Fireside

Fireside

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A Beginner's Guide to Fireside
By KinoVance
Orienting yourself to the game's mechanics, the gameplay loop, and achievement hunting.
   
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Quickstart Orientation ૮꒰ ˶• ༝ •˶꒱ა
Fireside has a little bit more to it than its "cosy" and "crafting" tags might lead you to believe. Cosy and crafty though it may be, the main game loop makes it a little bit more like a roguelite: you have a certain number of turns to trade and gather materials or resolve side-quests before you're brought back to your home base.

Term
Description
Spirit Nexus
Your home base. Knack, the Shrine Keeper, resides here and issues your main objectives.
Shrines
Teleport stations scattered around the map to transport items or yourself to the Spirit Nexus. Upgrade them to change your spawn location and send items home during runs.
Soul Energy
Energy gained by completing successful trades and positive random encounters. Accumulating enough soul energy creates a Soul Coin. Soul Energy is re-set each run.
Soul Coins
Currency used for upgrading shrines and buildings in the Spirit Nexus. Whole coins are saved at the end of the run; any remaining Soul Energy is discarded.

The Main Quest
The main storyline of Fireside is to restore the Spirit Nexus. Keep this in mind as you trade with NPCs for items. Early in the game, you start with few days to visit campsites and can only take one item back with you on the last day, requiring a little bit of strategic planning. Trading with NPCs builds up your soul energy, which you will use to upgrade shrines in the world and buildings in the Spirit Nexus.

Upgrading shrines
Upgrading shrines is the first goal you are given to stabilise the Spirit Nexus. Upgrading shrines takes soul energy, which you gather by trading, cooking, and completing quests. You can upgrade each shrine three times; the second and third upgrades each require an area token (shells for the River Delta, bowls for the Forest, and hammers in the Mountain areas).

Shrine Level
Requirements
Benefit
Level 1
Default level; no requirements
Can send two item stacks back to the Spirit Nexus (costs Soul Energy).
Level 2
1 Soul Coin +
River Shrine: 1 shell
Forest Shrine: 1 bowl
Mountain Shrine: 1 hammer
Able to set the Shrine as a spawn location on the map and use it to teleport back to the Spirit Nexus (to end your run early, if desired).
Can send three item stacks back to the Spirit Nexus (costs Soul Energy).
Level 3
1 Soul Coin +
River Shrine: 1 shell
Forest Shrine: 1 bowl
Mountain Shrine: 1 hammer
Reduces the Soul Energy cost of sending items and travelling to the Spirit Nexus.

Upgrading your home base
Upgrading the different buildings in the Spirit Nexus improves various aspects, such as the number of days you can travel before returning to the Spirit Nexus, your backpack and storage capacities, the soul energy cost to send items to the Spirit Nexus, and so on.

Beginner Tip: Level up the doghouse first, which allows you to bring back an additional item to the Spirit Nexus, then your storage so you can save more items in the spirit realm between runs.

Sub-Quests
Your Quest Log keeps track of the sub-quests that NPCs give you. Fulfilling these quests gains you soul energy and items you can you for trading. Most of these sub-quests are integral to progressing, and some require you to complete others to get the necessary items or story advancement.

Side-Quests
When you unlock the Bulletin Board you can select a side-quest to complete in your next run, yielding items and soul energy.

Beginner Tip: You can only unlock the Bulletin Board after you rebuild the bridge.
⋆✧₊⁺ ✩ Story Quests ✩ ⁺₊✧⋆
You'll unlock these achievements through completing sub-quests and the main quest over the course of gameplay.

Achievement
Location
Description
Restoring the Nexus:
The River Delta
Spirit Nexus
Place the River Delta token on its shrine
Restoring the Nexus:
The Forest
Spirit Nexus
Place the Forest token on its shrine
Missable!
Wildlife Protector
Forest
Side with Owl and keep Hazel’s axe
Note: This is a storyline quest, but conflicts with the Timber Tycoon achievement
Missable!
Timber Tycoon
Forest
Side with Hazel and return her axe.
Note: This is a storyline quest, but conflicts with the Wildlife Protector achievement
To get both the Wildlife Protector and Timber Tycoon achievements in the same run, I first gave the axe to Hazel, waited for the achievement to pop, quit the game without saving, then re-opened and gave the axe to Owl.
Restoring the Nexus:
The Mountain
Forest
Place the Mountain token on its shrine. You get the Mountain token from Owl after speaking with them after resolving the conflict with Hazel.
Missable!
Family Reunion
River Delta, Mountain
Help Kevin find his mother.
This questline is started when you speak to Kevin in the River Delta.
Missable!
Dragonheart
River Delta
Help Siggi fulfill his dream of becoming a dragon.
You can trade for more goo in the Mountain area.
A New Beginning
Everywhere
Help Knack fix the Spirit Nexus
Missable!
The End?
End Credits
Beat the game and watch the credits to the end

