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Switch to fullscreen
Press Shift + Alt + Enter if the game opens in a window. Adjust your attack controls and hotkeys before leaving the starting area.
Adventurer Record 01
Apogea beginner guide
Learn what to do after spawning, how typed NPC conversations work, which tools to carry, how to earn early gold, and what to know before choosing Knight, Rogue, or Mage.
Playtest mechanics, locations, and prices may change
Opening route
Your first 10 minutes
Apogea can feel directionless at first. Follow this route to leave the spawn area with a better bag, an early quest, basic combat experience, and a clear destination.
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Loot the starting chest
Take the Rusty Sword and key, then speak with the Wounded Soldier and use the dialogue option about leaving the area.
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Collect the hidden blue bag
Search the nearby upper platform before moving on. The larger blue bag gives you more room than the basic starting container.
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Speak with Maxwell
Maxwell can heal you to roughly half health and provides an early task that introduces the map and quest panel.
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Farm the first underground area
Practice against rats and skeletons, search for the early shield chest, and gain at least a level or two before entering town.
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Reach the merchant district
Once in town, speak with every merchant, ask about tasks, locate the bank, and begin saving gold for better equipment and your class.
Before you leave spawn
Change these settings first
A few small setup changes make combat, navigation, and looting much less frustrating during the current playtest.
Auto Press Loot All
Turn this on in Game Options. Current playtest loot bags can be opened by nearby players, so automatic looting helps secure your drops.
Learn the map panel
Press M to open the map. Select a tracked quest when it offers a destination, and reveal more of the world by walking through unexplored areas.
Practice targeting
Use the targeting controls in the first combat area until selecting, attacking, and looting enemies feels natural.
Set up your hotbar
Click an empty slot to assign a learned skill. Drag food, potions, or tools from your inventory onto the hotbar, and right-click an icon to remove it.
Quest language
NPC conversations are part of the puzzle
Apogea does not automatically advance every conversation. Read what an NPC says, then type the relevant word, name, item, or location into chat.
Quick conversation pattern
Start with task. Confirm offers with yes, then reuse important words from the dialogue to continue.
Dialogue reference
Words worth trying
task
Ask whether the NPC has work
yes
Accept or confirm an offer
NPC name
Continue a conversation about a person
Item or subject
Mention a letter, weapon, place, or clue
Keep personal notes when dialogue references a person, hidden route, item, or location. The quest panel may point toward a destination, but it does not replace careful reading.
Expedition kit
Items every beginner should carry
Apogea uses layered terrain, hidden entrances, dark dungeons, and dangerous combat. A few inexpensive tools can prevent a promising trip from ending early.
Rope
Used constantly for ledges, pits, underground routes, and vertical exploration.
Shovel
Needed for soft ground, hidden entrances, buried routes, and some early item paths.
Torch
Several early dungeons are extremely dark, and missing a route can be costly.
Crowbar
Keep one when available because certain gates and containers may require it.
Food
Food is your main source of gradual health and mana recovery between fights.
Health potions
Carry emergency healing for fights where food regeneration is not fast enough.
Bags can hold other bags
Nested containers expand your available slots, but they do not remove the weight limit. Keep healing and tools easy to reach, and avoid hiding important items several bags deep.
Capacity matters as much as slots
Heavy armor, duplicate weapons, and low-value drops can leave you encumbered. Compare an item's value against the space and weight it consumes before carrying it back to town.
How healing and food buffs work
Health and Mana recover very slowly without food. Food improves regeneration, priests and certain NPCs can provide healing, and sitting near a campfire grants an additional regeneration buff. When you eat multiple foods, their effects are queued in the order consumed instead of applying all at once.
Early progression
Build momentum without wasting deaths
Complete beginner tasks, farm enemies you can defeat consistently, and sell useful drops. Early progress is faster when every trip ends at the bank instead of the resurrection point.
Practice on rats and skeletons in the first underground area.
