POLE is a difficult precision platformer with mechanics that can be tricky to master. To unlock all achievements, you will need to be able to complete all levels without dying. The achievement set also includes a grind to die 10,000 times. Expect to spend at least 10-15 hours mastering each level and another 10-15 hours grinding out the 10,000 deaths en route to your 100% completion.

The game has two endings that each award an achievement. The "bad" ending occurs when you complete the game without obtaining all collectibles, and the "good" ending occurs when you complete the game after obtaining all collectibles. Note that you can not get the "bad" ending once you've obtained all collectibles. Make sure that you skip some collectibles before beating the game for the first time to avoid doing an additional playthrough.

Why!?

When starting a new game, you will be prompted with a choice to proceed with an update. Select No for this achievement, which will cause the game to close.


Welcome to POLE

When starting a new game, you will be prompted with a choice to proceed with an update. Select Yes for this achievement, which will cause the game to begin.

This choice will not actually result in any update to the game, it serves only lore purposes. If you selected Yes the first time that you started up the game, you will need to start a new game from the main menu at some point in order to unlock "No Update." Remember to back up your save folder before starting a new game, or else you'll lose your progress.

So sad...

Beat the game before obtaining all collectibles. This achievement does NOT stack with the next, so you'll need to start a new game if you've already obtained all collectibles before beating the game.


You did it! You saved the world! But... is this all there is to the story?

Beat the game after obtaining all collectibles.

All of the collectibles are found in the 6 large levels at the end of each world: Dye Dunes, Wild Woods, Opal Ocean, Paper Pasture, Downtown Diamonds, and Lantern Languish. Each of these levels has 10 sprites. 9 of these sprites can be found in the open throughout the level, and 1 sprite is found behind one of the secret doors in the level. Sprites play a "shimmering" sound effect when they're nearby. In addition to the sprites, each level either has 3 more secret doors containing collectibles, or 1 more secret door containing a minigame.

After getting all sprites and either obtaining the 3 collectibles or beating the minigame, complete the level to save your progress. The creature at the end of the level will dance and give a positive response to indicate that you've fully cleared the level. The same creature will also be dancing in the overworld, which can help you identify which of these levels you've already cleared. Once each of the 6 creatures is dancing, complete the final level "The King" again to unlock this achievement. Note that there will be an extra section in this ending that requires some button mashing.

You don't need to collect everything in one run through the level. Any previously saved collectibles will be greyed out and can be skipped. If you die after obtaining a collectible and before reaching a checkpoint, you'll need to obtain that collectible again.

Getting all collectibles is obviously not required to beat the game, so you can skip them during your 0 death attempts.

Most of the collectibles should be easy to find on your own, but here is a full video guide that you can reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjX7Bt5B0qM
Timestamps:

0:00 - Dye Dunes
0:12 - Sprite 1/10
0:22 - Sprite 2/10
0:42 - Paint Bucket 1/3
1:30 - Sprite 3/10
1:35 - Sprite 4/10
1:42 - Paint Bucket 2/3
2:25 - Sprite 5/10
2:46 - Paint Bucket 3/3
3:10 - Sprite 6/10
3:35 - Sprite 7/10
3:48 - Sprite 8/10
3:57 - Sprite 9/10
4:28 - Sprite 10/10

4:35 - Wild Woods
5:18 - Sprite 1/10
5:38 - Candy 1/3
5:55 - Sprite 2/10
6:20 - Sprite 3/10
6:40 - Sprite 4/10
7:00 - Candy 2/3
7:20 - Sprite 5/10
7:45 - Sprite 6/10
8:00 - Sprite 7/10
8:18 - Sprite 8/10
8:28 - Candy 3/3
9:32 - Sprite 9/10
9:45 - Sprite 10/10

10:16 - Opal Ocean
10:22 - Sprite 1/10
10:30 - Sprite 2/10
10:40 - Sprite 3/10
10:48 - Sprite 4/10
11:02 - Sprite 5/10
11:08 - Sprite 6/10
11:22 - Sprite 7/10
11:30 - Minigame
12:02 - Sprite 8/10
13:09 - Sprite 9/10
13:33 - Sprite 10/10

13:44 - Paper Pasture
13:54 - Sprite 1/10
14:38 - Sprite 2/10
15:38 - Sprite 3/10
16:00 - Sprite 4/10
16:30 - Minigame
17:12 - Sprite 5/10
17:26 - Sprite 6/10
17:58 - Sprite 7/10
18:15 - Sprite 8/10
18:28 - Sprite 9/10
18:50 - Sprite 10/10

18:58 - Downtown Diamonds
19:15 - Sprite 1/10
19:26 - Sprite 2/10
19:42 - Diamond 1/3
20:22 - Sprite 3/10
20:55 - Sprite 4/10
21:17 - Sprite 5/10
22:12 - Sprite 6/10
22:36 - Sprite 7/10
22:43 - Diamond 2/3
23:35 - Sprite 8/10
24:05 - Sprite 9/10
25:28 - Sprite 10/10
25:40 - Diamond 3/3

26:00 - Lantern Languish
26:12 - Sprite 1/10
26:19 - Sprite 2/10
27:00 - Sprite 3/10
28:00 - Sprite 4/10
28:10 - Sprite 5/10
28:28 - Sprite 6/10
29:08 - Sprite 7/10
29:50 - Sprite 8/10
30:10 - Sprite 9/10
30:18 - Minigame
32:12 - Sprite 10/10

Beat the game with under 50 deaths.




Beat the game with under 10 deaths.




WHAAAAAAAAT!!! HOW DID YOU DO THAT!!!

Beat the game with 0 deaths.

