it, Character Creation.
Mostly Cosmetic at first, you pick what gender your character will be, what he/she will look like, even the size of the wobbly bits.
When you’ve decided what your character will look like, the next screen will give you the part we all ponder about. Attributes and skills.
I would advise more stats in Strength and Intelligence for survival skills.
My Reasoning for this? Strength for Advanced Archery and some Melee skills for a first time survivor is a must, being able to use a bow properly and give the puppets a good beating with a melee weapon in case they get too close.
Intelligence for awareness as well as the much needed medical skill along with survival. This is crucial in order to find the good loot early game, as well as being able to heal your wounds as it is inevitable that you’re going to get a beating on the island.
For a more In Depth look at the Attributes, Click Here