Hello, and welcome to this beginner's guide to Heritage - A Dragon's Tale! If you're looking for basics on controls, survival tips, and helpful knowledge, you're in the right place!

In this guide, we'll cover a few mechanics about the game to make Flame's life a little easier as he ventures forth into the many lands, enemies, and challenges of Mineria.

Here's a general breakdown of the topics we'll cover today.

• Movement Mechanics
  
• Survival / HP Management
  
• Level Up / SP Management

Heritage has a simple, but solid movement system that takes a bit of adjustment at first, but becomes very comfortable once you get used to it. In this section, we'll discuss core movement mechanics like jumps, dashes, and other movement-associated mechanics:

• Walk, Climb, and Crouch
  
• Jump, Double-Jump, and Bounce
  
• Dash
  
• Slide

Flame has a simple set of basic movements that help him get around.

Left or right on the directional buttons or left analog stick allows Flame to move left or right, respectively. When in the air, Flame can change directions mid-jump without having to touch the ground.








Pressing up on the directional buttons or left analog stick allows Flame to climb ladders and other climbable objects. It also allows him to aim upwards with certain attacks, like the Fire spell and some weapons. This is key for attacking enemies in hard-to-reach places, like on high platforms, or flying in the air.






Pressing down on the directional buttons or left analog stick allows Flame to crouch. This is useful to duck under attacks and hazards, and also allows him to aim lower with certain attacks, like the Fire spell and some weapons.


Most of the platforming action in Heritage comes from Flame's ability to jump and double-jump. He can also bouncing off of most enemies' heads to gain extra height.

Pressing the bottom button (A on Xbox, X on PlayStation) makes Flame perform a Jump, going higher the longer the button is held. After walking off a ledge, Flame has a very short time during which he can still jump (called a Coyote Jump).







Any time Flame is in the air, he can Double-Jump one time. After, Flame must touch the ground or Bounce on an enemy to be able to double-jump again. A double-jump also goes higher the longer the button is held, but cannot gain as much height as a normal Jump or Coyote Jump.







Flame can also Bounce off of enemies by landing on top of them, though some enemies prevent Flame from Bouncing on them by having spikes or other protective traits. Like a Jump or Double-Jump, a Bounce goes higher if the jump button is held when bouncing, and can reach much higher heights than a Jump or Double-Jump.

By pressing the right button (B on Xbox, O on PlayStation), Flame will Dash a short distance at high speed.
After Dashing, a short time must pass before Flame can Dash again. It does not come back immediately after touching the ground or Bouncing on an enemy, like the Double-Jump.









Flame is invincible while flashing during a Dash. Because of this, Dashing is very important not only as a movement mechanic, but to evade enemy attacks. A well-timed Dash can easily make the difference between life or death, quite literally.

By inputting a Dash while Crouching, Flame will perform a short Slide in the direction he is facing.This moves Flame forward a short distance and deals minor damage to enemies hit during the Slide. When Sliding through tight spaces, Flame will continue to slide until he reaches a place that is large enough for him to stand up. By pressing left or right during a continuous Slide, Flame can change directions at will.





During a Slide, Flame can go under some enemy attacks, and will not be knocked back by most enemy attacks, but will still take damage. This can be useful when approaching enemies whose attacks make them difficult to approach.


Using these movement mechanics well is key to surviving the many challenges of Flame's journey!

Surviving the many threats of Mineria is a test of endurance and skill, so let's jump into the most important part of making it through: staying alive!

First, understanding Flame's HP is crucial: HP is measured with the Hearts at the top left of the screen. Technically, each Heart represents 4 HP, meaning you start off with 12 HP in total.

Flame's HP can be increased by spending Skill Points earned from Leveling Up. Each upgrade adds 1 more Heart, increasing Flame's total HP by 4.

There is also a hidden mechanic in the game thatprevents Flame from being defeated in a single hit! If Flame's HP is full and he gets hit by an attack, he will always survive with at least 1 HP! In the early game, it can really save your life if you keep that in mind!

Best of all, a large number of HP upgrades are available at the start of the game for only 1 SP, meaning it's very easy to increase your HP by a large amount to help Flame survive! The cost will eventually increase, but if you find yourself struggling to stay alive, consider increasing HP early on to help!

In addition to using Potions from the Inventory or found on the ground, there are many ways to restore your HP when needed. All of the following can be used to restore HP immediately:

• Gaining a Level
  
• Spending SP to Level Up HP
  
• Using the Fury Gauge
  
• Passing a Checkpoint on a Stage

To take advantage of these, you can try the following:

• Keep an eye on your EXP gauge, and if it's close to full, play it safe until you can level up!
  
• Save up SP to always have enough to buy at least 1 HP upgrade, then buy it in an emergency!
  
• When the Fury Gauge it full, save it until your HP is low, then activate it to fully heal!

Picking which stats to increase between increasing Attack, Mana, or Health can be a difficult choice. This section of the guide hopes to make the decision process a little easier by providing some general recommendations.

The stats affect Flame as follows:
Attack - Increases damage of sword attacks. Each level gives 4 more attack.
Mana - Reduces the Mana cost of spells. Does NOT affect their damage.
HP - Increases Flame's maximum health. Each level gives 1 Heart, or 4 HP.

First, let's talk about the aforementioned choice from the last section: HP. It is very cheap on SP to level up HP for the first several levels; doing so really increases survivability very quickly. Don't be afraid to pump some early points in there to reduce the frustration from dying!

While leveling up HP definitely helps Flame survive, it's important to remember that a little offense also helps with defense. Defeating enemies quicker means taking less damage!

My personal upgrade path is as follows (except when I take a level of HP to heal when needed):

• Increase Attack to Level 4.
  
• Increase Mana to Level 4.
  
• Purchase all HP upgrades which cost 1 SP.
  
• Max out Mana.
  
• Max out Attack.
  
• Max out HP.

This is because most minor enemies will fall in a few hits from the sword when Flame's Attack reaches around 20, while bigger enemies that take more hits are usually easier to defeat using spells, anyway. I focus Mana after the early levels to help facilitate this, use sword attacks for smaller foes, and save my spells for the big ones, or to take out small enemies in particularly annoying or hard-to-reach areas, and that's worked out very well for me in all my playthroughs.

It's also worth noting another benefit of leveling up your stats, but it's kind of a secret, so I'll hide the text below to avoid any spoilers for those who want to discover it for themselves!

Increasing each of the stats to MAX level grants a special extra buff!
Attack - Sword attacks deal 16 bonus damage.
Mana - Mana regenerates 30% faster passively.
HP - Damage taken is reduced by 25%.

If you've made it this far, I hope this little guide has been helpful to you. Heritage has been a ton of fun to play, and I hope others will enjoy it as much as I have.

Happy adventuring!