I have a terrible relationship with video games.
I never got past the swamp
My list of unfinished games is huge.
Red dead 2 Valheim Skyrim Oblivion Cyberpunk Death stranding Elden ring Pokemon arceus
And they're just the games i play.
In 10 years ive finished
Botw Horizon zero dawn.
And only the main stories nothing else
I'm more or less in the same boat when it came to the swamp.
My group and I tried to explore it, and got beat to a pulp. It absolutely killed the group's desire to keep playing the game. I tried on my own to build a little portal fort off to the side of the swamp to make things easier, as well as getting anti-poison and healing mead, but I doubt I'll be able convince them to give it a second shot.
This is a really common issue. I think the key thing a lot of people miss when transitioning to the swamps is good food. Food is at least as important as gear in this game. Make sure you've got a good carrot patch, and it's not too hard to be eating carrot soup and deer stew at all times. Prioritize finding turnip seeds on your first couple swamp trips, and then you can upgrade your food even further and everything gets much more comfy.
