Guide to breaking the game in half (kinda)

Overview

A lowly scrub’s attempt at bragging about pulling off a semi-optimal playthrough.

What this guide is.

Before I get going, I want to say this – If you haven’t played a good deal of Fear and Hunger on your own, I’d recommend you to not follow this guide. Part of the fun is figuring this out for yourself. Of course, it’s up to you.

So, I like Fear and Hunger. Grimdark as hell, berserk references galore, tons of nudity, sex, gore. Doesn’t shy away from the brutal ♥♥♥♥ in life. Pocketcat’s the gaifu.

But, unfortunately, I didn’t find many resources to help me out when trying to figure out how to not suck. Not too many people played this game, and I get the feeling those that did didn’t finish it.

So, essentially, I want to give a basic start to anyone who’s having trouble with the game.

The goal of this guide is to get you a nice, unlimited save point and a teleportation network whilst keeping all the endings accessible, except the escape ending and S endings (which require unique playthroughs on hard mode).

See that picture? That’s what that is. A save point with a portal right below it. I will refer to this state as the ‘Motherbase’.

So, following this guide will give the following:

Pros:
-Huge maneouverability via teleports and fast movement
-Tons of the game untouched for you to interact with how you please
-Access to all endings (except S endings of other characters. Can’t play all 4 MCs at once)
-Make RNG your slave by creating reliable savescumming situations for any chests and bookshelf of your choice.

Cons:
-Overpowered. Will kill next to all challenge in the game.

This is NOT an exploit. It’s simply the result of me bashing my head against this game over and over for hours until I realized what was up and how tf to play. [/previewimg]

Creating a Character.

Explanation.

Characters in Fear and Hunger don’t have unique skill tables, believe it or not. Every character can get any skill in the game if they meet the right conditions. There are two main ways you’ll get skills in the game:

1. Intro Choices

By selecting certain options in the intro, you’ll get skills and even sometimes spells. These may or may not even be your own skills.

2. Books and Scrolls

These come from bookshelves. Book of Forgotten Memories allows your character to learn skills in your tree.
Ancient Book allows you to learn spells in Gro Goroth’s tree.
Scroll of [Enter skill/spell here] gives the skill/spell to any character in your party.
The hardest to come across, but by far the most useful, is Empty Scroll. Combined with a Quill, found in generic crates/barrels, it can allow you to conjure almost anything in the game. Yes. Almost anything. Spell scrolls, powerful weapons, anything.

So, when optimising your character, you’d best keep this in mind. In my honest opinion, the character intro should be used to get skills you consider vital to playing the game, and get the rest from the RNG bookshelves.

I won’t list what option gives what skill to what character here, you can check the wiki for that. But there are two things I’d have you know about choosing a character.

Two Important Things

1. All characters have access to Dash choosing the right options. I’d reccomend you take it. Dash increases your movement speed on map. This is not only good for impatient ♥♥♥♥♥ like myself, but you can easily outrun enemies with this skill. And, technically, you’ll reduce the travel time/hunger increase ratio.

2. Whilst you can create almost any build with any character, affecting other characters’ skills is harder and more work. As a party member, the knight has fast attack which is essentially two actions in one turn. As a party member, Outlander will attack Le’garde under a certain condition, and you need Le’garde for Ending C. As a protagonist, who knows what he will do.

What I did.

Again, it doesn’t matter for this section, but I took the Dark Priest, Enki.

I chose to not stab my sister in the back and get mastery over insects -> run away and get alchemilla 1 (first pre-req for Dash, too) -> devote myself to Gro Goroth and gain full affinity with him -> Rush and gain Dash

To be fair, what I should have done was devote myself to Sylvian. Reason why is using Blood Sacrifice gives you Gro Goroth’s spells, so I ended up not using a single soul stone gaining any of them. Sylvian’s spells you gotta purchase or use a scroll for, and to do that you gotta get affinity for her. Not that hard, but I could’ve trimmed those steps.

Getting Le’garde and keeping Ending A and C accessible.

So we have two goals right away. The first thing is to leave the little girl alone. She’s needed for Ending A. The second is rescuing Le’garde, he’s needed for Ending C.

Le’garde is actually on a timer. In thirty minutes, he will die, and that will lock us out of Ending C I and II. We cannot breathe freely until Le’garde is saved. He is located within Level 7 – Catacombs. In order to actually get there on time, it’s recommended to avoid all fights you can. For routes 3 and maybe 2, you’re going to need an explosive vial. Getting an explosive vial consists of either creating one with Alchemilla 3, or finding one via RNG in the many barrels and crates.

