Guide
Game guide
The Shin Sekai Online guide is here to help you get started. It does not give away where rare items are, nor the solutions to quests - we want players to discover the secrets buried in the game for themselves.
Controls
Moving
Move your character with the WASD keys or with the arrow keys, whichever you prefer.
Opening the menu
Escape or X opens the main menu, where you will find your items, your equipment and your character sheet. The same key closes the menu or steps back to the previous screen.
Confirming a choice
Space, Enter or Z confirms the current selection, both in menus and while talking to a character.
Action bar
The action bar keeps your most useful items within reach. Press the number matching the slot you want and its contents are used straight away, without opening the menu.
Assigning a shortcut
Open the items menu and choose "Assign". Then pick the item, the action bar slot to store it in, and finally the key that will trigger it. From then on the item is one keypress away - which makes all the difference mid-fight.
Chat
Talking to other players
Press Enter to switch into dialogue mode, type your message, then press Enter again to send it. Everyone standing on the same map as you will read it.
Recalling your last message
With the dialogue box open, the Up key drops the last message you typed back into the box. Nothing is sent: the text is simply sitting there ready, so you can edit it if you need to and then press Enter.
Reading the chat log
F1 opens the chat log, where past messages are kept. Move through it with Page Up and Page Down to catch up on what was said while you were away.
Items and equipment
Kimas
Kimas are the currency of Shin Sekai Online. Defeated enemies drop them, and they are what you spend on potions, remedies and equipment at the shops.
Using a potion
Open the menu, go into your items and use the potion you need. You can also give it a slot on the action bar and drink it with a single key, without breaking off the fight.
Equipping gear
A piece of equipment does nothing while it sits in your bag. Open the equipment menu, choose the slot you want to fill, then the piece to put in it: the game shows you the stat gains and losses before you confirm.
Hiding in a box
The box item conceals you: your name disappears to other players, but you move more slowly. It is the essential prop for a good game of hide-and-seek.
Playing music
Use an instrument - ocarina, guitar, drums - then play notes with the letter keys. Two octaves are available, enough to improvise or perform a familiar tune for the other players.
Progression
Levelling up
Experience comes from defeating enemies. The higher an enemy's level, the harder it hits and the faster it can bring you down, but the more experience it is worth. Enemies also drop kimas and, now and then, rarer items. Every level you reach grants five points to spend.
Spending your points
After a level up, open your character sheet to split your five points across the six stats below. How you spread them is what separates a durable bruiser from a fearsome but fragile striker.
Attack
Increases the damage you deal to enemies.
Defence
Reduces the damage you take.
Intellect
Disabled in Classic
Spirit
Disabled in Classic
Meditation
Increases your chance of landing a critical hit.
Vitality
Raises your HP, and so how much you can take before you fall.
The people of the village
The innkeeper
Talk to an innkeeper to rent a room: a night's rest restores your HP in full. It is the simplest way to start fresh between two expeditions.
The shopkeepers
Some shops sell potions, ethers and other remedies, others sell equipment. Look up at the sign hanging on the house - its icon tells you which one you are standing in front of.