Eastward is a new indie game for the Switch and other consoles that feels like The Legend of Zelda and EarthBound had a baby. Most video games have something of value in them, and currency can come in the obvious form of money or take the shape of items or even souls. The same is true for this new action-adventure indie game, Eastward, which uses Salt as its primary money source.
The best method to earn currency fast is something players tend to want to know. The idea is to minimize the experience by finding easy ways to get to the top faster. While there is no glitched way or huge cheat to exploit in Eastward, there is a method that can earn players a nice tidy sum early on in the game. Let’s detail the steps along with highlight what this currency, Salt, is good for.
The Basics Of Earning Money
Salt can be gained in a variety of ways. The most natural way to earn Salt in Eastward also happens to be the most common method in action games like the Zelda series: killing enemies will sometimes net a small profit. This is random though.
Chests and completing quests can also gain players nice sums of Salt. While there is a much easier way to get a lot of Salt early on in the game, don’t discount the normal ways either. Ultimately, every bit of Salt is precious.
Salt Bug Farming
After players escape the underground, which is the first major step in this lengthy action game, their next stop is the forest region of Greenberg. After a small story beat, players will gain access to a cabin. Directly south of this cabin is a small clearing. Here lies the Salt Bug which is settled on a tree. Any attacks from John will not harm it.
Sam is the only one that can interact with the Salt Bug. If players zap it into a bubble, it will drop Salt every time it is hit before flying away. These are big pieces too. Going back and forth between screens will net players hundreds of Salt points in a manner of minutes. To get to a thousand will take anywhere from fifteen to twenty minutes but it is still worth the back and forth mambo.
There Are Other Salt Bug Locations
This is a bit of a spoiler but Greenberg will no longer become accessible after the chapter ends. This guide will not spoil the reason behind this turn of events. This means that the easiest Salt Bug mining area will be gone. However, fear not Salt farmers because this beetle-like creature is all over Eastward. It can be found on mostly the same tree setups.
Finding it should be fairly easier amongst the pixel art as it will always run away if players get too close. Like the first area the Salt Bug can be encountered in, players can go back and forth between screens in order for it to respawn. The problem is that a lot of these areas also have other monsters to deal with. It reappears so much that there is even an achievement for farming a lot of Salt from them.
Upgrades To Buy
What should players do after they acquire a lot of Salt? The first step is to buy upgrades for John. Whenever one for the backpack appears, buy it. This will allow players to store more consumables such as health items or ammo restocks. There are one-time purchases to get too like the Treasure Radar.
This adds a cellphone-like meter to the HUD. If a treasure chest is nearby it will start to beep and fill up on the signal bars. A lot of chests are hidden away so this is crucial to finding them all. Those are just two examples but the overall tip is to always buy upgrades or one-time items before disposable goods.
Ingredients To Buy
The next set of items to buy are ingredients for cooking. The nice thing about this cooking menu is that all ingredients fall into categories. In order to make a dish all players need is that type of food. For example, chicken counts as meat as does beef.
Apples and pineapples are fruit. If a recipe calls for meat and fruit, it doesn’t matter what players choose. Any type of food made with cooking will be better than any disposable item players can purchase. This is true for Breath of the Wild as well, which Eastward is clearly paying homage to with the cooking jingle.
Items To Buy
The last thing players should worry about in Eastward is disposable items. There is a very good item once players reach New Dam City called S.O.S. This item can revive players on the spot, which is crucial for boss battles as many are wildly challenging even early on. It’s like how fairies work in the Zelda games.
Ammo restock kits aren’t that necessary as players will unlock a robot pal, Sonic Punk, also at some point in New Dam City. It can restock bombs and gun ammo. It works on a cooldown. If players run out of ingredients to cook and all they can do is use a vending machine to get healing items, do it. Just don’t have that method become the norm.