Originally posted by Bonegrinder:

So I defeated the first boss, made a pickaxe, mined a lot of copper and tin, found surtling cores, made a kiln and smelter, smelted the ore into bars, made a forge, made a copper dagger, have a tannery and a chopping block next to my workshop, explored a bunch of caves, killed a lot of trolls and have a full set of troll hide armor.

What am I supposed to do now? Winter locations are super dangerous and the wolves three-hit kill me. Am I supposed to get more gear from the forge to survive it? Also I did unlock the Elder location, but as I'm still just wielding a basic bow (level 3), a flint spear (level 3), and a wooden shield (level 3), I don't think I have the gear to defeat it yet.

But It is unclear of how to progress from my current point. Can someone point me in the right direction? I do like that the game doesn't hand-hold, but it feels like I'm missing something and felt like I should ask for help!

The game is set up in a very progression-based way. It's not required to follow that progression, but (especially for new players) it's the prescribed way.

What this means is that Each biome is considered it's own self-contained play area, where the player fully explores that biome, collecting resources, recipes, foods, work stations, tool and weapon unlocks / upgrades etc., based on that biome and get's you prepared to fight the boss of that biome, which then gives you an item which will help you in the next biome.

Once the boss is defeated, the player then moves to the next area (biome) and the process repeats.... stay within that area, exploring and gathering all the new recipes, upgrades, resources etc., preparing the player to battle the boss of that biome, which drops an item needed in the next biome, and so on.

Each biome has a fairly huge jump in difficulty, compared to the last, so wandering into a different biome, higher than the player is ready for, is almost always a fast way to be killed and then frustration when their gear is sitting in a biome they weren't yet ready to be in.

You are allowed to explore and travel wherever you want, but that doesn't mean you should... It;s generally best to stay within the current biome you are playing, and fully explore and discover everything that biome has to offer, before fighting the boss and moving on.

The current Progression goes Meadows, Black Forest, Swamp, Mountains and then Plains.
Each of those biomes has it's own upgrades and new items and resources and finally each has it's own boss to defeat.