Zukama

Getting Started

Every story starts on the Hearthside Trail, a sunny hillside behind the inn. There is no rush. Signs along the trail show your own keys as you need them.

1. Walk, jump onto the grass and climb the rope.
2. Find Hettie the Yardkeeper and help her with the straw dummies.
3. Try a potion, open your bag and put on your charm.
4. Take the gate down to Larkhollow.

In town, look for Bram, the old watchman. He knows the roads out of town and will point you down the first one.

Classes

Pick one of four ways to fight. The weapon in your hands decides how you fight, so you are never locked in.

Warrior

Sword

First into the fight. Close, heavy swings that catch everything in front of you.

Ranger

Bow

Keeps its distance and reaches the things sitting on the ledge above.

Mystic

Staff

The softest body and the deepest well of magic, and the only one who can heal.

Rogue

Bracer and throwing stars

Quick hands, and a shadow of yourself that throws when you do.

Growing Stronger

There are no class levels in Zukama. You get better at what you do. Swing a sword and your Blades discipline grows. Loose arrows and your Archery grows. The same goes for magic, throwing and even smithing. Press Tab to see how far you have come.

Levels come slowly here, on purpose.

Tempering

Gear grows at Hollis's workbench in Larkhollow. Work something you hunted into a notch, choose how hot to strike, and bring the hammer down.

A gentle heat always takes. A blazing one is a gamble. A crack costs the material but never the gear, and Heartfire, carried by the great beasts of the wild, can mend it.

Field Journal

Every monster in Zukama can drop a sketch of itself. Sketches go straight into your Field Journal and take no room in your bag, so over time the journal becomes a book of everything you have hunted. Fill a monster's page and you learn what it carries, and you hit it a little harder from then on.

Press B to open it.

Controls

These are the starting keys. You can move any of them in the game's settings.

The arrow keys and a game controller work too.