Mechanics

Levels and XPRarityNightSieges and artifactsWorld eventsTreasure islesComfort buffsPotionsFish mealsPastimesNew Game+Loading tips

Levels and XP

The level cap is 55. XP comes from kills, sieges, bosses, shrine fish, events and quests. A kill of an enemy far below you pays less: more than 4 levels below pays 50%, more than 8 levels below 10%.

Rarity

Weapons, rods, tools and clothing come in five rarities, plus Relic. Higher rarities carry more and stronger perks.

CommonUncommonRareEpicLegendaryRelic

Boss rooms try each rarity from Legendary down and take the first that hits, else Common:

Night

Night runs from 18:00 to 06:00. Island camps rise 3 levels, see 1.4× as far, respawn faster (30 s), and pay 1.5× the gold and XP. Every camp risen at night can also drop Moon Dust (1 in 5). World events rise 3 levels at night too, and their purse grows 1.5×. Crypts and sieges are not affected.

Sieges and artifacts

Every crypt is a siege. At its altar you can take on artifacts before kindling: each makes the siege harder and raises the boss chest's odds (up to 3×).

World events

Out on the islands a raid or a warlord turns up now and then: Cryptic Raid, Bone Muster, Grave Rising; Warlord, Field Captain, The Butcher. A raid comes in waves of 3, 4, 5 at the region's top level, one more enemy a wave for each extra player (8 at most), the last of each wave an elite. A warlord is one elite captain with a Warden's health and two elite guards, 2 levels above the region's top. At night both stand 3 levels higher. Their enemies drop nothing; everyone who took part gets XP and a purse of 15–25 gold (×1.5 for a raid, ×2.5 for a warlord, growing with level, ×1.5 at night), a lure, materials (a warlord's are a boss chest's), a weapon (35% / 75%) and clothing (25% / 40%), at the island-boss rarity odds.

Treasure isles

Treasure maps lead to the treasure isles, small jungle islands out at sea (procedural: each world places its own, up to 24), each with camps and one chest. Where maps come from, their levels and what the chests hold: see Treasure maps.

Comfort buffs

Peaceful places: Brindle Farm, Hermit's Hollow, Wayfarer's Rest, Lantern Hollow, Ashfall Camp, Snowdrift Fire, Steamwell Springs, Cinder Springs, Shellback Cove, Grey Tide Pools, Sunwash Cove, Bramble Springs, Preacher's Spring, Merrick's Perch.

Potions

Potion	Effect	Lasts
Healing Draught	Refreshing: regenerates 1.5% health a second (up to your full health in all)	90 s
Ironhide Tonic	Calming: 20% less damage taken	120 s
Swiftness Elixir	Energizing: +18% movement speed	120 s
Marksman's Draught	Focused: +20% gun damage	120 s
Brawler's Brew	Euphoric: +24% melee damage	120 s
Angler's Luck	Thought-Provoking: fish bite 40% sooner	180 s
Owl Eye Tonic	Bright-Eyed: your eyes light the dark (12 m)	240 s
Fortune Tonic	Glowing: +30% gold found, and you glow	180 s
Potion of Peace	Peaceful: island camps and ambushes don't rise for you	600 s
Pruitt's Tonic	Anti-gravity: 30% lighter: higher jumps, softer falls (up to 75% lighter: higher jumps, softer falls from a Legendary fish)	90 s to 225 s
Beer	A mug of the Last Chance Saloon's beer. Each one makes you drunker for a while. Have five going at once and you'll wake up somewhere else.	150 s

Fish meals

Every species carries a meal perk. Eat a fish you caught (not one you bought), raw or cooked but not burnt, and you get it, as strong as the catch's rarity: Common catches carry none. The lure caps the rarity, from Uncommon on beginner lures to Legendary on scientific and boss lures. Boss fish give the stronger boss meals.