There are three ways to get to the catacombs:

Route 1. Via the prison. To get to the prison, you need to go through the main entrance and make your way to the level 3 basement. Once there, a door to your north will block a stairwell. Either the lockpicking ability, red vial or 800 damage in a single turn will open the iron door. Keep going down the stairwell until you reach the Catacombs.

Route 2. Via the mines. This way is much longer, with more potential to screw up. You need to spend a bit of time acquiring an Explosive Vial. Technically it’s not REQUIRED, but you’ll be cutting it really close and adding even more potential for interruption and an ass whooping without it.

Make your way to the prison, and locate the lever. This will raise the elevator that ferrys you to and from the Level 4 Caverns in the Level 2 Blood Pit. Use it. From there, find the entrance to the mines.

WITH an explosive vial, go to the left and blow up the rubble. From there, you need to go north till you find the entrance to the catacombs.

WITHOUT an explosive vial, go to the right and continue till you get to the village. Avoid the yellow mages. With dash, you can enter and exit their range easily. Don’t linger, or lose a limb. Find the rope, descend into the mines. Go north till you find the entrance to the catacombs.

Route 3. Via the thicket. Enter the main entrance and find the library. The northern bookcase will have a ‘mockup book’. Take that, go north into the courtyard and north into the inner hall. Find the library. Use the mockup book on the obvious fake bookshelf and exit into the backyard. Use the explosive vial on the rubble to the northeast, and enter the secret backyard. A doggy will attack you. Escape. Enter the thicket.

The thicket is kind of a pain in the behind. Getting lower consists of you finding a point in the ground that you fall through over and over until you make it to the catacombs.

When you make it into the catacombs, you have an opportunity to get a book of enlightenment right away. Behind a locked door (use red vial, lockpicking or 300 dmg in a single turn) is a bookstand with one. You can use it here if you’re feeling like taking no chances.

There is a night stalker and an elite guard between you and le’garde. The night stalker can be ran past with dash and he won’t be able to follow you to le’garde, but honestly, if you have a throwing dart or throwing knight, just fight him and aim for his head.

Enter his cell, pick him up, and you’re done. I recommend then heading to the level 3 basement and save.

What I did and recommend.

Route 3. It’s simple as hell. When you start, search all barrels and containers until you find an explosive vial. Forget crafting it, that requires wasting RNG bookshelves for Alchemilla 3, and that’s a useless ass book.

I also would recommend not bothering with using the book of enlightenment unless you don’t ahve a throwing knife or dart. If you do, the night stalker is toast. But you’ll probably be annihilated by the Elite Guard if he catches you.

I then headed to the level 3 basement and saved. It would be the only time I bothered saving here.

I should also mention that Outlander wants to kill Le’garde. He won’t attack him on sight, but he will attack him when you try to enter Ma’habre from the south in present time. If that doesn’t make sense to you, you’ll probably be safer just not recruiting the outlander at all.

Acquiring Blood Portal and setting them up.

Easy.

Essentially, to get any spell in the game, you need three things. One is a soul gem, the other is a hexen table, and last is affinity with that god.

The god that gives Blood Portal is All-mer, and he requires a grand total of one soul gem for the skill.

So, you’re gonna need affinity. There are multiple ways to get affinity for each god. The most simple here is praying, and a sacrifice.

In the inner hall is a bunch of priests hanging around some dude hoisted up like Jesus. Your task is to kill them. It should be incredibly easy, attack their bodies and they’ll drop. Search them, one of them will have a soul gem guaranteed, the other should have a purifying talisman. If you don’t get a purifying talisman, and you’re not playing as Enki (Counter Magic does the same thing), you’re gonna have to reload and try again. Interact with their bodies again once you get it and you’ll be given the option to absorb their soul. Do it.
Then sacrifice the dude on the cross.

In the level one entrance is a magic circle. Pray there to All-mer.

In the backyard is a big statue. Pray there to All-mer. You should get a notification saying your affinity with All-mer has increased. If not, go to the Catacombs and use the magic circle there to pray to All-mer. That’ll do it.

After that, return to the courtyard. There should be a door with a magic symbol on it. Dispel the symbol, enter, and you should find the Hexen table. Unlock Blood Portal.

Now, go back to the Entrance and set up a blood portal on the circle there. Next is the catacombs, do the same for that circle. Then go to the mines and do the same here.

Getting to the second save point.

Final stretch.

First and forement you should know that you’ll get the choice whether to affect Buckman’s sidequest or not soon. If you want to be their bud, go save him from Trotur now, and take his cash reward. May as well buy the treasure map from Isayah whilst you’re at it if you care about it.

