Soulmask has officially exited Early Access and hit version 1.0. To celebrate the full release, the Shifting Sands DLC is also live, bringing an absolute mountain of new content. Whether you are a returning veteran from the early access days or a new player donning the mask for the first time, there is a lot to take in.
This guide is designed to keep you on track in this survival sandbox. This is a game that has much more depth than it initially lets on.
Soulmask: All New Masks in Shifting Sands and How to Get Them
Stop climbing dunes and start flying. Our Soulmask Shifting Sands guide reveals how to find all four new masks, including the necromantic Anubis.
Before we dive into the tips, a big shout out to Campfire Studio and Qooland Games for sponsoring our video coverage of the 1.0 launch. You can support the channel and check out the game on Steam by using the link below:
Pick up Soulmask on Steam here!
Choosing Your Game Mode
Before you even step into the dunes, the game hits you with a crucial decision regarding your experience mode. While you can tweak settings later, picking the right one from the start will save you a lot of frustration.
- Tribe Mode: Ideal if you love management. The focus here is on settlements, managing your people, and defending your base against waves of enemies. This is a city builder hybrid with defensive survival gameplay.
- Survival Mode: The standard experience. If you have played other titles in the genre, this is your home. It balances exploration, combat, and crafting without leaning too heavily in one direction.
- Warrior Mode: This is for the Soulslike and Action RPG enthusiasts. If you want to test your mettle against bosses with technical combat, pick this. Survival mechanics are dialed back to give center stage to the action.
The Mask System: Your Identity in Shifting Sands
What truly separates Soulmask from every other survival clone is the Mask. In the Shifting Sands DLC, your journey begins with the Celestial Wings.
This mask is a godsend for exploration because it allows you to fly. In a desert this vast, being able to soar and scout points of interest from the air is priceless.
However, it is not just for travel. The mask provides general character development buffs and advantages in combat.
Pro Tip: Whenever you enter a heavy combat zone, make sure your mask is active. The stat benefits can be the difference between a clean execution and biting the dust.
As you defeat bosses, you will unlock more masks like Sobeck or Anubis. You can eventually switch them on the fly as the situation demands.
Awareness Strength: The Engine of Progression
Forget leveling up just to gain more HP. In Soulmask, the stat that rules everything is Awareness Strength.
This level regulates almost every mechanic in the game, including what technologies you can learn and which mask abilities you can unlock.
The beauty of it is that you progress regardless of what you do. Killing enemies, harvesting stone, or building your hut all contribute.
If you are following the guidance missions and hit a task that feels too tedious, you can hit Page Down to skip it. Don’t do this for everything or you will miss core mechanics, but use it to keep your momentum going.
Recruiting Tribe Members
Recruiting tribe members helps immensely and is one of the main features of the game.
You can have them assist you in combat or have them gather resources and craft for you. This really helps so that you do not have to do all the survival aspects yourself.
- Personality Traits: Tribesmen have traits that affect what they are good at and what they are bad at. You definitely want to play to these strengths.
- Work Assignments: If you are struggling to get them to gather resources, put a marker on your map at the location you want. In the work tab, you can pick that location and they will farm that specific resource.
- Combat Instruction (F1-F8 Keys): When deployed to follow you, tribesmen are highly tactical. You can use the function keys to issue precise orders. This is a great way to gain Awareness Strength early on; you can bring them to a camp with fast-respawning enemies and have them do the heavy lifting while you reap the progression rewards.
- The Maintenance Loop: If you want your tribesmen to stay effective, you must keep them stocked. They require constant access to food, water, and armor. Crucially, ensure they are carrying bandages looted from enemies. If they die during a deployment due to lack of supplies, you lose all the hard work put into their specialization.
If you are struggling to get your tribesmen to gather resources, you must manually set a gathering point. Open your map and put a marker on the exact location of the resource (like an ore vein or a cluster of trees).
Then, in the Work Tab, you can select that specific pinned location for their assignment. If the marker is even slightly off-target from the actual resource nodes, they may stand idle.
Character Progression and Mastery
Progressing your character in Soulmask is a multi-layered process that involves more than just gaining experience points.
You have to manage your individual character levels alongside your weapon proficiency and awareness strength.
- Ability Points and Stats: As you gain character levels, you will earn ability points to distribute among your stats. This is separate from your Awareness Strength. If you are struggling with survivability early on, investing points into Physique is highly recommended. This increases your maximum HP, giving you a much-needed buffer during tough boss encounters.
- Weapon Proficiency and Mastery: There are nine different weapon types available, including the shield. Using a weapon in combat increases your proficiency with that specific type. At certain level thresholds, you will unlock passive upgrades and the ability to swap out active skills.
- The Weapon Info Tab: If you want to optimize your build, check the Weapon Info tab. It provides detailed damage multipliers for different attack types, such as light, heavy, or leap attacks.
Combat Mechanics: Strategy and Execution
The combat system rewards tactical play rather than just aggressive button mashing.