According to this post, it's not enough to use level select to replay levels until they each have a death count of 0 in the overworld. After starting a new game, you'll need to reach and beat the final level without dying. The achievements for beating the game with under 50 deaths and under 10 deaths will stack with this achievement.

If you don't want to spend dozens of hours mastering each level and grinding full-game attempts, you can still manageably unlock this achievement by save scumming. The general idea is:

• Disable cloud storage for the game to avoid save file conflicts (right-click on the game in your library -> Properties -> General -> disable Steam Cloud).
  
• Start a new game until you beat the first level without dying.
  
• Make a backup copy of your save folder (located at "%localappdata%\PoleReal" by default on Windows).
  
• Attempt to beat the next level without dying. If you die at any point, exit the game, delete your current save folder, make a copy of your most recent backup folder, and rename that copy to make it your current save folder.
  
• After clearing the next level without dying, make another backup copy of your save folder. Repeat this process until you've beaten the game.

This is still a very tedious and difficult process, but it saves an incredible amount of time and effort over the "intended" method. You will still effectively need to beat the entire game without dying, but in this case you'll do it in a segmented manner.

Though most levels have checkpoints, you will always start at the beginning of the level when you exit and reload the level. This means you'll need to beat each level from start to finish in a single attempt, which itself can be a difficult achievement for some levels.

At the moment, the only way I imagine that you can verify that your save file has a 0 death count is to ensure that each level displays a count of 0 deaths in the overworld after being cleared.

Here are some general tips to help you along the way:

• As usual in these types of games, the biggest factor towards your success is your knowledge of the levels and your technical handling of the controls. Each level will feel daunting until you map out the route and the inputs needed to get through each section, so don't feel discouraged if anything feels difficult at the start.
  
• There are often multiple ways to get through each section, and most obstacles can be overcome without the need for extremely precise timing of inputs. In general, try to find methods where you only need to time certain inputs (for example, holding a direction key and only timing your jump inputs, or holding your jump input and tapping a direction key for mid-air control).
  
• Most enemies, including bosses, have very predictable patterns (the main exception is the final phase of the fight against The King). Take your time against enemies and map out areas where you can safely wait and plan your attack.
  
• Don't repeat my mistake of forgetting that the sprint button exists halfway through the game, and remember that your trajectory differs if you hold the jump button versus releasing the button immediately after jumping.
  
• Once mastered, most levels can be cleared in under two minutes. Shorter levels tend to have more gimmicks though, so they may take just as much time to master.
  
• After clearing the larger levels at the end of each world, you can replay the level from the overworld and select a checkpoint to start at. This can be helpful if you want to repeatedly practice a later section of the level.
  
• Two of the food items that can be purchased at Kowayaki's Eatery may be helpful. The Beef + Noodles combo gives a powerup that will let you kill most enemies on impact. The Vegetables + Noodles combo gives a powerup that lets you cling to walls and slide down them at a slower rate, making it easier to time wall jumps. I didn't use any powerups in my playthrough, so I can't speak much more about their effectiveness.
  
• Remember that you don't need to go out of your way to get any collectibles or coins during your deathless attempts.

And here is a video compilation of my deathless runs through each level if you need a reference for any section: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRyrLsspxbQ
Timestamps:

0:00 - Mourning Meadows
1:30 - Through The Desert
2:55 - The Pyramid Trial
3:52 - Dye Dunes
8:22 - Up The Tree
9:47 - To The Tree Fort
10:45 - Wild Woods
13:56 - The Gym
15:00 - Across The Sea
16:03 - The Ocean Entrance
18:54 - Opal Ocean
21:12 - Baseball Kid's Motive
22:58 - The Snowy Hills
24:25 - Paper Pasture
28:19 - In The Dumps
29:04 - Through The Air
29:50 - Downtown Diamonds
36:27 - Down The Highway
38:14 - Climbing The Skyscraper
39:57 - Lantern Languish
44:33 - The Finale
48:35 - The King

Don't give up! Keep trying!

Die a total of 100 times.


Wow! Much deaths...

Die a total of 1,000 times.


CONGRATULATIONS! You won the prize for the 10,000th death!

Die a total of 10,000 times.

I could be wrong, but I believe these 10,000 deaths must be done on a single save file, meaning your death count will reset to 0 if you start a new game.

"Down The Highway" is a good level for farming deaths. After spawning, just hold left and you will repeatedly fall to your death. When you run out of coins, you'll get kicked back to the overworld with your coin count reset to 100. At that point, you'll have to restart the level every minute or so to continue the process.

Here is an AutoHotkey script that can automate this grind: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rOfkGyStZId8JgqpFbhUvh07Y_Tei04K/view

Script usage:

• F1: Farms deaths on the level "Down The Highway."
  
  • First, make sure you have exactly 100 coins (this script should work if you have over 100 coins, but it will waste some time with unnecessary inputs). You can get exactly 100 coins by getting a game over after running out of coins. To use up all your coins, you can die repeatedly as described above, or spend them in bulk at Kowayaki's Eatery.
    
  • In the level select overworld, go to the level "Down The Highway."
    
  • Press F1 to launch the script.
    
  • The script will automatically enter the level, run to the left until you have died 10 times, then enter the level again and repeat.
    
  • You will need to leave the game focused while the script is running.
    
  • You can edit the script file to change the amounts of time between each set of inputs if they're too fast or too slow on your hardware.
    
  • While this script is running, you will farm about 710 deaths per hour.
  
  
• F3: Reloads the script.
  
• F4: Pauses the script.

Thanks for taking the time to check out this guide. Please let me know if any info seems unclear or inaccurate, or if you have additional strategies to share.

Feel free to reach out to me directly with any further questions about this game or any other game that I've played, and join the Achievement Scouts community[discord.gg] for the best achievement hunting information and resources.