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Plague Doctors are pretty darn cool. Their iconic mask, their sleek leathery robes, and not to mention, their propensity for killing hordes of corrupted humans with a quick flick of a sabre. Thymesia stars one of these all-stars, and it’s up to you to guide them through all manner of plagued cesspools.

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The catch being, of course, that Thymesia is a Soulslike - more specifically, it’s one that takes cues from the likes of Sekiro (arguably the most difficult of the bunch). This means lightning-fast combat built upon even faster reflexes and a difficulty curve that resembles a small skyscraper. We’ve compiled some tips to help you along your way.

Prepare To Die

Thymesia Memory Interrupted death screen

This is a Soulslike, and as the tagline for the original Dark Souls states - you have to “prepare to die”. Death is inevitable in Thymesia, and expecting to get through even the first area of the game alive, is wishful at best. In fact, many players will die in the tutorial.

Thymesia is not a game you can rush (at first…). Instead, you need to claw your way forward one minor victory at a time. Death may not be permanent, but it can still sting. You will revive back at the last Beacon you visited, and all enemies will respawn. Pick yourself up and try again.

Gather Your Memories

Thymesia squaring up against the tutorial boss

Following on from your inevitable death, we need to talk about Memories. Memories act as EXP, and killing enemies will grant you varying amounts of it. This EXP is worthless when not spent, and the only way to spend them is to return to a Beacon. This is pretty basic stuff.

However, death will result in all of your Memories being dropped. This is not the end of the world, of course. Providing you can get back to your place of death, you can reclaim your lost Memories. If you die before you get there, then all of those Memories are lost - permanently. Try not to hoard your memories, be careful on the return journey, and spend them whenever you can.

Learn To Play Aggressively

Thymesia Executing a circus General

Thymesia is a game that has a heavy focus on aggression. Enemies are relentless, attacks come thick, fast, and back-to-back, and you are expected to not only deal with it - but embrace it. Shy bairns get nowhere Thymesia, so swallow your fear, grasp your sabre and get stuck in.

Every system in Thymesia is pushing you to attack constantly. You don’t have a block button, you do have an attack button, another attack button, a third (and fourth...) attack button, and two forms of parrying. Enemies have a lot of health, and they recover HP when they aren’t taking damage. More often than not, the best way to play is to be stuck in their face and attacking, whilst keeping an eye on their attacks so you can deflect for even more damage.

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Don’t Underestimate Feathers

Thymesia throwing feather at Varg

Feathers are a secondary parry-esque system that is primarily used to get around particularly powerful attacks. They are easy to forget in the heat of combat, but forgetting them would be a mistake. Feathers are incredibly useful and have more uses than you might initially think.

Sure, you can use them to parry, but more importantly, they act as a ranged attack - one of your only ranged attacks. Since enemies heal when they are not taking damage, and some enemies can teleport away (which will trigger healing), throwing a feather as you re-engage will deal a tiny amount of damage, and prevent their healing from starting. Feathers can even stagger certain enemies, making your approach safer. Use them.

Complete Sub Quests

Thymesia completing a sub quest and getting a Recall Completed message

Once you have completed an area in Thymesia, for example, The Sea Of Trees, you will be given the option to return to that area to complete Sub Quests. Sub Quests take place in a small part of the main map you were just exploring, and they tend to have unique enemies placements, new enemies, and new hazards.

On top of that, they come with their own objectives. Completing these objectives will allow you to leave, and move on to another area, or another Sub Quest. Doing these Sub Quests is very much advised as the Memories gained are substantial, and the rare item drops from the various Generals that litter these quests can make your life much easier.

Crafting And Upgrading Potions

Thymesia Potion crafting screen

Potions are your main source of healing in Thymesia. You only have three, they don’t heal much HP, and you are mostly defenceless when chugging on them. They are useful, but limited in more ways than one. You can, however, make them much more effective.

Potions can be upgraded at Beacons, with these upgrades being locked behind Alchemy Enhancers (found by killing Generals). You can increase your supply, how much they heal, and even how many ingredients you can mix in with your potion. Ingredients are powerful items that enhance your Potions in new and interesting ways, so there is always something you can do to make your Potions better, and therefore, make you more survivable.

It’s also worth noting that there are three types of Potions in Thymesia - Standard, Long, and Fast, with each one carrying its own upgrade tree, crafting options, and unique restrictions.

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Remember To Level Up

Thymesia activating a Beacon

The fastest way to gain power in Thymesia is to level up. Levelling up allows you to invest your Memories into Attribute Points. These points, in turn, increase your various stats, like Damage, Energy, and HP. It’s a simple system, but one you should be interacting with fairly often.

Every time you level up, you also gain Talent Points. Talent Points are, arguably, more important than Attribute Points, as these will unlock all kinds of new attacks, defensive manoeuvres, and passive bonuses. Reading each talent, and planning how you want to progress your character is very important, as every decision can drastically change what options you have in combat.

How To Respec Your Character

Thymesia using a forgotten feather at a beacon

Respeccing in Thymesia is simultaneously simple, infinite, complex, and limited, depending on what you want to respec. Firstly, Talents can be reset at any time, for free. All you have to do is go to a Beacon, and select Reset when you go into the Talent menu. Easy.

Attribute Points, on the other hand, are much harder to reset. This is because this feature is locked behind Forgotten Feathers. These are only dropped (as far as we are aware) by bosses (not Generals), and they can only be used once. This means you can’t respec your Attributes until you complete The Sea Of Trees and defeat Odur, the Circus Master.

Explore And Look For Shortcuts

Thymesia finding a lore note

Levels in Thymesia are fairly large, but they are also a mostly linear affair. There is one path to the end, with many branching side paths that will lead to treasure, Memories, and even Generals. Ignoring these opportunities will leave you starved for resources in the long run, and you will struggle as you fall behind the curve.

Exploring will also lead to shortcuts, which allow you to loop back to Beacons, or return to new areas on death without having to fight through the entire level over, and over again. Finally, exploring will lead to lore, which can help flesh the world out, if that’s what you are into.

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