How to open cans in Scum

Figuring out how to open cans in SCUM was one of the first problems I came across when I started playing yesterday. When you start the game and spawn on the island, your first impulse will be to search for weapons and clothes. Pretty soon you’ll find out that your character gets hungry rather quickly. Since you’re in a hostile environment, surrounded by other players and zombies, it’s not easy to find food while trying to stay alive. Imagine how happy I was when I found a can of food in one of the houses. Imagine the disappointment when opening cans in SCUM turned out not to be as obvious as I thought it will be. Once I figured out how I decided to write this guide and help in case you are having the same problem as I did.

How to open food cans in Scum?

No matter what type or size of cans you come across in Scum, you’ll have to open them if you want to feed your character. The key is using a knife or a can opener. Can openers are found in houses and on corpse. You probably won’t have one early in the game. You shouldn’t have too much trouble trying to craft a stone knife though. It takes two stones, you can pick up from the ground, to make one. Once you got a knife and a food can you have to figure out the game system for opening cans. Gosu tip: you can even use scissors to open food cans. Plastic ones will do just fine for this and they are easily found in houses.

At first, when I tried to open a can, I selected a can opener and then right clicked on the can. It didn’t work. Then, I put the can opener in my hand, and right clicked on the can. That didn’t work either. What I figured out in the end is that you have to select both items – can and the can opener (or knife) – in your inventory. Afterwards, right click the can and from the drop down menu choose open. If the open option does not appear once you right click the food can, check if you have something else in your inventory also selected. Selected items in the inventory are marked by a red background. You can right click on a selected item and choose unselect all to clear your selection. By doing that you can make sure you selected only the knife and the food can.

Some players reported a bug where you’re not able to do this in your inventory. In this case, you’ll have to take both items from your inventory and place them on the ground. After that, right click the can and you’ll be able to open it.

Canned food is a great source of different nutrients for you character in the game. SCUM’s complex survival system will teach you that you have to pay attention to different aspects of the game. Aside from eating, drinking, resting, and killing enemies, you’ll deal with physiological needs, hypothermia, different diseases and even heart attacks. Canned food can prevent you from getting stomach sickness that you can get from unprocessed foods. Stay tuned, because in our next guide we’ll show you how to cook a meal.