Curse of Resthaven: Tips and Tricks to Unravel the Island’s Secrets

Hello there! I’m Scott Christian, the studio director of Hilltop Studios right here in Toronto, and the sport director of Curse of Resthaven. We make video games with a selected emphasis on sturdy characters, intricate storytelling, distinctive mechanics, and the occasional musical interlude.

Earlier than making video games, I spent fifteen years working as a composer and conductor right here in Toronto, primarily in theatre. That background informs how we method our video games at Hilltop: character, timing, and dramatic reveal go a good distance. Our debut, Lil’ Guardsman, was a comedic fantasy gate-guard simulator a couple of twelve-year-old put answerable for a citadel gate, with the destiny of the world in her arms.

For our follow-up, Curse of Resthaven, we determined to take a unique flip into gothic horror, creeping dread, and a thriller that unfolds over a repeating six-day time loop. You play as Ambrose, the island’s newly appointed governor, tasked with restoring prosperity to the colony however he additionally has his personal agenda: discovering his lacking niece, Amalia. The issue is that Resthaven is destroyed six days into his tenure… and Ambrose is shipped again to the day of his arrival, the one one to recollect the island’s destiny.

Mashing up mechanics from narrative adventures, buying and selling sims, deckbuilders, and roguelikes, Curse of Resthaven challenges you to research a city stuffed with secrets and techniques, preserve its financial system working, and enterprise into the unusual wilderness past its borders. You’ve got six days to work with earlier than catastrophe strikes and the island resets. Happily, you get to maintain what you study.

Fixing the thriller is simply step one. You’ll quickly uncover there are three totally different timelines to discover, and solely by reaching all three conclusions will you unlock the fourth, true ending.

Whether or not you’re stepping onto Resthaven for the primary time or trying to profit from your subsequent loop, listed here are just a few suggestions that will help you get began.

A Few Easy Suggestions

Curse of Resthaven is a sport about connecting the dots. Its methods feed into each other, and the perfect discoveries typically come from combining info gathered in several methods. Right here are some things to bear in mind as you examine the island.

• Discuss to everybody, after which speak to them once more. Resthaven’s residents have their very own motivations, grudges, and secrets and techniques. What somebody tells you is determined by what Ambrose already is aware of, what subjects you deliver up, and what has occurred in the course of the present loop. If a personality isn’t being useful, it’s possible you’ll merely must study slightly extra earlier than approaching them. Your journal might be counted on to let you recognize when to ask somebody about one thing once more.
• Concentrate throughout interrogations. You’ll be able to query characters about totally different subjects to uncover clues, advance quests, and study extra in regards to the island. Info gathered from one resident could unlock the subject wanted to maneuver the needle with one other. In the event you’re caught, revisit individuals you’ve spoken to and see whether or not they have a perspective on newly acquired subjects or, higher but, can information you in the precise route.
• Don’t deal with buying and selling as a facet exercise. As governor, Ambrose is accountable for retaining Resthaven’s financial system shifting. Service provider ships deliver items to purchase and promote, whereas the island’s companies might be upgraded to supply helpful assets. Cash is barely a part of the equation: having the precise assets is crucial for pursuing alternatives elsewhere, together with expeditions into the wilderness.
• Experiment together with your method. Not each drawback has an apparent resolution, and never each promising lead will repay instantly. Attempt totally different approaches, pursue surprising conversations, and see the place your investigations take you. Even a botched loop could educate you one thing helpful for the subsequent one.

Make the Many of the Time Loop

The six-day time loop is on the coronary heart of Curse of Resthaven. Every loop begins with the island’s inhabitants returning to their standard routines, however Ambrose retains his data and development. That distinction is every part.

You aren’t anticipated to resolve your complete thriller in a single go. As a substitute, every loop provides you one other alternative to use what you’ve realized, method previous issues in another way, and uncover info that was beforehand out of attain.

• Information is your most useful useful resource. A personality who refuses to cooperate on Day 1 is likely to be rather more forthcoming when you’ve found what motivates them. An apparently not possible impediment would possibly turn into easy as soon as you recognize the precise individual to speak to or the precise query to ask.
• Plan your days round what you wish to study. There are extra individuals to query, companies to handle, and locations to discover than you’ll be able to essentially get to in a single loop. Deal with the leads that appear most promising, and don’t fear if it’s a must to go away one thing for subsequent time.
• Use every reset as a chance. When the island resets, you’ll be able to take a unique method with the advantage of every part you’ve found. You don’t need to repeat the identical actions simply since you did them final time. In the event you already know the place a selected lead goes, spend that point pursuing one thing new.

