Arco: A Guide And Walkthrough

[Jubal]

Arco: A Walkthrough Guide

A guide to what's where in Arco and how to deal with it. Still very much incomplete, lots more to be said on all of this.

Act 1: Pilgrimage
A boy and his family go to visit a sacred tree: but someone else is there first.

Main quest
The main quest here is fairly simple and tutorialish: you go to get some yarrow for one of your village members, Ohtil, and he warns you to wash the oil off your hands. Keeping the oil adds guilt, removing it removes some. You then do some bow and fight training with your father.

At night you sneak away to the tree, and you'll be ambushed by some Red Company bandits (we're going to see a lot of these guys). You can escape them with your new Dash skill (make sure you get & equip it before the fight) - it doesn't really make a difference whether you elect to "run" or "fight" here. Stumbling and running away, you'll end up heading into their base and a second, essentially unwinnable combat which ends the chapter.

Locations
The Camp (Day) - you can talk to your parents, grandpa, sister, and Ohtil. You can pet the donkey, or Roberto the llama.
The Meadow (Day) - you get some oily yarrow here. On the right hand side you can find an extra coin.
The Cave (Day) - you can get this location from your sister once you've completed Ohtil's quest. Enter the cave to fight 3 gila lizards and get their eggs, which you can trade for the rattlesnake tail to gift to the tree.
The Camp (Night) - you can steal your father's map key, and open the map chest. You can also observe an owl.
The Meadow (Night) - there's some angry beetles here now.
The Cave (Night) - there's some angry beetles here now. This isn't a duplicate of the meadow text by accident, there's just a lot of angry beetles around the place.
The Tree (Night) - all you can do here is approach the tree and fight some fireflies to get to the base.
The Tree (Morning) - give your offering, head out, get shot at.
The Refinery - get piled on. Survive?

Achievements

• If you pet the donkey enough times it will bray at you: there's an achievement for this.

Act 2
A much older man who doesn't have a lot of family visits an old friend - before things go wrong yet again.

Main quest

Part 1: Murzeku
You arrive in Murzeku and can observe or talk to various locals, including Eztli and her child Cayo. Take a job from your ol' pal Yorka to go deal with some local vermin.

When you return, the village has been burned and you need to work out who by.

Leaving Murzeku after it has been burned is a poitn of no return.

Part 2: Korni to Onem
You head across Iyo lands, tracking the boot-prints of the raiders: including finding the killers, but also realising you need to stop this problem at the source. This involves cutting off the head of the snake, starting by heading to a high monastery, where they'll give you a sidequest to clear out a temple in exchange for information.

Part 3
Armed with information (and an arco), you set off into Kanek lands to try and find out whether a Kanek noble was working with the Red Company.

Part 4
With or without the Kanek noble's relative in tow, you set out for Termanos to get the location of the Red Company's headquarters.


Locations

Murzeku Area Locations

Murzeku - lots of people to talk to here but few that make a gameplay difference. Zumi and Tozi are on the left as you arrive, Roka is next going right, Kora is by the well, Eztli is just below the main path. You can watch the children playing. Dialogues will change after you talk to Eztli, unlocking e.g. a chat with Puzo about your boots and Yuli who's sharpening knives. There's a further change after you talk to Yorka, unlocking new dialogues with Eztli and Puzo.

When you return, Murzeku has been burned. The left house you think has Puzo's corpse in, and in the next one you'll find Yorka's body. You can find Cayo and promise to get him to safety in the third hut, further right. You need to pick up the Kanek necklace that's sparkling on the ground next to that, and then look at the footprints in the mud, to unlock the next path. These last two are the non-optional interactions: you can leave Cayo behind, which will get you additional guilt when you reach Korni You seem to get some guilt from seeing Yorka's body, so you might be able to reduce guilt by skipping examining all the houses.
Murzo Farm - you can talk to Noza here above the path to get a heads-up about the bandits, and get some free murzo from Kora who's at the bottom of the screen. When you return after fighting the lizards, it will have been burned. Your character tries not to remember Noza and Kora's names.
Copse - you can observe Brogs here and pick Murzo. On your way back after fighting the lizards, there will be some poachers here: either dialogue option will start a fight. You can then search the bushes for their traps and goods - there's a chance of taking some hp damage from a snare here.
Shrine to Yoza - you can pray (or not) here and give shrine offerings. You can donate meat, a ring, or coins. The ring gives 3xp, the others don't seem to have an effect.
Lizard Rocks - You can find a ring on the far left of the screen. At the top right, some tracks will reveal the way to the Poachers' Camp.
Poachers' Camp - If you come here before fighting the lizards, there'll be some bugs to fight.

