How to Play Doloc Town
Farming, fighting, befriending, and rebuilding — the complete gameplay loop.
Doloc Town blends cozy vertical farming with light metroidvania exploration in a post-apocalyptic pixel world. You are Proti, returning to a settlement of trailers and shipping containers built around a multi-level homestead. There is no multiplayer — every system assumes a single-player save where you set the pace. This guide explains how the major loops connect so you always know what to do next after the Getting Started tutorial.
The daily loop: farm, craft, explore, sleep
Most days follow a rhythm:
- Morning — Water crops unless rain is forecast, collect animal products, check automated stations if unlocked.
- Daytime — Sell produce, craft planks and wire, accept NPC requests, ride the elevator to town shops.
- Afternoon — Explore a region for ore, story items, or fishing spots before shops close.
- Evening — Cook meals for tomorrow’s stamina, organize inventory, sleep or attend timed events like treaty port meetings.
Stamina limits actions. Food from your camp oven or NPC gifts restores energy and can grant speed or defense buffs. When bags fill, use home storage or upgrade containers — inventory friction is real, so visit Items to learn what to hoard versus sell to Lank.
Farming and vertical layout
Self-sufficiency starts with planters on your farm platforms. Doloc Town lets you stack platforms vertically, so plan upward early: lower levels for heavy machines, upper levels for crop rows near water pipes. Seasonal rotation matters — fast spring and summer crops fund slower greenhouse seeds in winter. The Farming hub covers irrigation, compost, and tree clusters that regrow weekly firewood.
Advanced players pivot to the Gene System after unlocking Alchemy’s lab tech. Up to three gene modules per seed create drought-resistant wheat, odd cosmetic mutations, or high-value specialty produce ranked on the Crop Gene tier list. Genes are optional for story completion but central to late-game wealth.
Weather as a gameplay system
Four seasons rotate across sixteen-week cycles with mild and extreme variants. Acid rain, heat waves, and lightning storms are mechanics, not backdrop. Plastic coverings protect crops; lightning rods protect generators; indoor containers protect smelters and gene machines. Read Weather Protection before building an exposed mega-farm. Rain also helps — acidic or normal precipitation skips watering, and stormy weeks spawn mushroom gathering bonanzas.
Crafting, building, and tech points
Crafting runs through manual workbenches, town stations, and machine chains (sawmill, smelter, assembler). Gerald handles structural upgrades — tents to storage containers, bridges, decorative farm pieces. Guildmaster Bellad awards tech points from quests; spend them on agriculture, engineering, and gene trees. Doubling machine output via engineering upgrades pays for itself quickly.
Recipe details sit in Crafting. Priority research for story players includes copper smelting, rechargeable batteries, lightning protection, and alloy materials — the Early Game guide orders them without spoilers.
Exploration and combat
The world map splits into Outskirts, River Valley, Wetlands, cave networks, and post-1.0 Old City Ruins. Side-scrolling traversal gains double jump after guild entry and air dash after jetpack repair. Enemies drop scrap and occasional drone modules. Your combat drone — maintained by Mody and Cod — handles swarms while you platform between ledges. Tactics live in Drone Combat; route planning in Gathering and Regions.
NPCs, friendships, and festivals
Town NPCs include Mayor Claud, trader Lank, builder Gerald, botanist Alchemy, and guild staff who upgrade tools and drones. Heart levels unlock recipes, shop stock, and cutscenes — full gift tables and the Blooming Friendship path live in the Friendships guide. Seasonal festivals, including Long Night (Harvest Fusion) and Mushroom Fest (1.0), add timed minigames, décor, and story beats covered in Festivals. You cannot romance every character like a dating sim, but friendship gates practical rewards — ignore social systems and you will miss alchemy stations and pickaxe upgrades. Completionists chasing all 80 Steam achievements should bookmark Achievements once the kitchen and mailbox are stable.
Ranching, fishing, and cooking
Animal husbandry and fish farming arrived during Early Access updates. Build pens, automate breeding post-Harvest Fusion, and raise pond fish for steady protein. Fishing spots dot River Valley and wetlands; rare catches feed cooking experiments. Cooking is how explorers sustain long dungeon runs — never leave town without buff food once enemies scale up.
Automation and endgame
Version 1.0 adds farming automation: solar panels, wind turbines, battery storage, and agricultural drone stations that seed, tend, and harvest on schedules. This is endgame comfort, not day-one requirement. See Automation when your manual watering becomes tedious, and Farm Expansion for the final home tier plus two remote territories. Endgame also includes Workshop mods on Steam — new crops, furniture, and recipes from the community — plus filling the terraforming meter with diverse samples from every biome. The EA roadmap explains which systems arrived in which major update if you are returning from Early Access.
Story goals without full spoilers
Main quests push you to restore environmental tech: analyze plants with Alchemy, repair legendary terraforming hardware, fund the treaty port, and cleanse wetland waterways. The Walkthrough lists quest order; this page stays spoiler-light. Expect 30+ hours of story in 1.0, with 100+ hours if you chase genes, collections, and achievements.
Related guides
| Topic | Page |
|---|---|
| First hours | Getting Started |
| Input help | Controls |
| Week-one plan | Early Game |
| Hearts and gifts | Friendships |
| Seasonal events | Festivals |
| Steam trophies | Achievements |
| Handheld | Steam Deck |
| Worth buying? | Review |
| Patch notes | Version 1.0 |
Use the Daily Checklist tool when automation and animals multiply your chores. Doloc Town succeeds when you treat the farm and the wasteland as one project — every crop sale funds another cave expedition, and every cave sample makes the next harvest stronger.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
Is Doloc Town more farming sim or action game?
Primarily a cozy farming and crafting sim with light combat and platforming. Most hours go to crops, building, and NPC quests rather than fighting.
How do tech points work in Doloc Town?
Earn tech points from guild quests and Bellad, then spend them on agriculture, engineering, and gene trees to unlock recipes, machine upgrades, and automation.
When should I join the guild?
As soon as River Valley opens. Guild membership grants the combat drone, double jump during entry quests, and access to drone module crafting.
Can I ignore crop genes and still finish the story?
Yes. Genes boost income and terraforming variety but are not hard gates for main quests. They become valuable in late game and for completionists.
What is the endgame in Doloc Town?
Restore terraforming systems, unlock Old City Ruins, max friendships, automate your farm, and experiment with gene combinations and Workshop mods.
Does the game have a time limit or fail state?
No hard fail clock. Seasons advance and festivals trigger on dates, but you cannot lose the save except by choosing not to continue.