A sauna is a small room or building designed as a place to experience heat sessions. Saunas are a prominent part of Finnish culture, and that's why there are two saunas in My Summer Car for the player to use. A hot sauna reduces the player character's stress level.
A sauna has a pile of stones heated up by electricity or firewood in a small room. When the stones are hot enough, water is thrown on them to create steam. Usually Finns are naked in the sauna, but depending on the circumstances, people can also wear bathing suits or towels.
How to use the sauna[]
Electric sauna[]
Sit on the seat directly in front of the stove, point slightly over the stove and right-click to throw water to get steam. Enlarge the picture to see the crosshair.
One sauna is located at the back of the player's home, it is an electric sauna. The sauna stove has two dials on the bottom, one for temperature and one for a timer. Turn both bottom dials clockwise to the maximum and the stove will start buzzing. Each tick on the timer dial increases the time by 142 seconds. When the stove is turned on, the sauna temperature increases by about 20 °C every 60 seconds, note that the sauna takes ~3 minutes to heat up before it affects the thermometer. See the thermometer on the sauna wall. The timer will go down with time, and when it goes all the way counter-clockwise the sauna will shut off.
- Warning: The sauna room might catch fire if the heat dial is left to the maximum setting, the halfway mark will be much safer, but as a result, the sauna will heat up slower.
It is important to note that sitting on the bench in the sauna while it is heated up will rapidly increase your thirst.
Remember to close the sauna door or otherwise, the sauna won't heat up! While waiting for the sauna to heat up, fill the bucket up by placing it under a running tap. There's one in the shower room and in the kitchen.
When the sauna is hot enough, climb to the upper bench, pick up the ladle and equip it using the action button (default F). Left-click the filled bucket, aim slightly above the stove and right-click to throw water and enjoy the steamy goodness!
It can be tricky to throw water onto the stones, so try different angles. The most effective approach is to move the character to the seat directly in front of the stove, aiming slightly above the stove (the center of the third section of the wall up from the stove is a good target) and then throwing the water.
A better method of throwing water is to look at where the water goes when you throw it. When you throw the water, a physical water model is created. Take note of where it goes, and try to throw it on to the stones.
A few seconds after throwing water, the player's stress level will instantly jump to a lower level instead of lowering gradually. Wait for this to occur before splashing water again to lower stress as quickly as possible. Water can be thrown 13 times from a completely filled bucket, after which it will need to be filled again.
If the sauna is left on and allowed to continue to heat up, it can result in the room (and the rest of the house) being burnt down.
Firewood sauna[]
The other sauna in the game is located inside the cottage on the island in the middle of the lake. Unlike the electric sauna at home, the cottage sauna is heated with firewood, another difference from the electric sauna is that it can also be used to cook meat by laying the meat on the stones of the sauna (Sausage packages will not unpack on the stones), the meat will cook as soon as the flame is lit; this can be especially useful for cooking pike caught on the island. Using it is quite simple: chop some wood behind the cottage, open the stove hatch and put some firewood inside (fits four at a time, it is possible to insert more which will only be counted by the game when there is a free space), press the use button (default F) to light it then close the hatch. The stove might need to be refilled before the sauna reaches the desired temperature. The water bucket is filled by submerging it in the lake or using the water pump behind the cottage.
Trivia[]
- Successfully using the sauna will unlock the "Welcome to Finland" achievement, and urinating on the stove will unlock the "Golden steam" achievement.
- Successfully using the Firewood sauna will unlock the "Finnish Summer" achievement.
- The sauna initially used to decrease dirtiness.