The second save point is in Mahabre. You can enter there from the catacombs, but only after you get the cube of the depths. This is north of the village, and will make the village aggro you. You should also know that the Knight is here. I have no earthly idea whether there is a timer for her life, but saving her will also aggro the village. What you should know, however, is she’s thirsty for Le’garde and she will often be present in his cutscenes.
She will also attack you if you let Outlander kill Le’garde.

Anyhow, get the cube, unlock the door to the catacombs.

This is where you’ll have to make a choice. Save Jeanne or not. Saving Jeanne gives you access to the saving Ser Seril quest, which will reward you with a nice weapon. Saving Jeanne also means having to fight a Lord of Flies. These guys are not necessarily pushovers. Saving Jeanne ALSO means having to enter Mahabre from the south in present time, which means Outlander will attack Le’Garde if he’s in your party, leading you to choose between him and Le’Garde (plus D’arce if she’s in your party).

If you don’t want to take the risk to save her, then as soon as you unlock the door to the Tomb of the Gods, head west and unlock the door south. There is a machine here that will teleport you to the past. Use it.

By teleporting to the past you’ve essentially made Mahabre a hell of a lot safer to travel in. Now it’s a simple matter of going north till you reach a fancy door, then east till you reach a tower. USE THE MACHINE NEAR THE TOWER. If you don’t, then when you rise through the tower and sleep in the bed, you’ll enter a dream world that ends with a boss fight.

Otherwise, save. Then, set up your blood portal.

Congrats. You did it.

What I did.

I got D’arce.

I forgot about Jeanne and found her ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up and discarded. Rough.

But Ser Seril had some baller armor and I wanted my the Outlander in my party to be a beastly tank, so, it didn’t matter much.

What to do from here.

Whatever the hell you want with zero consequences.

That’s the beauty of the motherbase. After every bit of progress, it’s no problem to rush back to a blood portal and save. And following my guide, you have a jumping off point for all the endings except escape and the S endings.

So, really, have fun.

What I did.

Of course I wouldn’t leave without telling you about my ordeals.

So, from here, I decked out my people. I RNG Bookshelf’d an Empty Scroll and got Demon Seed. Banged a corpse, got a demon baby which grew into a demon child. Sold the Demon Child to Pocketcat for the Claymore. Gave that sucker to Le’Garde. Le’Garde hits hard now with decent accuracy.

I went and got Outlander. Then I went and beat down a door in the western entrance for Miasma, a high hitting sword.

Then, I save scummed for two books of forgotten memories. As Enki, this gave me access to Greater Blood Magic (added damage to spells) and Blood Sacrifice. Blood Sacrifice grants me a Gro Goroth spell per magic circle. I had a blood portal on all of them, so I had all Gro Goroth’s spells within a minute.

Then, I did the treasure map sidequest for the silver coins. Killed Isayah when he showed up. His mask was nice. I bought Sorcerer’s Ring from a vendor in Past Mahabre. +10 mind every turn, making my Greater Hurting practically free, and my Black Orb cost 10 mind.

I killed Ser Seril and decked out my Outlander in his stuff. He’s my tank now, he has a taunt. Then I went and killed the Iron Shakespeare and the Salmonsnake and took their souls. When I fought a boss that could sever limbs, I had Outlander don the Salmonsnake soul, which made him immune from Limb severence. Otherwise, Shakespeare’s increased defense made Outlander near immortal.

Then, I got two soul stones and went to the bunny bang fest. Second one is RNG, but they give you full affinity with Sylvian. I bought the healing spells.

I went to the thicket to get the Eastern Sword. The spectre showed up. I ran from him, equipped the sword on Darce. When he came at me next, Enki hit him with Black Orb and D’arce critted him. He died. Important to kill him quick, he does an AOE that infects limbs.

So, to summarize, I had a mage with highly accurate, high damaging spells that could heal and got mind back like crazy.
I had Le’Garde who had leg sweep, which could take out the legs of enemies, and had a Claymore that hit hard as balls.
I had Outlander with 165 Defence w shakespear and 125 w/o. He has a taunt, and Miasma, which deals nearly as much damage as a claymore.
And I had D’arce, who can attack twice in a single turn with a weapon with a high crit chance (it hits 1k+ for me).

All of this thanks to this method.

When it comes time for Ending B or A, best take Legarde to a mob butt naked and have him killed. Pick up the Merc and replicate Le’garde’s moveset, or pick up the Girl for Ending A.

Hope it helped.