The purpose isn’t merely to repeat the identical six days till you get every part proper. It’s to make use of what you realized final time to vary what occurs the subsequent time.

Enterprise Past the City

Past the protection of Resthaven’s fortified partitions lies a a lot stranger model of the island. Expeditions take Ambrose into this wilderness by a card-based narrative system that blends roguelikes, deckbuilders, and choose-your-own-adventure video games.

Every expedition attracts encounters from a pool, that means your journey can unfold in another way from one try and the subsequent. You’ll face choices, uncover unusual occasions, and encounter alternatives that won’t seem once more in your subsequent journey.

• Count on the surprising. Expeditions aren’t fastened sequences of occasions. The encounters you uncover on one outing could also be very totally different from these on one other, so keep curious and be ready to adapt.
• Don’t assume you’ve seen every part. There are extra encounters than you’ll expertise in a single run. Returning to the wilderness on subsequent playthroughs can reveal completely new tales and discoveries.
• Keep in mind that expeditions are a part of the bigger investigation. The wilderness isn’t separate from the thriller unfolding on the town. Info and assets you collect might help you make progress elsewhere, so think about how an expedition would possibly assist your different objectives.

Discover Each Nook Of Resthaven

It’s price taking the time to go searching. Past the primary investigation, Resthaven incorporates elective discoveries, together with collectible moth relics and different secrets and techniques tucked away all through the city.

These discoveries reward gamers who aren’t in a rush. You’ll be able to barely take a single step should you rely closely on the useful city map + quick journey performance, however you’ll definitely miss out on some elective, flavourful facet content material. Give your self permission to wander slightly. In spite of everything, in Resthaven you don’t have anything however time (in six-day intervals)!

And don’t be afraid to revisit acquainted locations. As you study extra in regards to the colony and its inhabitants, areas and conversations that appeared unremarkable at first could tackle new significance.

What To Do If You’re Caught

Your journal is your greatest pal. Verify your energetic leads for hints about what to pursue subsequent. In the event you’ve exhausted all the probabilities on the town, it might be time to move again out on expeditions and search for Amalia’s campsites. And your journal will in all probability let you know so!

Your journal has one other trick up its sleeve, too. After the opening hours, you’ll unlock a timeline displaying necessary occasions throughout the six-day loop and the place they happen. In the event you’re stumped by a “???” on the timeline, it means one thing necessary is occurring at that second you haven’t found but. To progress, you would possibly simply should be in the precise place on the proper time.

The city map is one other easy-to-miss useful resource. It reveals which characters are accessible in every zone at any given time. When you’ve spoken to a named NPC, their query mark turns into a portrait, making it a lot simpler to trace them down in subsequent loops. Nonetheless seeing a “?” in a zone? That is likely to be place to start out searching for somebody new.

Lastly, don’t underestimate the ability of slightly group gossip. Some leads require interrogation, however the reply would possibly merely be to ask the townspeople a couple of explicit subject. Resthaven is a small, tight-knit group, and data has a means of getting round.

We’ve designed the investigation round a path of clues(We’ve classed them as  bronze/silver/gold behind the scenes, however you received’t see these phrases in-game.)

• Bronze clues offer you slightly info and nudge you in the precise route, and lots of townspeople have them
• Silver clues supply extra particular particulars and produce you nearer to the reality; fewer townspeople have them
• Gold clues unambiguously reveal the subsequent step in a lead. Just one or two townspeople have them

Observe the path, and also you shouldn’t be ignored within the chilly for lengthy.

Don’t Fear About Seeing Every thing the First Time

Curse of Resthaven options three branching timelines, every revealing totally different items of the bigger thriller. You received’t essentially encounter each quest or revelation throughout a single playthrough, and that’s intentional.

As you progress, you’ll uncover new info that adjustments the way you perceive the island and its individuals. Some discoveries will reply questions, whereas others will go away you with much more to research.

When you’ve accomplished a timeline, New Recreation+ introduces Ambrose’s rising sense of déjà vu, permitting you to fast-track by content material you’ve already skilled and concentrate on what’s totally different. You’ll be able to spend much less time retracing acquainted steps and extra time exploring new potentialities.

So don’t fear about discovering each secret in your first go to. Concentrate, observe the leads that curiosity you, and let your rising data information you thru the subsequent loop.

Resthaven has a fantastic many secrets and techniques. The trick is determining which of them to pursue, when to pursue them, and what to do with what you uncover.

Six days stay. Good luck, Governor. You’ll want it.

Curse of Resthaven launches October 29 for XBOX Collection X|S and XBOX on PC.