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Bosses are the centrepiece of The Relic: First Guardian. The game features up to 80 of them, and the developers call them brutals. Each carries its own tragic story, and defeating one is framed not as a kill but as laying a troubled soul to rest.
Up to 80 Brutals
Each brutal is described as a dark, standalone folktale brought to life, bound to a tragedy that can only be settled through victory. No two fight alike, and a strategy that beats one offers no guarantee against the next. The combat system, with its free-flowing attacks and stamina reserved for defence, is built with these encounters in mind. The figure is an upper bound rather than an exact count.
Detail | Information |
|---|---|
Number of bosses | Up to 80 |
Name for bosses | Brutals |
Origin | Often humans transformed into monsters by starvation or curse |
Common trait | Many have forgotten their names and former lives |
Design principle | No two fight alike; each is its own standalone folktale |
Reward for defeating | Reveals the brutal's tragic tale and lays the soul to rest |
Tragic Stories
Every brutal has a backstory. Many were once ordinary people, turned into monsters through starvation or curse and driven to slaughter their own kin, and most have forgotten who they were. Confronting one and defeating it reveals its tale. This ties the bosses into the game's folklore-driven storytelling, where much of the narrative arrives through the people and creatures you meet rather than through cutscenes. Several draw directly on traditional Korean folktales reworked as dark fantasy.
Named Brutals
The developers run a numbered showcase series introducing individual brutals one at a time, and twelve had been revealed by early August 2026. Full movesets and locations have not been published, so each entry below carries only what has been officially shown.
No. | Brutal | Details |
|---|---|---|
1 | Marisa the Carrion Witch | The first brutal spotlighted in the showcase series |
2 | Brogas | Introduced as the second entry in the series |
3 | Fugitive Mog | A knight who fights with polished, disciplined swordplay. Earlier coverage referred to him simply as Mog |
4 | The Unreturned | Named in the fourth showcase entry |
5 | Stenor the Butcher of Ash | Named in the fifth showcase entry |
6 | Selvarn the Gilded Wretch | Named in the sixth showcase entry |
7 | Looter Dunt | One of two brutals tied to the looters |
8 | Hark, the Oath of Stone | Named in the eighth showcase entry |
9 | The Wingless Woman | Named in the ninth showcase entry |
10 | Harlan the Elder, Mentor of Looters | Presented as the looters' mentor figure |
11 | Gus the Accursed | Named in the eleventh showcase entry |
12 | Entom the Starved | A monstrous brutal defined by a blood-drenched gluttony |
Other Confirmed Brutals
Several more have been shown in trailers, dedicated boss footage, or named in patch notes without being part of the numbered series.
Brutal | Details |
|---|---|
Vanessa | A major boss whose distorted design embodies unerasable regret. Her story reinterprets the Korean folktale of Kongjwi and Patjwi through a dark fantasy lens |
The Heavenly Maiden | A reimagining of a classic Korean folktale, with her tragic story uncovered in fragments as you defeat her |
Branko | A hulking brutal with an imposing, intimidating frame |
Dreuger | Shown in dedicated boss gameplay footage |
Philip | Shown in dedicated boss gameplay footage |
Walden | Named in patch notes; the wall that seals the arena for this fight had to be fixed after launch |
Boss Fixes Since Launch
Boss encounters were among the worst-affected systems at release. The developers traced it to large dungeons staying resident in memory after players left them, which in some cases stopped events and boss encounter triggers from firing at all. Patches have since fixed bosses that were frozen or not moving, restored the trigger for the wall that seals the Walden fight, and corrected terrain collisions where players could get stuck. Fixes for progression-blocking encounter triggers were called out as one of the main improvements delivered in the first week. The Updates and Patches page tracks them individually.
The developers have said that additional content, including new events and boss encounters expanding the world and stories of Arsilthus, is planned.