Walkthrough/The Basics
In this page we will explain the basics of the game. If you have already played Bloodborne or Dark Souls, you can skip to the next section. If you don't know any of the previously mentioned games, this page is totally for you.
Your Character
In this game, your character is referred to as The Tarnished.
As any good RPG, you can create it however you want it to look. The looks won't have any effect in the gameplay, so make your character as you please.
Character Creation
Your Origin / Class
Your character's origin (similar to a "class" in other games) gives you the Stats and equipment that will determine your playstyle in the beginning of the game. If this is your very first game, the main recommendations are:
Vagabond: Starts with a lot of health and a very good armor. You will be able to survive most hits even from the first bosses. Starts with a sword and a halberd. Their equipment is a bit too heavy the start, so unequip the halberd if you wish to focus on the sword or the sword and the gauntlets of the armor if wishing to focus on the halberd.
Samurai: Has less health and slightly worse armor but starts with a katana, which is faster than a sword and can bleed enemies, and a bow for ranged attack, though with limited ammunition until you find a merchant that sells arrows. Bleed makes bosses die faster.
Astrologer: You can fire from afar in a safe position. You will probably die in one hit if you ever get caught, though.
To check the other classes and what they bring up to the table you can check our Origins page. If you want to compare all the stats, you can see the comparison table.
The Keepsake
The keepsake is an item you can choose at the beginning of the game as part of your character creation. Bear in my mind that you can eventually get all of the keepsakes while playing the game, so it is just a matter of what is more convenient for you at the beginning.
| Keepsakes with author's commentary. | ||
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None | No keepsake. The past has been well and truly left behind. |
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Crimson Amber Medallion | A medallion inlaid with crimson amber. Increases maximum HP. Talisman that increases maximum HP by just a little. There are better options. |
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Lands Between Rune | The gold of grace shining in the eyes of the people of the Lands Between. Use to gain many runes. Useful to level up once early on. Bear in mind that you can't level up until you find a certain character in the game. |
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Golden Seed | A golden seed washed ashore from the Lands Between. Said to reinforce Sacred Flasks. Gain an extra health potion earlier than normal. There is a hard limit to how many golden seeds you can use, so the surplus you get in the game will be useless. |
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Fanged Imp Ashes | The ashes of small, diminutive golems. Ashes are said to hold spirits within. If you want help against bosses, this is a great option. By the time you can get these in the game, you will have already found better options. |
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Cracked Pot | Three strange cracked pots that somehow mend themselves. A container for certain thrown items. Pots are like grenades in this game. This item lets you craft them (if you have the recipe and the Crafting Kit, bought early on). If you use the pot that you crafted, you can then use this item again to craft another one. If you like crafting, this is the best option. |
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Stonesword Key | Two stone keys shaped like swords. Breaks the seal on imp statues, but can only be used once. There are many closed doors in the game. While there are enough keys in the game to open them all, it's always convenient to have an extra one to access these areas faster. Can gain access to the Fringefolk Hero's Grave directly after the tutorial, though that dungeon should generally be explored later. |
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Bewitching Branch | Five sacred branches charged with beguiling power. Said to originate from the demigod Miquella. Stab a normal enemy with this to make them fight for you. While powerful, you can only use each branch once. |
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Boiled Prawn | Five pieces of boiled prawn. Boosts physical damage negation. Prawns are actually a mid-game item that give you an impressive resistance against physical attacks. With 5 of them, you have up to 5 fights that are going to be easier for you in the beginning of the game. |
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Shabriri's Woe | The crazed likeness of a noble whose eyes have been gouged out. Attracts enemies' aggression. Only helps with drawing attention from other, friendly players, making this item only useful if you are summoned or are summoning. |
The Attributes
Your attributes (or stats) are mainly used to determine your Health and the equipment that you can use.
Vigor increases your Health (the red bar), Endurance increases your Stamina/Energy (the green bar). Mind increases your the blue bar that lets you use magic and weapon abilities.
Regarding equipment (armor and weapons) and broadly speaking: if you want to use big maces and clubs, you will need to level up Strength. If you want to use daggers, rapiers, katanas, etc, you will need Dexterity. If you want to use magic you will need to increase Intelligence. And for incantations, you will need Faith. Finally, Arcane is primarily used for Status Effects builds (though only for weapons with Arcane-scaling).
Every time you level up, you can increase 1 attribute by 1 point. It is recommended to focus in only one playstyle in the beginning (although you can technically become jack of all trades by the end of the game), for this, just choose a weapon that you feel comfortable with and look at the necessary stats. If you mess up your stats, don't worry, you will eventually find a re-spec option in the game that lets you reallocate all the points that you have earned while leveling up.
The Combat
Very broadly speaking, you have 2 types of enemies: small enemies and big enemies.
Small and humanoid enemies can be backstabbed if you approach unnoticed and hit them in the back. Humanoid enemies can also be parried: if you have a shield just click the parry button at the very exact moment you are about to get hit and you will parry and stagger the enemy.
Big enemies require you to dodge at the correct time. While you roll you become invulnerable for a fraction of a second. If timed well, you can avoid almost any attack with a roll.
You can stagger all kinds of enemies. Staggers happen when you hit an enemy with strong attacks, interrupting their actions (smaller enemies will stagger very easily with almost any attack). You can also Break the Stance of an enemy. If you hit an enemy repeatedly with heavy attacks you will break their stance, making them to fall. When fallen, you will be able to do a visceral attack by doing a normal attack while near. Very big enemies (like dragons) will start glowing in a part of their body while fallen, this is to tell you where you have to hit them to trigger the visceral attack.
The Story
Souls games are famous for telling the story in an non-straightforward way. Half of the story is told within the item descriptions of the objects that you can pick. Whenever you find an object, you can go to the inventory and press "Show more" to see its description.
If you don't feel like reading every single item, this guide will still give you the outline of the story as you progress, starting with the next page, where the prologue will be explained.