This guide will tell you the story of the game as well as introduce you to all of Steam's achievements! Use this if any of the puzzles gives you difficulty.
What you need to know
In this tutorial, you will see a small counter in the form [X / 20] that counts the progress of the achievements for you so you know if you missed it. All of them will be present after explaining how to get the achievement so you can keep track of your score.
Depending on how comfortable it is for you to control the character in this game, you should do it in 3 hours or less. Prepare yourself a drink and a snack before venturing out, as most of the tasks are completed in one go, such as the basic puzzle pieces in the game.
It's completely free for the plot elements of the game, but the solutions to all the puzzles are here to read only if you get stuck and need someone to help you.
All chapters marked with ˣ contain story elements, and all chapters marked with ʸ contain achievements, chapters marked with both letters are marked with ˣʸ
Cave (Introduction)
This is the most linear part of the whole game!
All you have to do is follow the linear path and you will end up in a room with a shrine. Along the way there will be pieces of knowledge in the form of stone tablets, if you want to refresh your memory in history, I would recommend reading them.
Once you get to the temple, just walk up to it and you need to give a lantern and the cave will go out. Follow the lights to find your way out, and once you do, you will receive the Light at the end of reaching the tunnel [1/20], you will be greeted by the outside world!
... and old grandfather.
World map
This is a map. This is something that will prove to be very useful for the rest of this guide, so if an area from that point is mentioned in bold, it will refer to an area in the game that can be found on the map.
Chapter I: The Settlement
The first thing you want to do is bypass the settlement and collect some achievements. Let me put a few points on the map for you with the order in which you must make these achievements.
[1] Horns Of Stone
Go to the island marked on the map with the number 1, and go to the deer statue. The achievement will appear immediately! [2/20]
[2] Uninvited Guest
Travel to the island marked as 2 on the map and find the crab family in the small lake. The achievement will work as soon as you approach them. [3/20]
[3] Mom? & Ripple On Surface
Travel to a small island with a lighthouse on it and there will be a city. To get your mom? achievement, find the sheep with their children who follow them everywhere and walk up to them. The little ones will be very happy to see you, and they will flock to you, forcing the achievement to appear. Well done, now you are a mom! [4/20] To get ripples on the surface of the achievement, just go to the city and jump inside the well next to the fireplace. This is the closest thing you are going to get to the bath in this game! [5/20]
After you set off and collect these achievements, return to town and speak with the family consisting of Dinah, John, and their annoying offspring, Erin. They will tell you to fly northwest, but you will ignore their advice for now. Tie your business up and head straight east to Lifla's grove.
Chapter II: Lifla's Grove
Now, the first thing you'll notice is a massive, conspicuous tree that flopped in the middle of the island group. You want to make your way to a tree and a strange glowing PLATFORM right behind it.
In case you don't know where the massive, conspicuous tree is, here's a diagram:
Now that you've found a massive, conspicuous tree and a strange glowing platform, make your way to the platform and take out your lantern (using F on your keyboard) and interact with it (using E on your keyboard). This will cause 3 large circles around the island cluster.
Yes, you guessed it right, you're going to have to fly through these bad guys. Once you have done that, go back to the tree because it has now opened up. Get inside.
Once inside, you may notice that there is a deer in some ball (for lack of a better phrase). What you want to do is follow the path down and do some easy platformers to turn off the ball's force field. You just need to get to the middle platform using different platform heights (don't worry, further instructions will be a little clearer).
Go back and talk to the deer, which will give you a little progress towards achieving talk with all spirit animals. There are 2 more people with whom you can talk in different places. Talking to the Deer will also bring you a Temple Key, which is used to access one of the 3 temples you will encounter during the story.
Now that you've done all this, talk to the fox that guards the entrance and head east again to the onna ruins.
Chapter III: Ruins of Onn
Oh look, cool moonlit island! Unfortunately, you haven't been here too long (unless you want to), so don't get too comfortable. You want to get to the island marked here (the one northwest of the moon)
On this piece of land will be a giant statue of the Crane, in all its glory. Walk up to it and you will receive the Stone Achievement Wings! [6/20]. That's all you are here for! Now all you have to do is head northwest, past the sanctuary of the Creator, to the Windsong Falls!
Chapter IV: Windsong Falls
I know this place looks very pretty, but you're only here for the key.
Next to the area marked on the map, there are 2 (two) glowing pillars on which you must use your lantern. This will open the door to the waterfall on the Big Island!
Take off and climb into the cave ... which is also the vault.
There are no treasures here other than the key that will be used to get the achievement, so I guess it's good for something!
Moving forward, you will notice 2 (two) mechanisms that turn the cars in front of them. You want to first go and activate the one on the left and then rotate it once to the right (→).
Then you want to go and activate the one on the right. Turn this twice to the right (→) and the consoles should activate. It should look like half the sun and half the moon or something.
The door should now open and the Temple Key will be there for you to take! This will lead us to the first of the 3 main puzzles we have in the game. Once you're done, go to the fox at the entrance, talk to him for a bit, and head southwest towards Twilight Lake!