⋆ ✧₊⁺ ✩ Exploration Achievements ✩ ⁺₊✧ ⋆
Achievement
Area
Description
Building a Bridge
River Delta
Fix the bridge in the mangrove forest.
(The Pirate Queen's first sub-quest)
Island in the Ocean
River Delta
Travel to the island in the River Delta.
(requires a token from the Ferry Frog)
Tough Mudder
Forest
Visit all the campsites in the swamp.
Secret Achievement:
Old School
Forest
Complete the castle text adventure.
After returning Lady Hellmuth's Flower to her, return to the castle with the magic phrase she taught you. Magic phrase below:

⋆ ✧₊⁺ Magic door, would you kindly open, please? ⁺₊✧ ⋆
Professional Mountain Climber
Mountain
Visit all the Mountaintop campsites.
Secret Achievement:
Friends at the Farm?
Mountain
Discover the farmhouse in the mountains.
Secret Achievement:
A Dog Named Buddy
Mountain
Just a Did You Know fact: Buddy is our artist Linus’s dog.
Unlocked by petting Scoutmaster's dog.
Legendary Explorer
River, Forest, Mountain
Visit all the campsites.
Strong Connection
River, Forest, Mountain
Upgrade all the shrines in the River Delta, Forest, and Mountain.
⋆ ✧₊⁺ ✩ Trading Achievements ✩ ⁺₊✧ ⋆
Achievement
Location
Description
Haggler
Anywhere
Make 50 successful trades
Missable!
Solidarity
Anywhere
Give someone an item without asking for anything in return
Missable!
Merchant
Anywhere
Make 150 successful trades
Trade Magnate
Anywhere
Make 500 successful trades
Missable!
Goon
Spirit Nexus
Complete 10 blackboard missions
Note: Can only be done after constructing the blackboard.
Missable!
Freelancer
Spirit Nexus
Complete 30 blackboard missions
Missable!
Master Operative
Spirit Nexus
Complete 75 blackboard missions
Trading Trophies: Sea Treasure
River Delta
Get a pearl
Trading Trophies: Precioussss
River Delta
Get a ring
Trading Trophies: Golden Glow
River Delta
Get a frangipani
Trading Trophies: Rare Lake Decor
River Delta
Get a silver lily pad
Trading Trophies: Vacation-Ready
River Delta
Get a sun hat and a towel
Trading Trophies:
Sheriff of the Woods
Forest
Get a ranger hat, multitool, and an axe
Trading Trophies: Stunning Beauty
Forest
Get a beautiful feather
Secret Achievement:
Trading Trophies: The Most Mythical
Mountain
Get an edelweiss
Available only after Lady Hellmuth's flower blooms.
Trading Trophies:
Straight from the Cambrian Age
Mountain
Get a fossil
Trading Trophies:
Cozy and Dry
Mountain
Get a rain poncho and a scarf
⋆ ✧₊⁺ ✩ Cooking Achievements ✩ ⁺₊✧ ⋆
Note: You do not need to cook or even unlock all the recipes to get these achievements.

You will easily get the Scullion and Cook achievements before the end of the game without needing to go out of your way to specifically cook dishes. Attaining Master Chef will require a little bit of grinding.

Achievement
Description
Scullion
Cook 10 dishes.
Note: You do not have to cook 10 unique recipes, just 10 dishes total.
Cook
Cook 50 dishes.
Missable!
Master Chef
Cook 250 dishes.
Tip: cook multiple dishes at a time at every opportunity.
⋆ ✧₊⁺ ✩ Missable* Achievements ✩ ⁺₊✧ ⋆
*Note: you can continue playing after the story's conclusion, so you will have an opportunity to pursue the more grindy/RNG-based achievements
Thank you Aergis for this note!

Achievement
Area
Description
Just Hanging Around
Home screen
Stay on the home screen for 30 minutes without doing anything
Visitors Welcome!
Spirit Nexus
Have a friend visit you at home
Master Builder
Spirit Nexus
Upgrade all parts of the house to their maximum level
Pet the Rock
Forest
Pet Rocky
Secret Achievement:
The Handyman
Mountain
Get enough goo for Shoggy to regrow all his arms
Goo is available for trade in the Mountain
Thanks for reading! ⸜(。˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡
If you found this guide helpful, please consider liking or leaving a comment—and let me know if I missed anything!

I hope you have a great day and have fun playing! ⋆˙⟡
4 Comments
DacePlays 17 Apr @ 12:34am 
Great read!
Paul / Fury 16 Apr @ 11:41am 
Ah - but indeed - the Edelweiss is (or at least should be) only found in the mountains.
Paul / Fury 16 Apr @ 11:39am 
Haha, as a dev: this is so cool to read. You hit the nail on its head :steamhappy::steamthis:
Aergis 9 Feb @ 3:40am 
Eldeweiss is found in Mountain area!

also these "missable" achievements are not missable since you can do them after the story and I think you automatically meet Buddy while just playing