Guides
17 guides, one system at a time, explained plainly. The how behind the numbers in the database.
Beginner
Start here. The opening hours, the difficulty you pick before you know what it changes, and the ten side quests you can lose by walking away.
Your first day in the valley
The Prologue teaches you to fight. It does not tell you what a shrine is for, and a shrine does four separate jobs.
6 min read
Which difficulty to pick, and what each one really changes
Four presets, and the hardest of them gives enemies less health. What Duelist takes away is the interface, not the numbers.
4 min read
The Prologue's ten side quests are all missable
Leaving Laslea Glen closes ten side quests permanently. Here is why the opening chapter deserves more of your attention than it looks like it wants.
4 min read
Combat
What a swing actually costs, how to read the numbers above an enemy, and why a hex only works by day.
Combat: what actually costs stamina
Most of the defensive game is free if you aim it. Blocking a direction costs nothing, and a perfect dodge costs nothing even when you dodge the wrong way.
6 min read
Reading an enemy's numbers
Health is printed per segment, and segments run from one to nine. Brencis has three of them, which is how he reaches 137,148 at level 50.
5 min read
Witchcraft only works in daylight
A hex is carved into the caster's own skin, and a vrakhir heals too fast to hold the cut. That one detail puts a third of your kit on a schedule.
5 min read
Systems
The thirty day clock, Corruption, Infamy and the court. The rules the rest of the game hangs off.
How the thirty days actually work
The clock is a budget, not a timer. What spends a segment, the warning the game gives you first, the setting that turns it on, and why running out is an ending rather than a loss.
9 min read
Court Activities, and which vassal each one angers
Eighteen activities, filed against three vassals. Read each vassal's list together and it describes what they actually do for Brencis.
6 min read
Corruption, and what feeding actually costs
The night form is the stronger one. Corruption is the price, and it is the gate on the powers you want.
5 min read
Infamy, Edicts, and how the court answers back
Pressure the vassals and the regime notices. Nine Edicts, three vassals, and a menu that tracks all of it.
5 min read
Progression
Swordmastery, Witchcraft and Vampirism, how a day-night build splits between them, and the counters behind the achievements.
All 46 achievements, and the counters behind them
Forty-six on PC and Xbox, forty-seven trophies on PlayStation. Twenty-three of them want a specific number, and three of those numbers are things you can count on the map.
6 min read
The three skill trees, and how a day-night build splits
Swordmastery works in both forms. Witchcraft is daylight only. Vampiric Abilities are night only. Everything follows from that.
6 min read
Items
What the thirty-four stat modifiers are worth, and which recipes repay the ingredients.
Which item stats matter
Thirty-four modifiers appear on gear, every one a percentage, and the ceilings are lower than they look. Nothing reaches past 15%, and damage stops at 8%.
7 min read
Crafting, and the one potion you can only make once
Forty-four recipes. Forty-three of them stack to five. The forty-fourth permanently raises both health pools and hands you a skill point, and its last ingredient drops from nothing.
6 min read
Exploration
The ten regions of Vale Sangora, and the level each one expects you to arrive at.
Endings
Seven outcomes and what gates each one, written to stay spoiler-light.
Technical
Crashes, stutter, gamepad problems, and the graphics settings worth reaching for first.