Chapter V: Twilight Lake
This will open up a huge hole in the floor, just walk forward and jump to start the first of 3 main puzzles.
Evening Sanctuary
Once inside, move forward until the path deviates slightly towards a cave full of mushrooms. There should be flying fish there too. Walk down some of the stairs in the mushroom area to some platform made up of several pillars. After that, there should be a console that opens the shortcut but ignores its opening. Keep heading through the area until you reach pieces of the broken bridge, jump over them to get to the other side. Follow the path down some of the slopes and stuff (there really is only one way) and there should be a puzzle with 4 mechanisms and a pillar. The way to solve this problem is to force the laser beam to reach a prominent panel on the wall. Use the console to your left to rotate it one space to the left (←) and the one to the left of those 3 spaces to the right (→). If that doesn't work, it's just trial and error, as the mechanisms don't move far.
Once you complete this, return to the large room you were in earlier and there should be another puzzle here. All you have to do is rotate the consoles so that the hologram emanating from them has the same shape as the one etched onto the surface in front of it. Just imagine these kids toys with blocks and holes.
Cross the bridge created by this solution, head left and go through the sewer tunnel. Once you get to the end, jump to the left of the ledge to another platform. Use your lantern on the platform and cross the newly inverted bridge once more, and use your lantern again to summon the ramp.
Go down the ramp and head straight into a room with 5 separate platforms. Activate all of them with the flashlight to open the door. After passing through it, activate the 6th platform and call another ramp. Now all you have to do is go outside and that's it!
You should talk to some big weirdo named Duskwatch, then you should have a mini cinematic, after which you will step out into the light, and you will be granted the People's Haven achievement [7/20]
Go ahead and fly east to the eastern steps!
Chapter VI: Eastern Steps
I've marked some areas on the map and marked them in the order that you have to go to get them:
[1] Stone Tails
All you have to do to do this is go and pet the big stone fox, give it a little pat on the belly, and the achievement should appear! [8/20]
[2] Condor Condo
Walk up to the island marked with the number 2, and there should be a birdhouse of some description, take off and perch on it, you will notice that it feels a little like home! Achievement must follow. [9/20]
[3] Written On The Stone
Head to the largest island in the cluster, marked with the number 3, and head to the southeast corner of it, there should be a large piece of rock with a map on it! It's on a small island nearby (thanks to RelentlessSpark for pointing this out!) Just walk up to it and take a look at it and an achievement of the same name should follow shortly. [10/20] we're already half way there!
So, the reason I put this island last is because it is the 2nd of the 3 main puzzles in the game, and we're going to do away with this in order to get an achievement that can only be done after this area will be executed. So what we're going to do is go to the center of the largest island and activate the next area, sneak into the next large area.
archive
Welcome to the archive, you will want to go forward and to the left, and jump all the way down to the very bottom. Don't worry, there is no fall damage. There should be a platform that you can use, so go for it. Two more platforms should appear in the cutscene, go up the ramp and activate this one, go into the elevator and use it.
Once at the top, you find yourself in an area with 2 mechanisms. Use them very quickly and run to the gate, as this is a temporary puzzle. If you fail, just keep trying! Once at the end, go forward and to the left down some stairs to the car. Jump onto some grate nearby, go through the pipe and activate the platform at the end. 1 of 3 platforms is done!
Now go up and walk along another grate and there will be another platform, go forward and use it. Go through the open door and head left and down the stairs until you reach another platform. Go through the open door and use another platform. This is the first boss in the game, platforming gears.
Use the gears and jump to the other side and use the platform there, after that the other gear should go to it. Return to the gears and jump to the one that moves vertically. Once he reaches the top, jump to the next platform and there will be another platform there. Use it and BOOM, 2 of 3 platforms are done!
Now jump down under the gears and go forward into the blue room, turn left and jump down and you will find the door that you have been unlocking all this time. Turn right, find another platform and use it and the door will open! 3 out of 3 platforms are done!
Go through and talk to another absolute unit called the keeper of dreams, and you should gain knowledge to achieve power [11/20] after another mini-cutscene and emerge into the light.
Go outside and walk West back to the settlement
Chapter VII: The Settlement 2 Lighthouse Boogaloo
Return to Lighthouse Island and talk to Diana and John. Oh no! Their daughter has escaped!
Go and find her somewhere on the island (it seems random every time, so just search the lighthouse island, this is the only place she might be). Once you find her, you get the Hide and Seek achievement! [12/20]
Now that you've completed this achievement, head north to King's Pass!
Chapter VIII: King's Pass
You are now entering King's Pass, just like the ruins, you won't be here for long, so don't get too settled!
All you have to do is go to the marked island and there will be a giant skeleton, very creepy, very scary. Just walk up to it and you will receive an exceptional achievement, in the belly of the beast [13/20].
Once you're done here, head north to the howling heights!
Chapter IX: Howling Peaks
It's so cold here that you might not want to stay long.
There are a few points marked on the map to help, as there are quite a few activities to do in this area!
[1] Talk to the spirit of the bear (making progress)
Go to the location marked with the number 1 on the map and inside a frosty cave within this area. The bear will be inside, you just need to walk a little to get there. Give him a few belly massages and get out of there, emotionally richer than you were before.
