Locked chests in Enshrouded 1.0 will not open by hand. The dependable way to get Lockpicks is to craft them, which comes down to collecting one common material and spending a few seconds in the Crafting menu.
Quick answer: Craft a Lockpick from 2 Metal Scraps under Crafting > Survival, then use it on any chest that reads “REQUIRED: Lockpick”.
Get Metal Scraps first
Use Metal Scraps to craft Lockpicks; Obsidian can replace them later. Every Scavenger you kill drops 1-4 Metal Scraps, while the larger Scavenger Matrons drop 6. Debris piles, scrap pots, and dead Scavengers scattered through camps and ruins add more on top of that.
The first batch is usually waiting in the ruins just past the Cinder Vault, so you will likely have enough for a Lockpick before you ever reach a locked chest.
Metal Scraps also go into the Grappling Hook, which costs 4, and the Forge, which costs 10. Keep a stack spare so topping up on Lockpicks never eats into those builds.
Craft the Lockpick in the Survival tab
Picking up Metal Scraps for the first time immediately makes the Lockpick recipe available; you need neither a quest nor a station. Its item text reads “Opens a lock.”
Open the menu and go to Crafting, then find the Survival section. The Lockpick sits alongside the Axe, Campfire, Pickaxe, and Torch. Its resource line shows Metal Scraps x/2, meaning each Lockpick costs 2 Metal Scraps by hand. Craft as many as your scrap count allows.
Open a locked chest
Walk up to a locked chest and it will display “REQUIRED: Lockpick”. With at least one Lockpick in your inventory, the game shows the prompt to use the item. Do so, and the chest opens for you to take its loot.
Halve the cost after rescuing the Blacksmith
After Oswald Anders, the Blacksmith, is established at your base, use his station to make Lockpicks. Each costs 1 Metal Scraps, half the hand-crafting cost. Later, Obsidian can replace Metal Scraps in either recipe, whether you craft by hand or at the Blacksmith.
Archaic locks need a different tool
Regular Lockpicks work on ordinary locked chests. In Cinder’s Cradle, chests secured with an Ancient (Archaic) lock require Archaic Lockpicks; standard ones cannot open them. Remember the difference as you go deeper and encounter both types of locks.
