Prepare for the dungeon-crawling action game Sulfur using our tips and tricks to survive. You’ll need to stay on top of your game against baby goblins and dogs while also learning how to cook. While I’m far from done playing Sulfur, here are my tips after putting in 13 hours of gameplay.
Tip 1 – Aim For the Head
Sulfur has many useful loading screen tips and one to emphasize is how enemy body parts take different amounts of damage. While this is a common concept across many games, it’s important to point out since it isn’t clear otherwise. You don’t have damage numbers or critical hit sounds to tell you. But, don’t worry if you don’t have perfect aim as long as you still hit them.
Tip 2 – Practice Fighting Baby Goblins
Baby goblins are a good early enemy to practice against since you’ll fight many similar enemies later. They’re quick and leap at you when they get close. This can get overwhelming if you don’t know how to dodge them. Fortunately, all you have to do is get the timing down. Once they get close, try to sprint strafe out of the way as they leap.
The main reason to learn them now is because the later enemies are quicker and more deadly. One look at the Steam forums will show you how much some players hate fighting dogs in Sulfur. Which you’re going to see a lot of as you work through later stages.
Tip 3 – Item Drops Have a Sound Effect
Enemies have a chance to drop items when they die but those items are easy to miss. This can be a combination of being in a rush or enemy bodies blocking items. Either way, a useful trick to always know when an item drops is that there’s a sound effect. However, items do have a small delay so it’s possible to run past them before they drop. This is why you should occasionally linger for a moment.
Before I noticed this sound effect, I wasted a ton of time searching bodies just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. So be smarter than I was and use your ears to save time!
Tip 4 – Cooking Isn’t Just For Food
A huge part of Sulfur is the cooking system but that’s not all it’s for. Before I jump into some basic recipes, did you know you can craft items too? For example, you can make dynamite using Scrap Metal and a Rock. Similar to me, you’ll probably learn all sorts of recipes by mashing random items together.
Sometimes it feels like a point-and-click game where you try to combine items that have nothing to do with each other. Or a survival horror game where you can combine a piece of hair and a bent needle. Who thinks of these combinations?
Tip 5 – Try Not to Waste Ingredients
Sulfur is filled with ingredients that give a tiny amount of health until they’re combined into a better food type. Early on, it can be tough to figure out each recipe so you can take advantage of those ingredients. Here are some common food recipes:
- 8 Mushrooms (Purple or Red) = Fried Mushroom
- 3 Mushrooms (Purple or Red) + 1 Stick = Mushroom Skewer
- 1 Potato + 1 Rock = Mashed Potatoes
- 1 Potato + 1 Cheese = Raclette
- 1 Broth + 1 Cheese = 2 Fondue
Tip 6 – Bait Ranged Enemy Shots Into Walls
A good way to deal with ranged enemies is to bait them into shooting at you when you’re behind a wall. The concept isn’t anything too crazy. Simply, peek out, let them get ready to shoot, and then hide again. This makes it so you can attack in between their shots and potentially melee them too.
If you stay hidden, most enemies will try to get closer to you instead. Then, you can melee them through the wall or around a corner. Be careful if there are a lot of enemies. Melee ones may run right through and hit you anyway.
Tip 7 – Don’t Be Afraid to Recall
It’s easy to forget about your amulet that lets you recall to safety. While you do need to charge it via a shrine, it can be a lifesaver. I’ve had to use it a couple of times when starting a level and the game throws a ridiculous amount of enemies at me.
Unlike the first area, the Caves, other areas won’t return you to the church when completing them. Therefore, the only way you’re getting out is likely dying or using your amulet. Fortunately, upon completing an area, you’ll unlock a shortcut so you don’t have to go all the way back to the Caves. Even though I have noticed one later area doesn’t seem to have a shortcut.
Tip 8 – Store Extra Loot, Money, and Ammo
Make sure to store your extra loot if you’re back at the church. You can store extra items like food or weapons as well as ammo and money. This makes it easier when you lose a run so you’re not starting with nothing. I’ve definitely been tempted to take a shortcut to tougher areas with nothing on me and it can be rough.
While you do lose all your items and weapons when dying, you will get some money back via your church’s congregation/mailbox. I’m not 100% on how this works but I think it’s a percentage of the money you had when dying. All that aside, it is possible to find storage chests during a run but they are rare. After 13 hours, I only came across two.
Tip 9 – You Can Return to Previous Areas
After completing the Caves for the first time, you’ll probably want to dive right into the Town. I wouldn’t blame you, but you can return to the Caves as well. I’ve done this to level up my weapons and do an easy playthrough for more loot.
This is a good option too if you don’t have long to play since Sulfur doesn’t have a save and quit option mid-run. I’m hopeful they add one later since not everyone has a ton of time. And even if you do, you may just want to take a break without having to return to the church.
Tip 10 – Use Your Hotkeys For More Space
The hotkeys are great for quickly using items but they’re even better for getting more inventory space. I typically open my inventory to pause anytime I want to eat food anyway. So it works out to instead throw large items like Sugar or Flour into my hotkeys. This is because they’re stored there instead of inside your inventory.
Plus, a good reason to pause when you want to eat food is to see how much health it’ll heal. While the description does tell you, you can also visually see how much when hovering over food. Your health bar will have a slightly faded bar filling in to show how much. However, this isn’t always correct and will sometimes show the wrong amount. I’m sure the developer will fix this.
That’s all there is to this guide with some of the best Sulfur tips and tricks I’ve put together. Be sure to drop some tips of your own in the comments below!
Jeff is a journalist with over 10 years of experience writing, streaming, and making content about video games. With an associate degree in journalism, he’s a sucker for RPGs, survival games, roguelikes, and more.