[2] Gaze Into the Abyss
Go to the location marked on map 2 and there should be a cave with some broken equipment and cloth outside. Once inside, quickly lift your jaw off the floor from how beautiful it is and put the achievement of the same name in your bag. [14/20]
[3] The last key to the temple
Get to the third point on the map and make your way into the cave almost under the island itself. There should be several bells lying around. Go and jump on all of them at least once and they should all ring out. After the bell rings, the door will open and the final key should be there for you to pick it up. Finally! Don't worry about keys anymore.
Once you're done here, head southeast towards Split Mountain!
Chapter X: Split Mountain
There are two things to do in this area that will earn you 2 achievements! These are noted below:
[1] Speak with the Animal Spirits
This is the end of the spiritual animal achievement, woo! Do not fly too fast, or you will miss the entrance to the cave, which is carved into the side of the mountain. Once inside, you will talk to Lisa and the achievement will pop up for you! [15/20]
[2] Memorial
There will be several skeletons and memorials on this island. There will be a skeleton of a fallen bird, land next to or on top of it to pack yourself an achievement with the same name as this. [16/20]
Once you're done with both of them, it's time to finish what we came here for. Head to the northernmost point on the map, heading northwest towards the roof of the world!
Chapter XI: Roof Of The World
Finally, the Roof of the World, one of the last stops on this adventure.
You will automatically be awarded the Cartographer achievement [17/20] for opening this last area. If not, check the world map for an area you may have missed. If this is a creator sanctuary, leave it, for you will go there later.
You'll want to get yourself an achievement before we finish this final puzzle, so head over to the marked area on the map:
Hitting this area will take you to a strange looking piece of ice, it will give you the Baa achievement from the past [18/20] and leave you without further research!
Head to the center of the big island and unlock the final puzzle, head straight inside and get ready.
Monastery
First of all, go up and to the right, then again to the right when there is a deviation. Activate the platform and go through the doors and through the door on the right. There is a huge machine that looks like six squares. Standing on one of these will start the sequence. Use them in the following order:
Close-Left (←) _ Near-Middle _ Far-Near
The door will open, so go through yourself.
Follow the path until a platform appears and use it, then you will notice strange balls of light floating in the column. Strange. Follow their direction and use the next platform, and keep following and doing the same until you see them walking into an area that you cannot reach, this is normal, you will see your friends shining later. Climb the stairs and use the funny looking slide to return to the room.
Now you will be approaching the said car from the opposite side, this is normal. Go up the stairs again to the six squares and use them in the following order:
Close-Right (→) _ Close-Left (←) _ Far Left (←)
Another door will open, go through.
Head upstairs and there is a clever contraption that creates shapes when you use the consoles. Make every possible shape at least once (turning cars and making large shapes) and head back down the stairs to the lighted door. Don't worry if it looks closed, it is actually open, it just didn't want you to know about it. Use the platform and return to the room with six squares. Walk through the door straight ahead from where you are and turn left onto the snowy path that rises upward, head all the way using the side passage along the path to climb further.
You will find yourself in a strange room where the only door is partially open. Go ahead and activate the platform, ignore the door it opens and just keep moving forward. Climb the stairs and your old glowing friends will return! Activate the platform and go through the door that it opens!
Go outside and talk to the last big weirdo in this company, the Veil Watcher. Play another short cutscene and step into the light for the final achievement of the Ice Mausoleum puzzle [19/20]
Now that you've finished with the last temple, it's time to go and say goodbye. Fly south to the settlement
Chapter XII: Loose Ends
Return to the Lighthouse Island and find the Lighthouse, interact with it and a beam of light will shoot towards you in a certain direction. Everyone will be there to say goodbye to you!
Wave goodbye to them, talk to them, and follow the beam of light to the Creator's sanctuary.
Once there, go inside. Everything is completely linear from now on, so sit back, watch the last part of the game unfold, and once you reach the amazing ending, you unlock the ultimate achievement: balance [20/20]
Steps to get the Hideout achievement
This achievement in many videos and guides has a method of obtaining that requires at least 4 steps, namely:
1. Go and talk to the family in the village.
2. Follow the instructions of the girl's mother and go to where the key to the first temple in the Windsong Falls is located, and return to the settlement to talk to the family (you can skip this step, since the dialogues do not change, but it is recommended to do this to avoid possible disruptions) ...
3. Go to Lake Twilight, complete the temple and return with your family to tell us where we should go.
4. Go for the key, which is in the Grove of Leafla, and come back again, theoretically in most lessons it is at this moment when we return, we will find a girl next to a green boat, and she will be standing next to a small tree, and he will say you don't tell anyone and he will miss the achievement. For some reason this does not happen in some games and it may be version related.
To fix this problem, you need to add the 5th step:
5. Go to the temple, which is in the Eastern steps, complete it and return, at this moment the girl will no longer be where she was before, and, talking with his father, he will give you a "mission" to find her. From now on, you will only need to go to the other side of the island, and the girl will be standing next to the stone, and you will only need to talk to her for the achievement to appear.
