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Arsilthus
August 18, 2026 at 06:28 AM
Rewrote image alt text and added captions to describe what each screenshot actually shows, and adjusted placement so images match their page topic
Arsilthus is the setting of The Relic: First Guardian. Once a prosperous realm, it was transformed into an apocalyptic wasteland by the destruction of a great relic and now lies in ruins. Its atmosphere is dark and haunting, enriched by Korean folklore and ancient mythology, and it falls to the player to mend the shattered land and honour the memories of those who came before.
The developers describe Arsilthus as a vast, interconnected semi-open world rather than a single seamless map or a series of closed levels. It is filled with forgotten ruins, hidden dungeons, and atmospheric landscapes, and it rewards players who venture off the beaten path with ancient artifacts, secret encounters, and pieces of lost lore buried in its ruined regions.
Visibility is deliberately restricted. Arsilthus is a dark world where you rely on small, flickering lights to find your way, so exploration is slow and careful by design. Fog density across the earlier chapters was reduced after launch to improve visual clarity.
The world is divided into chapters. At least three have been confirmed through patch notes, each with its own regions and encounters. The chapters are not standalone levels: field structure and traversal flow connect them, and progression moves forward through them.
Chapter | What Is Confirmed |
|---|---|
Chapter 1 | The opening region. Contains the Edens, a Tailor event sequence, and the First Relic Awakening Shard. Received field-structure, lighting, and framerate work after launch |
Chapter 2 | Includes a plains area that was reworked for traversal and lighting. Site of the large-scale battles that drove post-launch performance fixes |
Chapter 3 | Confirmed to exist, with its own field structure and traversal flow reworked before launch and crafting materials added afterwards |
Individual places have been named through official patch notes and add-on descriptions rather than through a published world map, so this list is partial and grows with each update.
Location | Details |
|---|---|
Hillsbrad Castle | A castle with a garrison. Entering the garrison completes the Plan of the Abyss event, which was fixed in Patch 12 |
Selbarn | A location with a boss area; an invisible collision wall near it was removed after launch |
Bloodrock Cave | A cave area; an invisible wall reported here was removed after launch |
Silversilver Mine | A mine where ambient monster audio kept playing with no monsters present until it was fixed |
Sanctum of the Stepped Aside | A cave that could not be entered because of a loading issue, fixed in Patch 7 |
Shadow of the King | A dungeon that received fixes in an early patch |
Sanctuary of the Forgotten Light | A dungeon added by the paid add-on, reached through its own questline near the second fast travel point |
The Edens | An area within Chapter 1 that received framerate improvements |
The Gap of a Long-standing Oath | A camp, and the fast travel point where the add-on questline was moved to make it easier to find |
Checkpoint Karr | The site of an event where arrows could damage the player from outside the walls until it was fixed |
The tutorial zone includes a burning village, rebuilt in Patch 7. Official screenshots also show environments the patch notes have not named: a cathedral hall with stained glass, an underground vault knee-deep in gold coins and plate, a fog-bound watchtower in wooded hills, and a cherry-blossom grove lit by drifting blue motes. The world is more varied than the ruined-wasteland framing alone suggests.
The in-game map was thin at launch and has been filled in steadily. Patch 8 added merchant and buff NPC markers, Patch 9 added caves, buff priests and villages, and Patch 12 delivered the largest pass, adding dungeons, sealing stone dungeons, boss locations and relic shards, then reordering the marker display hierarchy so the icons do not fight each other.
Marker | Added In |
|---|---|
Merchants and buff NPCs | Patch 8 |
Caves, buff priests and villages | Patch 9 |
Dungeons and sealing stone dungeons | Patch 12 |
Boss locations | Patch 12 |
Relic shards | Patch 12 |
Exploration is a progression system, not just scenery. Completing narrative events rewards sealing stones that open hidden dungeons, which ties advancement to discovery rather than to experience points. Abandoned campsites yield currency, world chests drop crafting materials, and Elemental Shard materials are scattered across the map. Ancient Memories found in the world supply the relic energy used to equip skills. Spawn points and fast travel points structure movement through the world; 2,000 relic energy was added to the second fast travel camp after players asked for an earlier supply. Field and lore pages carry voice-over that plays while the game pauses, delivering much of the story in place.
A premium printed map of Arsilthus is included with the physical PlayStation 5 release; see Editions and Pre-Order Bonus.