Pastimes

Comb beaches for shells, skip clams, enter the fishing derby and fill the photo album. Named shells:

• Cockle · common
• Moon Snail · common
• Scallop · common
• Cowrie · uncommon
• Sand Dollar · uncommon
• Conch · uncommon
• Cone Shell · rare
• Angel Wing · rare
• Nautilus · rare
• Glory of the Sea · legendary

Messages in bottles wash up too:

• “To whoever finds this: I am stranded on an island. Please send help. Also, if you're sending help anyway, a sandwich. Ham. No mustard. I'm stranded, not an animal.”
• “Day forty. The bottle idea isn't working. This is my ninth bottle. I've run out of things to drink, so the next one's going out empty and you'll just have to guess.”
• “Dear Mother, the voyage goes well. The captain says we'll make port by Thursday. He's said that for three Thursdays. I'm starting to think he doesn't know what a Thursday is.”
• “Whoever reads this: the lights in the sky over the far isle aren't stars. Stars don't blink in order. I counted. I don't know what they are, but they're not stars, and they know I counted.”
• “Note to self: the big fish by the shrine does not want to be friends. I tried. It's not a friend kind of fish. Some fish are just not friend kinds of fish.”
• “I heard music coming from the chapel. Piano. Nobody was playing it, but it was playing anyway. I said thank you. It's important to be polite to a piano you can't see.”
• “If you find this, I owe you one gold. I don't have one gold. But I owe it, and that's the important part. A man's word is worth something. About one gold, it turns out.”
• “They say the gods on the other side of the doors are watching. I don't know about gods. I know somebody's been eating my bait, and he's not a god, he's a seagull.”
• “Found a quiet spot by a fire tonight. No skeletons. No ghosts. Just a fire and a log. I'd forgotten what quiet sounds like. Turns out it sounds like a log.”
• “To the hermit: I know you read these. You're the only one who walks the beach. Stop writing back. Your handwriting's worse than mine and I can't read either of them.”

New Game+

Finishing the story opens New Game+: the same world again with every level 49 higher, and you keep your character. What carries over and how far everything climbs: see New Game+.

Loading tips

• Somebody up there is watching. Try to look busy.
• The islands are a show. You're the only one who didn't get the script.
• The gods love an old western. That's why everyone out here is a skeleton.
• A siege is a god panicking. The more that pour in, the closer you are.
• Somebody left a door open at the end of every crypt. The gods can't shut it.
• The thing behind the fog wall isn't guarding the god. It is the god.
• Every god has a job on the show. None of them like being cancelled.
• Chapel pianists play a little loose with the time. Maybe on purpose.
• The gods hear everything. Almost.
• Nights are when the ratings go up. Island camps get meaner, and pay better.
• Every crypt ends at an altar. Hold it through the siege and the gate rises.
• Crypt chests open once per world for each of you. Take everything.
• Boss chests hold a treasure map. Its island's chest marks the next crypt, out past the coast.
• Fish shrines hold the island's biggest catch. Bring friends and a strong line.
• Every fish you land fills a page on the Fish tab.
• Talk to the townsfolk. Some need a favour. Some just need to talk.
• Track a quest from the Quests tab and its goal shows on your map.
• Bounty boards pay for trouble you'd find anyway.
• Add a stone to a summit cairn. The first one at each peak earns a skill point.
• Make an axe and a pickaxe by hand, then chop trees and mine veins. A workbench, forge and alchemy table you build and place do the rest.
• The forge levels up a weapon you love, so you never have to put it down.
• Blue 0s mean your weapon's level is too low for that enemy. Purple numbers are max hits.
• No weapon? Build a forge from stone, sticks and hide: it makes a short sword, pistol or shotgun. A workbench makes a bow.
• Gus at Gallows Rest knows a thing or two about boats.
• Earned a boat? Hold Shift+E at any boatman to call it to his dock.
• Altar artifacts make a siege harder and the reward bigger.
• Up to five can play together. The party leader picks the world.
• Named saves last forever. The game also autosaves every minute.
• Leech rolls and Brawler skills turn every hit into healing.
• Press C to drink a potion fast. Shift+C picks which one.
• Middle mouse pings for your party. Double tap to warn them.
• Hold G to wave, cheer or raise a toast. Sit on a bench or round a campfire with E.
• Down in a siege or boss fight? A friend can pick you up and slap you awake.
• Spend skill points on the Skills tab. Changed your mind? Every provisions trader sells a Scroll of Forgetting.
• Eating heals, even mid-fight. Hold V for a quick bite.
• Provisions traders sell a camera. Every photo you take goes in the Photos tab for the whole party.
• Shells wash up on the beaches every dawn. Some are worth a lot more than others.
• Pick up a clam on the beach and throw it out over the sea, low and hard. See how many times it skips.
• Some mornings there's a fishing derby at one of the docks. The biggest fish wins the cup.