How to Complete The Adventures of HILLS: Story and 100% Guide

Main Story Flow Through Gadola

The campaign follows Hills from arrival in the trade city through rising conspiracy, companion reunions, and a time-limited crisis. Main objectives appear as gold markers on the city map; freedom lies in how you spend optional action points between them. Chapters roughly align with Early Game, Mid Game, and Late Game walkthrough pages.

Efficient pacing: complete tutorial days without over-farming, register companions before Noble Quarter access, finish Slums clue threads before mid-game banquets, reunite Micoco when prompted but do not ignore Market income jobs, then enter crisis preparation immediately when the countdown UI appears — delaying even two days costs true ending action budget.

Some companion scenes lock after chapter transitions unlike collectibles. Finish active blue markers before crossing major story thresholds listed in the walkthrough hub table.

Companion Routes and Side Content

Each companion combines lodging visits, district events, and optional tactical missions. Priority for true ending: companions tied to investigation threads and those with support passives for crisis fights. Full roster details live on All Companions.

Side jobs fill income and sometimes unlock clues. Balance three companion visits per week minimum with at least one job block if money drops below tactical supply thresholds. Deluxe players cross-check optional artbook hints on Deluxe Edition.

Micoco's route intersects main plot but includes optional callbacks — schedule optional Micoco evenings on days without gold story markers.

100% Completion Checklist

• All CG gallery categories including risky bad-event variants where required
• All twenty-five Steam achievements on All Achievements
• All key items on Key Items list
• All hidden locations per map counter
• True, standard, and bad endings for ending achievements
• Companion trust max or story-complete states per character
• Crisis countdown cleared with best outcome at least once

Gallery entries and achievements overlap but are not identical. Use 100% Completion for trophy order and Requirements Checklist for ending splits.

Ending Order Recommendation

When crisis week branches, experience the bad ending route first on a dedicated save if you want its achievement — some players stumble into it accidentally via high exposure. Reload for standard ending next using reduced exposure and mid-tier companion trust. Finally, assemble true ending prerequisites: low exposure, complete clue threads, key items, and companion support for final tactical sequences detailed in True Ending Guide.

Estimated completion times: roughly twelve to eighteen hours for one good ending, twenty-five to thirty-five hours for exhaustive gallery and achievement hunting per community launch estimates.

Clear save support after endings lets you continue collecting without a separate new game plus mode — revisit districts before deleting slots.

Integration With Walkthrough Pages

Use this page as the strategic overview and Walkthrough Hub as the chronological script. Action Points and Save Points translate this checklist into daily execution.

Updated June 2026 for day-one achievement verification and ending branch documentation from the Steam release build.

Chapter Transition Checklist

Before leaving Early Game: three companions registered, Slums witness chain complete, market permit obtained, exposure low, pre-banquet save created. Before leaving Mid Game: Micoco registered, undercity fast travel unlocked, investigation threads turned in at lodging, pre-crisis save created, consumable stock ten or higher combined.

Before crisis finale: checklist on Requirements Checklist fully green, companion crisis scenes viewed, no pending blue markers on map unless intentionally skipped for challenge runs.

Skipping any transition checklist item does not always block standard ending but commonly blocks true ending and several achievements simultaneously — efficient 100% runners treat transitions as hard gates.

Time Estimates by Play Style

Story-only players finishing one good ending typically finish in twelve to eighteen hours. Completionists chasing all endings, gallery entries, and twenty-five achievements should budget twenty-five to thirty-five hours. Bad-event gallery hunting adds reload time not counted in story estimates.

MICOCO veterans often finish faster on mechanics but not necessarily on new Gadola clue chains — prequel knowledge helps Micoco callbacks only.

Side Content That Looks Optional But Is Not

Three categories masquerade as optional but gate true ending: Smugsled ledger thread, market permit branch, and minimum companion trust totals across four characters. Skipping any category still yields standard or bad endings — fine for first playthrough, insufficient for checklist victory.

Manuscript-style lore collectibles, if tracked in your build, are genuinely optional for endings — consult 100% Completion if pursuing them. Do not confuse lore collectibles with investigation threads sharing similar journal UI icons.

Crisis countdown days are never optional — treat Late Game walkthrough as mandatory reading once foreshadowing dialogue appears, even if you dislike spoilers.

100% Route Without Burnout

Alternate heavy investigation days with companion flavor days to avoid fatigue misclicks on dialogue checks — misclicks cause more bad events than tactical losses for most players. Use maintenance days from Action Points guide weekly.

Track achievements in three clusters: story endings, gallery completion, discovery miscellany. Finish clusters in separate save branches rather than chasing every trophy on first Slot 4 crisis attempt.

Consult Walkthrough Hub chapter table when unsure which completion tasks belong to which story phase — phase errors cause more 100% failures than combat skill gaps.

Gallery vs Ending Overlap

Gallery completion percentage and ending tier are related but not identical — you can reach true ending with gallery gaps or fill gallery while locked to standard ending on exposure-heavy saves. Plan separate passes if pursuing both Steam all-achievements and full gallery in minimum time.

Ending credits mark save-safe points for gallery review — note missing entries before starting reload branches so you do not duplicate effort across Slot 4 and Slot 5 experiments.

Steam lists twenty-five achievements — cross-check in-game gallery categories against All Achievements page when planning which ending pass unlocks which trophy cluster.

Side quests in Gadola are embedded in companion and investigation systems rather than a separate quest log — treat blue markers and journal gold headers as quest equivalents when checking completion.

Estimated thirty-hour 100% target assumes efficient reload discipline — first-time players without guides often exceed forty hours; walkthrough and save pages exist to narrow that gap. Last updated June 2026.