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Idols of Ash Walkthrough

The megastructure has four distinct sections, each harder than the last. Checkpoints get scarcer as you go deeper, and the final stretch has none at all. Here is what to expect and how to handle each part.

Understanding Checkpoints

Before diving into the sections, you need to understand the two types of recovery points in the game.

Breathe in Ashes points are interaction spots scattered throughout the descent. When you find one, interact with it to trigger a memory fragment from the protagonist's past -- short scenes about life in the village, the loved one's illness, the decision to enter the megastructure. These also serve as checkpoints and restore some health. They are your primary save points, especially in the upper and mid sections.

Latent Embers are glowing restoration points that heal you and act as secondary checkpoints. They are easier to spot because of their visible glow, but they become increasingly rare in the deeper sections.

Latent Embers glow in the dark. In the deep sections, spotting that faint light can mean the difference between a safe save and replaying ten minutes of descent.

Both types reset your respawn point. When you die, you return to whichever checkpoint you activated most recently. The game does not auto-save at any other point -- if you make progress but do not hit a checkpoint, dying sends you back to the last one you touched.

Upper Section

The upper section is the most forgiving part of the descent and functions as your extended tutorial. Wide caverns with dense plant growth give you plenty of grapple points in every direction. You almost cannot miss -- there is always something to hook onto within reach.

The upper section gives you room to breathe. Dense plant growth means grapple points are everywhere, and the wide spaces let you practice swinging without fear of smashing into walls.

Checkpoints appear at reasonable intervals here. You will find Breathe in Ashes points after most major traversal challenges, and Latent Embers fill the gaps between them. This is intentional -- the game wants you to learn the grapple mechanics without the pressure of losing major progress when you die.

The Murderpede is present in the upper section, but it gives you more breathing room than it will later. You will hear it. You will see it crawling on distant walls. But it tends to stay at a manageable distance, letting you focus on learning movement rather than running for your life.

What to do here: Take your time. Practice chaining grapple swings. Get comfortable with fall recovery (fire hook + hold Shift). Learn to read the environment for anchor points -- plants, rocky outcroppings, ruined building edges. The skills you build here are the ones that keep you alive later.

Mid Section

The mid section is where the game stops being gentle. Corridors narrow, grapple points become less obvious, and the space between checkpoints widens. You start needing to aim at specific outcroppings rather than just firing at any wall.

The mid section tightens up. Ruins replace open caverns, and you need to pick your grapple points more carefully.

The map branches into inner and outer paths at several points. This is the first real route decision the game asks you to make.

• Inner paths run through the core of the structure -- tighter corridors but shorter gaps between surfaces. More walls and ceilings to grapple, less open air to fall through. Generally safer for most players.
• Outer paths wrap around the exterior -- wider spaces with longer swings but fewer anchor points mid-route. If you miss a grapple on the outer path, there is often nothing to catch you before a long fall. Faster if you nail every swing, punishing if you miss one.

Recommendation: Take the inner path on your first playthrough. The outer path is appealing because it looks more open and less claustrophobic, but the inner path has more forgiving geometry. You can always try the outer path on a later run when you know the layout.

Checkpoint spacing is noticeably wider here. You might clear two or three significant grapple sequences before hitting the next Breathe in Ashes point. Getting sloppy between checkpoints costs more time now.

Deep Section

Everything gets darker. The plant growth thins out, the ambient light drops, and the architecture shifts from recognizable ruins to raw cave walls and ancient stone. Grapple points are spread farther apart, and some sections require precise aim at distant surfaces you can barely see.

The deep section drops you into near-darkness. Grapple points are sparse and hard to see. Listen for the Murderpede -- you will hear it before you see it down here.

Checkpoint spacing becomes severe. Dying in the deep section can cost you five to ten minutes of progress. This is where the game starts testing whether you actually learned the mechanics or just got lucky in the upper sections.

Scattered plants in the deep caverns provide faint light and occasional grapple points. Look for their glow when you cannot see the walls.

Sound tracking becomes essential. You cannot see the Murderpede in the dark, but you can hear it. Directional audio tells you roughly where it is and how close. Wear headphones if you are not already -- the deep section is nearly unplayable without them because you have no visual warning of the creature's position.

What to do here: Move steadily. Do not stop to look around unless you are at a checkpoint. Keep your grapple swings consistent -- momentum is your friend because the Murderpede matches your average speed. If you slow down, it catches up. Steady movement keeps a safe distance.

Final Descent

The final descent. No checkpoints, no margin for error. Everything you have learned gets tested in one unbroken run to the bottom.

The final descent is not harder because the individual grapple sequences are more difficult -- they are roughly the same difficulty as the deep section. It is harder because you have to do all of them in a row without dying. The pressure compounds. Every successful swing raises the stakes because you have more progress to lose. That pressure causes panic, and panic causes mistakes.

There is no trick to this section. You either know the route or you do not. The layout is consistent across runs, so each attempt teaches you more about the path. After three or four deaths, you will start recognizing landmarks, knowing where the next grapple point is before you see it, and moving through sections on muscle memory instead of reaction.

Practical approach: Do not try to brute-force the whole thing. On each attempt, focus on learning one subsection at a time. First attempt, pay attention to the first third. Second attempt, you will get through the first third on autopilot and can focus on the middle. By the fourth or fifth attempt, you know the whole route. The game rewards patience and pattern recognition over raw skill.

General Route Tips

• Always know your next anchor. Before committing to a swing or a drop, identify where you will grapple next. Jumping first and then looking for a surface is how you die.
• Inner paths over outer paths on your first run. More walls to catch yourself on, shorter gaps, less exposure.
• Do not skip checkpoints. Even if a Breathe in Ashes point seems out of the way, go interact with it. Two minutes of detour beats replaying ten minutes after a death.
• Momentum matters. The Murderpede tracks your average speed. Consistent forward movement keeps it at a safe distance. Stopping to plan is fine in the upper section but dangerous below that.
• Sound is information. The Murderpede's audio scales with distance. Faint rumble means safe. Audible skittering means move. Loud and close means do not stop for anything.