Revision 1

Overview

The campaign is divided into 13 numbered chapters followed by an epilogue. Progress is linear in structure: each chapter opens a new stretch of the world and gates the next, though individual chapters contain optional exploration and side content. A story-focused playthrough runs roughly 20 to 30 hours depending on pace and how much optional content is cleared.

Chapter names use plant-growth and decay imagery throughout, mirroring Emma's own condition and the spread of the Blight across the world. The arc moves from germination through branching and rot to a final bloom. The chapter titles below are the ones recorded by post-launch player walkthroughs; the game does not present a single official chapter list outside the save and menu screens, so treat the exact wording as reported rather than as confirmed store or manual copy. The count of thirteen chapters plus the epilogue is not in doubt.

Chapter List

Structure and Pacing

Boss encounters are spread unevenly across the chapters, and several bosses are fought more than once at rising levels rather than appearing only in a single chapter. Rangifer, for example, is fought in the opening chapter and again much later at a substantially higher level. The complete encounter map is under Bosses.

Story pacing drew criticism after release, and the developer has committed to incremental pacing adjustments in post-launch patches. Those changes are tracked under Post-Launch Updates.

New Game Plus

A New Game Plus cycle is available after finishing the campaign. It exists primarily for collection completion: some equipment cannot all be obtained within a single run, so achievements covering every blade and every seedling type generally require a second cycle. Progression carried between cycles lets a returning player move through early chapters considerably faster.

Chapters, Zones, and Bosses

Each chapter is anchored to a named zone, and most chapters close on a boss. The mapping below lines the two up. Zones named in official patch notes are Pilgrim's Zone and Fuji Frontier Zone; the rest come from the community route guides that agree on the same ordering.

Two blades are tied to chapter progress rather than to exploration: Kanzashi only appears on a New Game Plus run, and Camellia turns up aboard the Cleanse Walker after the Kunai fight. The rest are found in the zones listed above.

Post-Launch Pacing Changes

Pacing was the most common criticism after release, and both post-launch patches touched it. Version 1.0.7 limited affinity-building conversations that could fire several times in a row to once per day, and switched the default cutscene mode away from the 24fps Cinematic setting. Version 1.0.8 went further: it adjusted the conditions that trigger events so fewer cutscenes stack up when moving between areas, reworked the return cutscenes after boss fights, added objective markers along the early-story route, shortened the Pilgrim's Zone main route so players can go straight to the Belfry, and turned one battle midway through the Fuji Frontier Zone into a scripted event. Skippable cutscenes have been announced but had not shipped as of version 1.0.8.