Search nearby chests for an early shield and useful supplies.
Reach at least level 2 before pushing into the first town.
Save useful creature drops until you know which merchant buys them.
Leave dangerous areas before greed turns a profitable run into an experience loss.
Forgiving early build
Stats that help immediately
Capacity first
Put at least five early points here. Capacity lets you carry armor, tools, quest items, and profitable loot without becoming encumbered.
Ability
Improves weapon damage and makes early enemies faster to defeat after your basic carrying needs are covered.
HP Regeneration
Supports safer recovery while food is active and reduces downtime between manageable fights.
Knight trait suggestion
Current beginner guides recommend Block Efficiency and Rooted Guard for a safer melee start. Treat this as a beginner recommendation, not the only viable build.
Merchants and early gold
Merchants buy different item categories. Learn which stall accepts weapons, armor, creature materials, or other loot before filling your bag.
- Shift-click an item in a trade window to inspect its price.
- Items a merchant will buy should highlight in your inventory.
- Sell often so weight does not block better drops.
- Most NPCs leave between 11:00 PM and midnight and return around 4:00 AM, although some follow unique schedules.
- Check the time with a time stone, Pocket Watch, or the top-right nighttime indicator.
- Store upgrades and valuable supplies in the bank or depot.
Use the bank and blacklist
The bank protects equipment you do not need in the field. The item blacklist helps Auto Press Loot All ignore drops that are too heavy or not valuable enough for your current route.
Bank first
Deposit spare equipment, rare items, and anything you cannot afford to lose or carry.
Blacklist carefully
Do not blacklist a material until you understand its merchant value and possible uses.
Basile starter shops
Useful traders for your first purchases
These documented Basile prices give new players a practical place to buy exploration tools, basic supplies, and early equipment. Prices may change in later builds.
Basic supplies and services
Maxwell
- Bread Piece: 6 Gold
- Bowl of Water: 5 Gold
- Heal: 50 Gold
- Light: 35 Gold
Exploration tools and food
Wolfram
- Rope: 25 Gold
- Crowbar: 50 Gold
- Knife: 10 Gold
- Cooked Fish Steak: 20 Gold
Early weapons and armor
Matthew
- Iron Sword: 45 Gold
- Kettle Helmet: 50 Gold
- Gambeson: 160 Gold
- Studded Shield: 150 Gold
Optional power upgrades
Notable early-game items
Several strong items can be reached near the starting region, but some routes require keys, tools, dangerous dungeon runs, or an expected death. Verify locations and requirements in the current build.
Mana regeneration amulet
A useful early recovery item reported near the starting city. Confirm its current stat and chest location in your playtest build.
Broadsword
A strong early melee weapon found through a keyed underground route. Bring a torch and expect enemies stronger than a new Squire.
Blue Orb
A valuable magic item hidden through a watery underground path. Non-Mages may prefer to sell it to another player.
Crystal Ring
A level 5 magic-item chest near the Caravan. The standard route uses a shovel and includes dangerous enemies, although a safer entrance may sometimes be available.
Gambeson chest armor
A dependable early chest upgrade sold by Matthew in Basile for 160 Gold in the documented playtest. A free version may be obtainable through a riskier route.
Brass Legs
Available from Tim inside the Black Market. Confirm the current price and availability before planning your early purchases.
Permanent path
Choose your class carefully
Current playtest guides report that class selection costs 100 gold, changes your base statistics, and cannot be reversed. Review all three paths before completing a class quest.
Classes and skills are separate
Choosing Knight, Rogue, or Mage changes your stat multipliers, but it does not automatically unlock abilities or provide equipment. Skills are learned by finding or purchasing Spellbooks and meeting their Ability or Magic requirements.
Do not confirm a class by accident
The choice is described as permanent. Save enough gold, read the stat comparison, and confirm that the selected trainer matches the playstyle you want.
Durable melee
Knight
The simplest first class for many players. Knight supports direct melee combat, better physical durability, and easier resource management.