Korni Area Locations

Meadow - you'll get some description of your feelings here. You can get vigo thorns off a cactus mid-screen, and see Onem in the distance with an observation point. Two darker trees have a footprint observation next to them.
Lonely Hut - there's two Tuags here. If you have a non-meat food, you can offer to share a meal with them and you'll get given some throwing knives and a whetstone. Conveniently, looking in the hut on the right hand side of the screen gives you some cheese that can be used for this purpose. An observation point mid-screen gives a not very useful footprint. There's a lamb in the bushes here that can be turned into meat or, later, retrieved for a quest.
Korni - Etzli lives here and will either be glad of her son's return or distraught at his loss. Puzo's cousin also mentions him. Paquini lives in a central house and will give you a quest to look for some bandits who may have been responsible for Murzeku's destruction: you don't actually need to do this quest to advance the main plot. You meet Atzi the merchant here and can offer to escort him to Onem.
Old Village Ruins - There are bandits here. You can learn their hideout location by listening to them. A point in the bottom left gives a bootprint that isn't the one you're looking for. There's a chest here you can shoot. It'll explode and hurt you if you do.
Monolith - This is where the Red Company men who burned Murzeku are holed up. Find them in the upper cave and kill them to advance the main quest and unlock the road to Onem. The bottom cave contains a two-part fight against a lot of bugs, which will get you some XP and some mushrooms.

Onem

Hinterlands - there's blueberries available on the left as you enter this screen. The bounty hunter will enter from the right and you'll have to confront him. You can go for your bow, at which point you'll fight and kill him, or you can greet him and share a meal.
Fields - there's a cookie seller here.
Empty Fields - you'll get jumped here by the shovel gang. You can fight them for XP, but if you pay them off they'll give you a shovel and the ability to combat equip it to give future enemies a good shovellin'.
Mountains - you'll get jumped by bandits here too. You can pay them off for ten coins, or fight them.

Achievements

• Hungry: at the Lonely Hut, there's a lamb at the observation point next to the hut itself.
• Heartless: saying you don't like cookies to the woman in the fields south of Onem.
• Bounty Hunter's Hideout: at the steep path, head to the left side of the screen, then down and left around the rocks. There'll be a red side arrow: take this to find the hideout and get the achievement. You probably need the Bounty Hunter's Map from killin him in order to do this.

Act 3
A girl who dreams of being a warrior rather than a farmer decides it's time to live her dreams - but they might turn out to be nightmares when brought into reality.

Main quest
Part 1: Katzan
This is Itzae's village, and you are Itzae. You want to prove yourself to your family and neighbours, though they're all a bit tired of your fists being such a major part of your self-proving.

When you enter the temple the world changes.
When you head from the Chili Tree to the Burnt Forest it's a point of no return.

Part 2: Xinatzu
This is the area where you need to choose how you'll deal with the curse from part 1 - you can elect to seek help from divine intervention, or go to the arena and prove yourself in bloody combat. Either way, you'll need some help to get to where you're going.

Your points of no return from here are the river valley for the arena path, and the cliff base for the holy ground path.

Part 3a: Holy Ground
Leaving the Holy Ground again is a point of no return.

Part 4a: Zurkano
You've left Kanek lands, and need to find your way in a strange new world.

Achievements

• At the start of this act you can get a premature roll-credits by insisting to your uncle that you're willing to give up your warrior dreams and become a squash farmer. The game lets you do it, ending your adventure.
• The 'happy boy' achievement can be obtained by giving a trasgo a stick.
• The 'entrepreneur' achievement can be obtained once you reach the trasgo merchant. You need to hold 15 sticks: this is the only place you can sell things in exchange for sticks. Essentially, get meat from hunting, sell the meat for sticks, once you have 15 you can get the achievement. Then use the sticks to buy worms and have a nice fishing trip.

Act 4
Two Tuag siblings are heading off to do a deal with some magia dust which they've got funds to buy. Things aren't going to go according to plan.

Main Quest
Much of the Act 4 main quest doesn't have No Return points, but I've split it into logical story elements.

