Beginner's Guide

What this guide covers

This guide condenses the complete 39-section in-game manual into a practical first-run route. It keeps the manual's details, but explains them in plain terms so you know what to do when you first reach Tenebrous Isle.

Your main goal is to restore the six failing Spark Generators outside Ossex. Each generator route leads through a different region, each is protected by a major boss, and the game often lets you leave a hard route and try another one. If a path is costing too many Bones, Sparks, Sidearms, or Plasma Vials before you even reach the boss, step away, spend resources, and come back stronger.

First-hour priorities

• Activate every Underlab you pass. Walk past the entrance to register it, then burrow into it to enter.
• Learn burrow timing before chasing damage. Holding jump sends Mina underground, but she can stay there only briefly.
• Spend Bones often. Bones are both shop money and level-up fuel, and losing them Sparkless hurts.
• Break candles and objects. They can hide pickups, Joule Jars, Bones, and Sidearms.
• Talk to everyone in Ossex and the field. NPC requests, shop stock, newspaper hints, and odd vendors all point toward progress.
• Use the map as a memory tool. It fills while you explore, can be zoomed, and later can help track collectibles by region.

Controls that matter early

Mina moves in eight directions, so diagonal facing is normal: hold two directions together, then attack. Press start to pause or skip most scenes and dialogue. Press attack to use your weapon. Hold attack with some weapons to access extra moves or lock Mina's facing so she can strafe while aiming forward. Press sidearm to use the equipped Sidearm, which consumes Joules. Press heal to drink a Plasma Vial and convert the yellow Plasma bar into red health. Press select for auxiliary actions that unlock later, including Sidearm swapping after the relevant upgrade.

Jump clears gaps, enemies, barriers, and some attacks. Jump plus attack hits airborne targets and objects that cannot be reached from the ground. If you jump from the very edge of a platform, Mina gains maximum distance; if she starts to slip, there is a brief last chance to jump before falling.

Burrowing is Mina's core tool. Hold jump to dive underground, move faster, dodge many attacks, pass under fences and some obstacles, and strike certain buried objects. Release jump while burrowed to perform a burrow jump, which crosses bigger gaps than a normal jump. Mina can also burrow in place, and after taking damage she can burrow as an emergency escape even when she normally could not.

Ropes and ladders are simple: jump onto them or press up to grab, climb with up and down, and jump away when needed. Some ledges can be dropped from by pressing toward the ledge; no jump input is needed. Water damages Mina if she falls in, but she can burrow to swim, slowly. Interact or examine by pressing attack when a word bubble or magnifying glass appears.

Combat rhythm

Treat each room as a short pattern test. Watch the first attack, learn the safe lane, land a small punish, then reposition. Greedy strings are risky because many bosses are tuned around Mina's recovery and surfacing timing.

Use burrow to control spacing. Cross under enemies, surface behind them, and attack when their whiffed animation gives you time. Not every attack can be dodged underground, and anything attached to the ground may hurt if you burrow into it. A reliable rule from the manual: if an object has a shadow, Mina can usually burrow under it safely.

Enemy and object shadows are important. Shadows show height and position, and they flicker over pits, water, or lava to warn you about danger below. When Mina takes damage, she flashes and is briefly invincible; use that window to slip through hazards. When an enemy flashes after being hit, it cannot hurt Mina for a moment, so you can pass, reposition, or follow up.

Sparks, death, and Bones

Spark Orbs protect your Bones from the worst death penalty. If Mina dies while holding a Spark Orb, the Spark drops. If an enemy killed her, that enemy can absorb the Spark, and you recover it by reaching the loose Orb or defeating that enemy. Enemies have limited Spark capacity shown on their health bar; if a Spark would exceed that limit, it returns to Mina instead.

If Mina dies without any Sparks, she loses all carried Bones. Spend Bones at shops, invest them through Bone Up, or convert safe Bonestone back into Bones at the Bone Sinterer when you need buying power. Mina also loses her carried Sidearm on death, so do not treat Sidearms as permanent gear unless you have an Underlab upgrade that helps preserve or duplicate them.

The death screen tells you what matters: remaining Spark Orbs, last Underlab or location, and the Bones lost if you died Sparkless.

Underlabs and saving

Underlabs are your checkpoints, loadout rooms, and recovery spaces. When defeated, Mina returns to the last activated Underlab. Entering and relaxing in an Underlab saves, heals, and respawns defeated enemies and world elements above.

Inside, use the Bone Sinterer to convert Bonestone into Bones. This is one-way: the Sinterer does not turn Bones back into Bonestone. Bonestone is valuable because it cannot be lost on death. The Plasma Vial Dispenser restores and dispenses vials on death or visit. Weapon Chests let you equip, unequip, inspect, and upgrade weapons. Trinket Chests let you equip, unequip, and inspect Trinkets. More Underlab devices appear as you restore the Hollower's Guild.

The game also autosaves whenever Mina enters a new room, crosses a screen, enters an Underlab, or passes through a door or hole. Watch for the save icon and do not power off while it appears.

Healing and pickups

Your health is the red bar. Plasma is the yellow segment of the health bar, usually gained from Plasma Roses or by attacking enemies. When you use a Plasma Vial, the yellow Plasma converts into red health. Attack enemies to build Plasma, heal when the yellow bar is worth converting, and refill Vials in Underlabs or by finding them in the world.