Mastering the defensive options is just as important as your offensive output.
- Advanced Maneuvers: Every weapon features a variety of moves including light attacks, heavy attacks, leap attacks, and backstabs. Some weapons offer unique utility. For example, using a spear allows you to block with a shield simultaneously while maintaining your reach.
- Active Skills: Each weapon starts with a default ability, such as the spear’s harpoon throw which drags enemies toward you. As your mastery grows, you can customize these skills to fit your specific playstyle.
- The Importance of Parrying: While dodging offers substantial i-frames, parrying is a game-changer. The timing window in Soulmask is much more forgiving than most Soulslike titles. A successful parry allows you to perform a powerful execution or simply knock the enemy down to follow up with a flurry of attacks.
Weapon Experimentation Personally, I find the spear to be one of the strongest early-game options. Its heavy attack hits repeatedly and can shred through multiple enemy health bars at once. However, it is vital to try different weapons early in the game to find the mastery track that feels best for you.
The Masks of Shifting Sands
The mask system is what truly defines the Soulmask experience, and the Shifting Sands DLC introduces specific masks that cater to the desert environment.
While you start with the Celestial Wings, which are essential for aerial exploration and general buffs, you will eventually unlock masks based on ancient archetypes.
Sobek Mask: Based on the Egyptian crocodile god, this mask is your best friend for aquatic traversal. It allows you to move through and navigate water much more easily, while also providing defensive buffs to mitigate damage during combat.
Anubis Mask: This mask focuses on a summoner playstyle. When you defeat enemies, Anubis allows you to temporarily raise them from the dead. By killing enemies quickly, you can amass a small army of undead to fight alongside your regular tribesmen.
- Mask Switching: As you reach the mid-game, you gain the ability to shift between these masks on the fly. You might use Celestial Wings to fly to a location, then swap to Sobek for a water-based ruins exploration, or Anubis for a large-scale land battle.
Mask Upgrades and Energy Management
Your mask is not a permanent “set and forget” item. It requires active maintenance and exploration to reach its full potential.
- Node Upgrades: To unlock the passive benefits and unique abilities of each mask, you need Crystals. These are typically found in chests within notable locations or dropped by powerful bosses. Exploration is the primary way to strengthen your mask.
- Sunstones and Energy: Mask abilities are not free. They consume energy that must be replenished using Sunstones. These are consumable items found throughout the world in chests.
- Energy Warning: Always keep a healthy stock of Sunstones in your inventory. This is especially vital when using the Celestial Wings to fly long distances across the desert. If you run out of energy mid-flight, you risk plummeting to your death in the middle of the dunes.
Conquering the Shifting Sands Airship
In the 1.0 version of the game, specifically within the Shifting Sands region, the airship becomes your most valuable asset.
The desert is too vast to traverse repeatedly on foot, making a mobile base a necessity rather than a luxury.
- Building Your Base: Do not settle for a basic ship. You want to build a large class airship that can fit production benches, storage containers, and sleeping quarters. This allows you to bring your entire crafting infrastructure directly to your next objective.
- Mobile Respawn: One of the most important tips is to place a Campfire on your airship. This ensures that if you die while exploring a remote ruin, you respawn right on your ship instead of miles away at a static home base.
- Fleet Mechanics: Soulmask allows for impressive customization with your fleet. You can attach smaller scout ships to your main “Battle Cruiser.” You can use the small ship to dip into tight canyons for exploration, then fly back to the main ship, reconnect it, and move the entire base forward together.
- Aerial Combat: Larger ships can be outfitted with guns. You can man these yourself or assign your tribesmen to them, allowing you to engage in combat with the massive flying beasts that inhabit the desert.
- Fuel Management: Your airship requires a specific fuel item to fly. While these fuel items tend to last a long time, always ensure you have a backup supply. Without fuel, your mobile base is stranded, and you will be forced to trek through the desert on foot to find resources.
Final Thoughts
Soulmask is a survival game that reveals its true depth the longer you play. Between the intricate settlement management, the ability to pilot your tribesmen, and the technical, Soulslike combat, there is significantly more here than in your average sandbox title.
The 1.0 launch and the Shifting Sands DLC have only elevated this, providing a massive landscape that rewards those who master the airship and mask systems.
Whether you are soaring through the desert with the Celestial Wings or commanding a small army with the Anubis mask, the key is experimentation.
Try every weapon, optimize your tribe’s traits, and don’t be afraid to skip the tedious tasks using the guidance skip to keep your momentum.
Don’t forget to support the channel and check out the game on Steam using the sponsored link from Campfire Studio and Qooland Games Here: Pick up Soulmask on Steam here!
If you found this guide helpful, be sure to check out our other Soulmask content and the wiki for detailed weapon stats and mask node locations. Good luck out there in the sands!
Source link
#Soulmask #Beginner #Guide #Mastering #Launch #Shifting #Sands