Part 1: Aziya
In this part, you head for the Dust Transfer point across the desert. You can get supplies and sidequests at the small town of Aziya.

Part 2: Motakar
The dust transfer failed: now you (optionally with one of the Chalis who had been going to sell you the dust) need to track the thieves. The bigger settlement of Motakar is the main point here.

Part 3: Red Desert
You're now in Chali country, trying to find your way to a hermit who sold them the dust in the first place. The Chalis mine and refine red tetl rock in these hills.

Once you reach the path to the hermit, you realise your camels aren't up to the journey. Doing the sidequest for the stud farm will resolve your issue and let you progress.

The path from the Red Desert to the Hermit is a point of no return.

Part 4: The Hermit
It's an old guy, he's got information but he wants you to kill a creature out of legend first. No big deal.

Part 5: Salt Flats
You're reaching Newcomer country - and getting closer to getting your funds back. But at what cost?

Side Quests
~To Be Written~

Tactics
Acid Queen
~To Be Written~

Achievements

• This is the best act for getting the "stingy" achievement for holding forty coins (though I think you can easily do it in Act V as well, if you've hoarded enough stuff and Atzi sells it all). But getting the red rocks from the quarry and then selling them at the refinery in red desert country is pretty profitable, in any case.
• To get the Sheriff achievement, you need to use a rope to abseil down the last cliff before the point of no return on the map, the one which has a crab sitting above it and a cave visible on a ledge below. You'll find a somewhat disturbed Newcomer woman in there. Don't drink the tea!
• You can find the toaster by digging in the desert: I think you need an ideal spot, so you need to "keep searching" twice. Once you have it, just pull up your inventory, click the toaster and press u to "use" it. You'll lose 1hp from the toaster popping up at you, and get the That Toaster achievement.

Act 5
The endgame: our heroes from acts 1-4 all go to confront the Red Company together. Time to end this.

Part 1: Termanos
You need to get on a train! Your heroes may not share your enthusiasm for public transport, and indeed there's a large problem when it turns out to not be a very public sort of public transport.

Part 2: Oil flats
The oil is very much a metaphor for the darkness of the soul. But also, it's oil.

Part 3: Showdown
Walk in, burn everything, fight a big machine, have a last shootout, roll credits.

Achievements

• You can get the "Useless" achievement easily when boarding the train. Just buy a ticket: you don't need one.

Overall Achievements, Tactica, and Notes

Maximising Guilt
Act 2:

• Do find Yorka's body
• Don't save Cayo
• Go for your arco and kill the bounty hunter

World and Lore

Peoples
There are five key peoples.

The Iyo are a herding culture who live in rolling hill country. It's not clear how - or if - Iyo society is organised above the village level. Iyo country has monks (at least at Onem), and pilgrimages to sacred sites.

The Kaneks are a forest people: some farm in forest clearings, others hunt. Kaneks have an aristocracy, unlike the other three indigenous peoples. They are also known for being fierce warriors by the other peoples.

The Tuags live in the desert and specialise in desert foraging and crossings. They are known for being traders, and have village elders much like the Iyos.

The Chalis. Chalis seem to work with technologies that the Iyo, Kaneks and Tuags don't use as much, making use of rifles and running refineries for the rocks they mine.

The Newcomers are a colonising people. They have a local capital at Termanos. Their society is very oil-hungry, leading to wide scale drilling, and makes use of machinery, railways, and firearms. Most bandits in the game appear to be Newcomers at least in that they're not visually distinct from Newcomers and tend to use firearms, although some groups that are narratively not Newcomers are still presented the same as them (the locals in the Iyo mountains for example).

Bestiary

Axolotl - They appear to have some level of sapience in this setting.
Camels - appear to be native to the region, ridden by the Tuag.
Donkeys - mostly seen in Iyo country.
Firefly - actually hurt if they get too close to you in this world. Which they'll keep trying to do.
Gila Lizard - a common native lizard. Quite aggressive.
Goat - It's a goat. It'll probably try and eat your hat.
Humans - they're a species, they're going in the bestiary.
Llamas - rideable, in contrast to their real-world equivalents.
Owl - Seen as an omen by the Iyo.
Trasgo - A goblin-like creature. They like sticks and rocks.
Sun spider - A huge creature found in an ancient ruin. Only one of its kind seen.