To use food from the hotbar in the Emberville demo, equip a healing consumable to an available belt slot, then activate that slot's shortcut. The demo's recovery tutorial identifies F1, F2, F3, and F4 as keyboard belt shortcuts. Use the assignments displayed by your current build if you have rebound controls, and use only slots that are actually available to your character.
Health recovery items can also be used directly from the inventory. The belt is the quicker route when you want the item ready during play. Check which food is assigned before entering another fight; a remembered shortcut is not useful if the slot is empty or contains a different consumable.
Identify the belt rather than the skill bar
The screen can show more than one group of action slots. Do not assume every numbered control is a food slot. The recovery tutorial specifically refers to equipping consumables to the belt and using its shortcuts, so start by matching the item to the belt area shown by your interface.
Open the inventory and inspect the food you want to use. Confirm that it is a health recovery item and read its current description. A consumable's appearance or name is not enough to establish whether it restores health, affects another resource, or serves another purpose.
Next, locate the available belt slots and their displayed assignments. If your character currently has fewer accessible slots than a tutorial lists, work with the slots you can actually select. The tutorial's list of shortcuts does not prove that every slot is unlocked at the same moment in every recording.
A screenshot from a preview can help you recognize the layout, but do not copy a key assignment blindly. Interface arrangements and bindings can differ between builds and devices. Use the current prompt as the final reference for which input will activate the slot on your setup.
Identify the consumable belt separately from the combat skill slots; follow your current bindings.
Equip one food item and verify the assignment
Set up a single slot first so that the result is easy to check. Choose a food item you already have, place it in an available belt slot through the inventory interface, and confirm that its icon appears there. The demo tutorial explains equipping items to the belt; use the current interface prompts because gestures and mappings can differ between configurations.
- Open the inventory in a safe moment.
- Select a food item whose current description identifies health recovery.
- Equip it to an available belt slot using the controls shown by your interface.
- Confirm that the selected slot now displays the intended item.
- Read the shortcut assigned to that slot.
- Close the inventory and check the same icon on the normal play screen.
Do not treat an item disappearing from one inventory position as proof that it was consumed. It may have moved to the belt. Check the destination icon and quantity before trying to recover a supposedly missing item or equipping another stack.
Likewise, do not assume that placing food somewhere on the interface automatically chooses it for every shortcut. Each visible slot has an assignment and an item state. The useful check is whether the shortcut you intend to press corresponds to the food you just equipped.
Use the assigned shortcut when healing is needed
The demo's tutorial explains that potions and other consumables can recover HP, with belt shortcuts providing quick access. On the keyboard layout shown in that tutorial, those shortcuts are F1 through F4. If your bindings have changed, use the current assignment rather than the original default.
Use a controlled test when you next need healing instead of consuming supplies without a reason. Note your health state, activate the assigned slot once, and watch for a health change and a quantity change. Those observations help establish that the correct item was used.
Avoid mashing several shortcuts while trying to identify which one works. If multiple slots contain consumables, repeated inputs make it harder to tell what was consumed and what effect it had. One deliberate activation gives you a clearer comparison and reduces avoidable waste.
There is no universal current healing number for every food in this guide. Read the item's tooltip in your build. A food that was useful in an older gameplay clip may have a different value or context in a later build, so judge the result against your current character and item description.
Compare food held in the inventory with an item actually assigned to an available belt slot.
Keep direct inventory use as a separate route
The recovery tutorial also allows health recovery items to be used directly from inventory. That can help you confirm that an item is usable when the belt setup is unclear. It does not mean that inventory use and belt use share the same physical input, or that a successful direct use proves the shortcut is correctly assigned.
If direct inventory use works but the belt shortcut does not, focus on the belt assignment, available slot, and current input mapping. If neither route works, recheck the selected item and the state in which you are trying to use it. Describe those observations before assuming that the entire healing system is broken.
Do not consume another item merely because its icon resembles the food you wanted. Compare the description and current resource effect. A potion intended for another resource is not a substitute for health recovery simply because it belongs to the broader consumables category.
Using inventory as a fallback can also help during setup: establish which item you want to carry, then equip that exact item to the belt. Keep the two questions separate: whether the item can be used, and whether you can activate it quickly through the chosen slot.
Replace empty or unintended slots deliberately
Before another encounter, look at the belt again. A shortcut activates the item assigned to that slot; it cannot be assumed to search your entire bag for a suitable replacement. A universal automatic refill or food-priority rule is not confirmed for Demo Alpha 0.20.18.x.
If a slot is empty, open the inventory and assign the food you want. If it contains a different consumable, decide whether you intended that change. Check the visible quantity rather than relying on memory of how much food you had earlier in the route.
This is particularly useful after cooking or reorganizing inventory. A newly cooked item and the raw ingredient it came from are not necessarily the same object for belt assignment purposes. Confirm the current slot icon instead of assuming the hotbar automatically follows every inventory change.
Do not discard the raw item or another consumable merely to force a slot to update. Start with the normal equipping controls and check the result. If the slot still behaves unexpectedly, record the item name, the action you used to assign it, and what the icon or count shows afterward.
| Check | Successful result | If it does not match |
|---|---|---|
| Item identity | The description identifies the recovery effect you want | Choose the correct consumable before equipping |
| Belt assignment | The intended food icon appears in an available slot | Recheck the current interface controls |
| Shortcut | The displayed input matches the slot you plan to activate | Check bindings or controller prompts |
| Use | The item effect and quantity change as expected | Compare direct use with belt activation |
Review food choices before spending ingredients
Cooking improves food healing in observed demo play, including a comparison between cooked and raw steak. That supports checking available cooking options before a difficult encounter, but it does not establish a complete recipe list or a universal ranking of every cooked food against every potion.
Read the current output description before committing ingredients. If you choose to cook, verify that the finished item actually enters your inventory, then equip that output to the belt. Planning a recipe, completing a craft, collecting the output, and assigning the food are separate actions.
Do not assume that a cooking action also replaces the old food in your shortcut slot. The quickest useful check is the visible belt icon after crafting. If it still shows an older item, assign the intended output deliberately rather than finding out during combat.
The goal is a reliable supply you can identify and activate. A theoretically stronger item is less useful if it remains uncollected at the station or is not assigned to the shortcut you use. Confirm the whole sequence in a safe area before relying on it in a difficult fight.
Avoid dialogue and menu confusion
Demo Alpha 0.20.18.x fixed a bug that allowed items to be consumed during dialogue interactions. This matters when an input seems to perform the wrong action while another interface is open. Use consumables deliberately during normal play rather than treating dialogue as the place to test a healing shortcut.
If the gamepad interface behaves differently from your keyboard setup, read its active prompts. The same demo patch includes controller navigation changes, but those fixes do not supply a single universal physical button for every controller layout. A preview screenshot shows a particular interface state, not a guarantee of your current mapping.
When a shortcut fails, record whether the inventory, dialogue, or another menu was open. That detail can explain why a test differs from ordinary play. Retest once in a clear normal-play state before changing bindings or replacing the item again.
As of October 28, 2026, these instructions concern the public demo, with Alpha 0.20.18.x as the latest verified patch line. Confirm the current item, available belt slot, and displayed shortcut whenever a build changes. A working setup is the one where the intended food is visible, the assigned input activates it, and the recovery result matches what you expected.