Useful pickups and upgrades:

• Bones: currency and level-up fuel, found in the world or earned from enemies.
• Plasma Roses: safe healing fuel; enemies often provide more Plasma, but flowers do not fight back.
• Joule Jars: refill Joules for Sidearms; Joules are lost on death.
• Vial Pouches: increase maximum Plasma Vials.
• Health Roses: increase maximum health.
• Trinket Bags: increase how many Trinkets Mina can equip.
• Joule Boxes: increase maximum Joules.
• Spark Containers: increase maximum Sparks and give more chances to recover Bones after death.
• Kears: open locks automatically; they are not normal keys and do not require a menu button.
• Cloaks: permanent defensive upgrades.
• Train Pass: enables train travel, including the route needed for Coltrane Peak.
• Underlab upgrades: add equipment management, weapon testing, progress tracking, music playback, Sidearm systems, and more.
• Phonograph: unlocks Sound Test for music you have heard.

Some barriers require Plasma Vials, and those blocks reappear when Mina re-enters the area or an Underlab. Some doors require Sparks, but Sparks are refunded when you come back.

Ossex hub

Ossex is the safest place to reset your plan. Return there when a route feels too expensive. Buy weapons from Legovich, Trinkets from the many-faced Trinket vendor, Kears from the Kear economists, and supplies from shops. Prices for the next item can rise, so spend with intent. Pawnty lets you sell unwanted items for quick Bones and buy them back later. The Train Station starts out of commission, and getting a new train car will be costly. The Music Hall provides local diversion, and the newspaper is worth reading for gossip and direction.

Regions and boss routes

The six generator regions each test a different skill:

Each major area has a shop. Find it before committing to long pushes. Minigames are scattered through the world and can reward completion. Strange mirrors appear across the land; mark them mentally when you cannot use them yet.

Generator tower climbs

Restoring a Spark Generator is a special tower sequence. Mina rises automatically while climbing. Press up to speed up, down to slow or reverse, and keep using normal movement, jumping, burrowing, and attacks. Burrow into fuses to reset them while collecting as many Bones as possible and staying ahead of the surge.

The left map shows Mina, the surge line, and fuse positions. The bottom map shows fuse locations around the tower relative to Mina, even when they are off-screen. You can retry a tower climb by hopping onto the vent before jumping to the top, but once the tower is activated, the sequence is done for good.

Weapons, Sidearms, and Trinkets

After the opening, you choose a weapon and later collect more. Starter and progression weapons cover different ranges and risks:

Sidearms are field tools powered by Joules. You usually carry one at a time, they are found in breakable objects or other sources, and they are lost on death. Gyro Dagger boomerangs back toward Mina and can be batted into enemies again for repeated hits. Volt Hatchet throws a shock wave that helps against clustered enemies and can use walls or height differences to your advantage. Sidearm Damage can be raised through Bone Up, while Joule Boxes increase how often you can use them.

Trinkets are passive build pieces. Equip and unequip them at Trinket Chests, try combinations, and adjust for the route. The manual points to effects like Ferrying Wisp, which extends airborne control by holding jump. The broader database includes stat boosters, movement comfort, faster healing, burrow tools, pit or water recovery, Sidearm economy, Beastium effects, and risk-reward damage Trinkets. Do not treat Trinkets as required for the main path; the manual explicitly notes the main route never requires special equipment or Trinkets.

Bone Up strategy

Bones are used to buy items and Bone Up. The practical choices are Attack, Defense, and Sidearms. Attack raises main weapon damage, Defense reduces damage taken, and Sidearms raises Sidearm power. Some references also separate Bonestone handling as its own long-term economy choice: safe value matters when you are carrying more Bones than you can afford to lose.

For a first run, raise Defense if you are dying before learning patterns, raise Attack if fights are dragging long enough that you start making mistakes, and raise Sidearms when Joules and Sidearms are already part of your room-clearing plan. If you are about to enter an unknown region with a big Bone pile, spend or bank first.

Menus, Modifiers, and Feats

The HUD shows your weapon, Sidearm, Plasma Vial, red health, enemy health, enemy Spark capacity, yellow Plasma, Spark Orbs, current Bones, Kears, next Bone Up requirement, and save icon.

The pause menu is more than a break screen. Use it to view collected gear, discovered items, Mina's stats, and options. Its main entries include Collection, Weapons, Trinkets, Sidearms, Mina's Status, Manual, and Options. Mina's Status shows Attack, Defense, and Sidearms level, plus the Bones needed for the next Bone Up.

Modifiers can make the game easier, harder, stranger, or more accessible. Some can only be activated at the start of an adventure, and some disable Feats. Enable them from Options or by pressing sidearm on the Profile Select screen after entering a name. In the Modifier menu, move with directions, confirm with advance, hold advance plus left or right to change multi-choice values, use cancel2 to step backward, advance2 to reset a selected modifier, cancel to exit, select to filter, and start to favorite modifiers. Holding start while moving can favorite selected entries, start on All toggles all favorites, and start on Random favorites a random set.

Feats are optional challenges inside the main game. They can be viewed from the Options menu or Title Screen. Save the hardest modifier-based Feats for later playthroughs unless you already know you want a challenge run.

Fishing

Once the fishing quest begins, catches are recorded as trophies on the Fish Board. Fish by aiming for shadows under the surface and hooking one. Fishing can pull up foes or helpful rewards, and almost every region hides a unique fish. Some fish are difficult enough that you should return after improving your route comfort and tools.

Complete manual coverage

Further More

• Game Mechanics
• Game Tips