Day 1–5 Walkthrough: Tutorial and Opening Days

Day 1: Arrival and First Lodging

Hills arrives in Gadola with introductory narration establishing the trade city's wealth gap and security problems — the same themes Mango Party emphasized in The Adventures of MICOCO's sequel setup. Follow the main path from the entry district to the temporary shelter. Dialogue choices on Day 1 are flavor-only; no exposure penalties apply yet.

Before sleeping, interact with the lodging desk to learn how registration will work on Day 2. Do not skip the tutorial prompt about action blocks — the game explains morning, afternoon, and evening visually here even if text speedrunners miss the panel.

End Day 1 with a manual save at lodging. This is your first recommended slot on Save Points.

Day 2: Registration and City Map

Day 2 unlocks the city map and your first real action point assignment. One gold story marker consumes the morning block automatically — complete it first. Afternoon is your first discretionary block: visit the market fringe to meet your earliest companion candidate and unlock shop browsing.

Register any companion who joins tonight at lodging before ending the day. Unregistered companions cannot assist in tomorrow's optional skirmish tutorial. Buy one antidote and one smoke bomb if funds allow; prices are tutorial-discounted.

Evening block optional: return to lodging for group introduction scene. Skipping it does not fail anything but delays passive ability unlock by one day.

Day 3: First Companion Route and Social Risk Intro

Day 3 introduces the bad-event warning system through a low-stakes social check in the market. When dialogue highlights risk in red, choose cautious responses unless you are on a dedicated gallery save. Read How to Protect after this day if warnings confused you.

Mandatory afternoon marker moves Hills toward the Slums edge — escort tutorial teaches assigning companions to exploration party slots. Assign your registered companion before entering.

Optional evening: first job board task appears. Accept the short delivery job if you have an evening block free; it funds Day 4 supplies and opens a clue thread referenced in Early Game.

Day 4: Training Yard and First Tactical Fight

Morning story unlocks the Market District training yard — a safe turn-based tutorial arena. Practice flanking with Hills and one companion. Review Combat Basics if UI labels overwhelm you.

Afternoon mandatory scene introduces a real but forgiving skirmish against slum pickpockets. Win or lose, story continues, but winning grants a small income bonus and avoids a minor exposure tick on loss. Use consumables freely — the game refunds one antidote after the fight regardless of outcome in tutorial patch notes confirmed at June 2026 launch.

Evening optional: night market teaser cutscene plays even if you lack evening block; you cannot shop until Early Game chapter. Do not waste blocks searching for night vendors today.

Day 5: Slums Access and Chapter Transition

Day 5 opens the Slums as a fully explorable district with its own map counter. Complete gold markers through afternoon before exploring alleys — two undiscovered locations here are story-gated until Early Game job chain begins.

Register any second companion who joined during Days 3–4 before evening. Group lodging scene previews mid-game conspiracy tone.

End Day 5 with a save named for Early Game start. Crisis preparation is dozens of days away, but companion registration mistakes made here still propagate. Updated June 2026 for tutorial pacing in the launch build.

Tutorial Controls and Settings Checklist

Before Day 2 action assignment, open Settings and confirm text speed, auto-advance off for dialogue checks, and tactical move highlights if desired. Bind map and journal shortcuts per PC Controls — searching menus costs real time during timed evening windows later.

Audio sliders matter for environmental hints referenced in How to Find. Subtitles on; partner voice optional.

Disable steam overlay popups during tactical tutorial if they obscure grid tiles on low resolutions — a common launch-week PC complaint at 1366x768.

Common Tutorial Mistakes

Skipping lodging registration on Day 2 delays passive abilities. Accepting every risky dialogue option on Day 3 for curiosity stacks exposure before players understand recovery. Grinding training yard endlessly on Day 4 wastes blocks better spent on Day 5 Slums unlock prep.

Using the only smoke bomb on non-risky Day 3 scene leaves you without escape tool when real risk appears Early Game — buy replacements before spending.

Day-by-Day Optional Priority List

Day 1: no optional priorities. Day 2: companion registration plus one shop trip. Day 3: cautious dialogue, escort tutorial completion. Day 4: training yard practice plus skirmish prep consumables. Day 5: Slums unlock sweep excluding gated alleys, second companion registration, save for Early Game.

Players who complete all optional priorities above enter Early Game with smoother economy and lower exposure than players who rush gold markers only — measurable in mid-game banquet checks.

Transition Checklist Leaving Tutorial

Before Day 6: two companions registered, smoke bomb in inventory, antidote in inventory, Day 5 save written, training yard tutorial completed, Slums district unlocked via Day 5 gold marker, no stacked bad-event exposure from Day 3 experiments. Missing any item is recoverable but costs blocks Early Game.

Review How to Play action block overview before Day 6 if tutorial text speed caused you to miss scheduling rules — re-reading costs less time than mis-scheduling entire Early Game week.

What Tutorial Does Not Teach

Tutorial covers movement, lodging, one skirmish, and escort basics — it does not teach investigation thread turn-ins, banquet escort versus exploration escort, or crisis countdown UI. Those systems appear in Early and Mid game walkthrough pages respectively. Expect mechanical novelty through chapter two, not tutorial exhaustion.

Partner chattiness settings affect companion hint frequency — reduce if hints feel spoilery; increase if you want mechanical reminders about unspent blue markers before day end.

Tutorial save at Day 1 and Day 5 remain the two most referenced reload anchors in community help threads during launch week — create both even on impatient first playthroughs.

Day 4 skirmish tutorial reward difference between win and loss is small but exposure difference matters long-term — worth one reload for perfectionists.