- Strong early survivability
- No arrow or mana dependency
- Pairs well with shields and healing traits
Gives up some magic, mana, and mana regeneration in exchange for physical strength.
Agile damage
Rogue
Rogue rewards movement and positioning. A melee start is practical, while sustained bow play requires more Mana, MP Regeneration, Ability, or reduced arrow break chance.
- Mobile playstyle
- Strong positioning potential
- Flexible melee start
Begin with melee combat. Bow progression may not feel sustainable until roughly levels 16 to 18 in the documented playtest.
Spellcaster
Mage
Mage offers powerful spells, but limited early Mana can leave a new character waiting for regeneration or relying on weak backup attacks.
- Powerful magic later
- Distinct spell-based progression
- Benefits greatly from Mana equipment
Consider remaining a Squire until roughly level 12 or later, when Mana, Magic, and MP Regeneration can better sustain spellcasting.
Risk management
Death is not free
Current playtest guides report an experience loss of around 10 percent on death. The exact calculation may change, but the lesson remains the same: bank valuables, carry healing, bind to a safe resurrection point, and retreat from fights that are clearly beyond your equipment.
Bank valuables
Keep rare items and spare equipment safe.
Watch your health
Use a potion before the final hit, not after it.
Run when needed
Living to return later is better than losing progress.
Watch and learn
Beginner video guide
Use the video as a visual companion for the opening route, then keep the written guide available for controls, keywords, item priorities, and class warnings.
Before leaving safety
Beginner checklist
Use this as a final review before committing to a dungeon, long farming route, or permanent class.
1Use Shift + Alt + Enter if the game opens in windowed mode
2Enable Auto Press Loot All in Game Options
3Set up food, potions, tools, and learned skills on your hotbar
4Collect the hidden blue bag before leaving the opening area
5Type task when checking whether an NPC offers work
6Read dialogue and reuse important names or keywords
7Obtain a rope, shovel, torch, food, and healing supplies
8Put at least five early stat points into Capacity
9Watch both inventory slots and total carried weight
10Farm manageable enemies before pushing into dangerous areas
11Learn which merchants buy each type of loot
12Remember that most NPCs sleep from around midnight until 4:00 AM
13Store important items in the bank or depot
14Save at least 100 Gold and review class stat changes
15Retreat before a difficult fight turns into an experience loss
Quick answers
Apogea beginner FAQ
Answers to the questions most likely to slow down a new Squire during the current playtest.
What should I do first in Apogea?
Collect the starting weapon and key, find the hidden blue bag, speak with Maxwell, enable Auto Press Loot All, and practice combat in the first underground area before entering town.
How do quests work?
Speak directly to NPCs and type keywords. Task is commonly used to ask about work, yes confirms many offers, and names or subjects from the dialogue may be required to continue a quest.
How do I learn and equip skills?
Find or buy a Spellbook, meet its Ability or Magic requirement, and use it to learn the skill. Click an empty hotbar slot to assign a learned skill, drag items onto the hotbar, and right-click an icon to remove it.
What should I do if I lose a quest item?
Some quest items can be repurchased from Black Market traders. The market is below the Caravan area, opens after 1:00 AM, and requires an Outlaw's Key purchased from the Hooded Figure for 30 Gold by using the keywords key and yes.
Which class is best for beginners?
Knight is generally the most forgiving because it combines direct melee combat with stronger physical survivability. Rogue and Mage can work, but require more early resource management.
Is the class choice permanent?
Current playtest guides report that a class change costs 100 Gold, changes stat multipliers, does not automatically unlock skills or equipment, and cannot be reversed.
What happens when I die?
Current guides report an experience penalty of around 10 percent during normal progression. Store valuables, carry healing, bind to a safe resurrection point, and leave fights that are beyond your equipment.
Ready for the next record?
Return to the Apogea hub to compare classes and browse future field guides.