VanLife Simulator Beginners Guide and Tips


VanLife Simulator is a new, chilled open-world simulation game developed by CrossBone. It highlights an immersive camping experience where your vehicle, the van, is your home and your transportation. In this VanLife Simulator Beginners Guide, I’ll be your mentor on how to explore the breathtaking open-world nature and survive the harsh wild nature.

Additionally, if you are just starting with the game, make sure to check out our VanLife Simulator redeem codes article to grab some essential freebies along the way!

VanLife Simulator Gameplay Basics

Let’s explain the gameplay mechanics of VanLife Simulator so that you can have an overall idea about how the game works, including the explorations, managing the physical attributes, upgrading your vehicle, etc. The game is focused on five core elements:

Open-World Exploration

Vanlife Simulator Open World
Vanlife Simulator Open World (Image via CrossBone)

Players journey across diverse landscapes, such as forests, deserts, mountains, and beaches. Each region encourages you to explore and discover the unknown as you navigate your van toward the new horizons. The game allows the players to soak in the scenic views and come across new locations.

Survival Management

The apex of the game is to maintain the character’s essential needs, like:

  • Hunger: Regular food intake is necessary to maintain energy.
  • Thirst: Access to clean water is critical; dehydration leads to failure.
  • Fatigue: Long drives and activities consume energy, requiring rest at appropriate intervals.

Van Upgrades and Customization

VanLife Simulator Vehicle Upgrade
Upgrading your Vehicle in VanLife Simulator (Image via CrossBone)

Players, at first, start with a basic vehicle that can be upgraded and gradually improve the effectiveness of the vehicle. The upgrades include enhancing the engine efficiency, more storage capacity, and adding comfort features to reduce fatigue over time. Players can buy new vans from the Gallery menu, too.

Completing Missions and Generating Income

The game has various fun missions to be completed, which provide the players with a gentle direction and a reward for their explorations. The missions involve delivering goods to a remote location, providing taxi service, capturing photos of a specific landmark, or locating a lost item.

Photography and Aesthetic Refreshment

The main focus of the game is to stimulate the players to halt their travel in order to capture the alluring beauty of unique geological formations, or serene moments, photographing wildlife encounters. Capturing the stunning landscapes of the journey is an integral and expanding part of the experience.

Vanlife Simulator Aesthatic
Vanlife Simulator Aesthatic (Image via CrossBone)

This feature emphasizes that a player not only focuses strictly on objectives but also enjoys the refreshment of the game. It’s like a digital photo book of your adventures.  

VanLife Simulator Beginners Guide: Tips and Tricks

Here are some useful tips and tricks that can be useful as a newbie, I realised while grinding through VanLife Simulator.

1. Always maintain the balance between Voyage and Fatigue

The game doesn’t require overworking the exploration. You should maintain the balance between travel, exploration, and energy management. Because anything over the limit is detrimental, even to game characters.

  • Overdriving rapidly consumes energy, water, and food quickly.
  • Look out for the fatigue bar. Schedule essential rest stops and refresh yourself at a campsite or park the van in a secure location.
  • Breaking the limit of the van can cause it to break down. As a result, you have to bear the expensive repairs that are resource-hungry.

2. Maintain Critical Resources Stockpiles

Players need to have a prime concern for their food, water, and fuel supply. Ensure a continuous inventory of necessary survival essentials, like:

Vanlife Simulator Inventory
Inventory in Vanlife Simulator (Image via CrossBone)
  • Drinking water should be the highest priority.
  • Canned food or quick meals, these items are made to last.
  • A full tank of fuel for long expeditions.

Running out of water supplies results in immediate game termination. So keep a keen eye on the water reserves. Buy water or any other drinks from the markets before going out on a long trip. Additionally, make use of the map to find fuel stations and locate supply vendors, and missions.

3. Utilize the Campsites

Campsites function as operational hubs. You should use them to recover your energy, cook food. You can also replenish your water supply from a local market or gas stations, or grocery stores. Explore the campsites thoroughly; you might come across bonus items and optimal vantage points for a scenic photograph.

4. Engage in Contract Work Early on

The game has side jobs, for example, local deliveries, transportation, etc. You should not avoid these jobs as they provide fundamental income necessary for better upgrades and supplies, along with familiarization with routes.

Vanlife Simulator Missions
Missions in Vanlife Simulator (Image via CrossBone)

At first, you can ignore the more complex or long-distance jobs. After improving the operational capacity, you can take challenge of completing complex missions.

5. Upgrade the Van for better efficiency

Players can enhance their mobile home with various upgrades to ease their travels. The players should start with the upgrades like Fuel efficiency, which can extend the travel distance, and Storage Capacity, which increases the supply inventory.

VanLife Simulator Tire Change
Changing Tire in VanLife Simulator (Image via CrossBone)

Later players can invest in comfortable beds to reduce their fatigue and renewable energy. You can also customize the van’s layout, colors, and gear to fit your travel style.

The scenic beauty of this game is mind-blowing. That is why the game has a photography feature to capture the moment in the in-game photo gallery. Documenting these scenarios and capturing the wildlife will provide you with in-game currencies. So, always be ready to capture the moment of your travels.

7. Don’t Rush, Just Enjoy

Vanlife Simulator Evening View
Vanlife Simulator Evening View (Image via CrossBone)

Savor the game’s thrills. Take it easy and enjoy those beautiful roads, and enjoy the campsite under the stars and moon. Don’t rush it. It’s more than just missions and survival. It’s about the whole journey, not how fast you finish.

Final Thoughts

VanLife Simulator delivers the freedom of van life with a relaxed and immersive experience. It intentionally avoids the high-stakes survival mechanics. It prefers a calm, peaceful, and visually appealing journey on the open road. It mixes survival and exploration so perfectly that players are bound to play the game more often.

Achieving success in the game relies on strategic planning, effective resource allocation, and exploration, rather than on haste or rivalry. That’s it for this Vanlife Simulator beginners guide. You can always fall back here, should you have any doubts!

Check our other beginners guides below:

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