GRIME II Walkthrough: Birthplace to Blade Garden

Major route and boss spoilers follow. This guide stops after the Quadrant Blade is secured in Blade Garden. It covers the long opening arc from Birthplace through Kankan and the first two verified weapon components; it is not presented as a full-game walkthrough.

The safest way to read this part of GRIME II is as a chain of permissions. A boss grants a counter, a Discarded Flesh grants movement, an NPC conversation changes a gate, and the second Seal in a region turns its Surrogates into useful warp points. If a path looks impossible, the answer is usually one link earlier in that chain rather than a harder jump.

Install the newest available update before diagnosing a blocked route. Several launch-window obstructions in Kankan, Dregbourg, and Yr’Gog’s three-component quest were fixed after the detailed walkthrough references were published.

Carry a dependency card instead of following every side room#

These are the outcomes that matter. Optional armor, Hunt Pigments, challenge rooms, and minor currency can be cleaned up after the movement kit and Area Warp are online.

Patch 4.0 made this audit easier. The map now preserves pre-Seal route traces, shows the active checkpoint, exposes markers in the Warp Menu, and gives each area a completion percentage. That percentage includes much more than the critical path, so a value below 100% does not by itself mean the story route is blocked.

Birthplace teaches the two interactions the whole route keeps reusing#

From the opening Surrogate, go right through the movement tutorial. The first walls are not all weapon checks: use the Flailing Hands’ attacks to break the early barriers until the Maul Axe becomes available. Then backtrack for the wall that actually needs a weapon. The distinction matters later, because GRIME II repeatedly asks whether a barrier needs damage, an enemy interaction, or a movement ability.

Overgrown Barrier is the first dependency boss. Its ordinary hand slams are the safe parry lesson. When the hand closes into a fist before impact, expect the ground wave and jump it rather than standing in the follow-up. The reward is Grasp. Use it on the point above the green obstruction, enter the Temple of Hands, and imprint at Dried Paint before exploring farther.

In the Temple, prioritize the first Seal over long optional branches. It reveals the regional map and gives the remaining rooms a usable frame of reference. The critical route then climbs toward the Sealed Chamber and Bound Shell. Open nearby shortcuts before committing to that fight.

Bound Shell rewards reading the object it creates, not simply hitting its body. Several attacks leave a needle that can be struck back into the boss for heavy damage. The projectile rain ends with a ground wave, the clap can be avoided or parried, and the double-hand slam creates danger away from the middle. After the victory, take the boss-arena ladder as the main exit, but inspect the right-side lower passage before leaving if you want the Depth Traversal connection. The essential finish is the second Temple Seal beyond the upper Depth Traversal door. Activating it enables regional warping.

Mudfalls is an NPC handoff, while Faceless Mountains is a movement exam#

From the Temple Halls Surrogate, the eastern and western wings eventually reconnect. A Yearning Paint encounter can turn an unused weapon into an early Hunt Pigment, but it is not the exit key. The route out is the upper connection reached after clearing the halls and breaking the return wall. Continue into Mudfalls and locate its first Seal rather than trying to chart the entire unlit region from memory.

Manzil is the story anchor. Break the large golden object on the route, finish the conversation in which Ver intervenes, and enter Manzil’s house. Accept the delivery for Kankan’s Breathsmith, then activate Manzil’s House Surrogate below the room. Goldhead handles weapon work nearby, so this is a sensible point to spend materials before the next boss sequence.

Do not leave Mudfalls from the first plausible climb. The upper-right route beyond Manzil’s house leads to the second Seal. Once it is active, continue to the Faceless Mountains entrance and imprint at Halfmade Pit.

The optional Melded Giant below Halfmade Pit awards a Paint Capacity increase. It is useful, but it is not what unlocks the mountain route. The mandatory sequence is:

1. Reach the first Seal and the Intertwining Nails side of the region.
2. Open the inner returns to Halfmade Pit so a death does not require repeating the outer loop.
3. Activate the second Seal before pushing toward the boss.
4. Defeat Faceless Bishop Darsh and absorb the reward for Grasp Counter.
5. After the elevator into Marah’s Orchard, descend through the nearby Depth Traversal door and absorb the Discarded Flesh for Grasphook.

Darsh changes rules at half health. In the sword phase, many direct swings are parry opportunities, but each Breath threshold can be followed by an area stomp. Clear the red zone instead of stealing one extra hit. His second phase drops the sword, accelerates, and leaves damaging spikes after aerial attacks. Those spikes make a defensive reset safer than staying under him. The two projectiles can be returned with a parry when the timing is comfortable.

After Darsh, use Grasp repeatedly on the overhead switch to clear the elevator obstruction. At the bottom, pass Traveler Et and take the lower detour. Grasphook is waiting beyond a breakable wall and a Depth Traversal transition. Test it on the marked points to climb back out, then imprint at Bridge to Kankan.

Marah’s Orchard opens Kankan only after two separate fights#

Use Grasphook across the vine near Bridge to Kankan and activate the first Orchard Seal. Prime Pitcher controls the bridge route, but beating it does not complete the entry requirement. Explore back toward the Underheads connection and find Mountainborn.

Prime Pitcher’s basic chain can reach behind its body, so crossing through the boss is not automatically safe. Treat the repeated stabs as a sequence rather than three independent attacks: evade the early hits and use the displayed counter window on the finisher. When it raises the threat around the floor, create space before trying to punish.

Mountainborn is the real permission check for transport. Its forward head slam has a Grasp Counter opportunity; the long side-to-side leap does not and also sends a wave along the floor. Favor the indicated counter, dodge the crossing leap, and avoid standing near the body just to maintain damage. The Third Lahav Knight behind the post-fight secret route is optional and should not delay entry if healing or upgrades are low.

Return to Kankan Entrance, report the victory to the Impaled Mountainborn, speak again, and select the entry request. Step into the transport interaction only after the dialogue state changes. If the interaction never returns on a current client, use the patch checks later in this guide before retracing all of Marah’s Orchard.

Kankan becomes linear when every choice serves the smith thread#

Kankan looks like a merchant hub, a vertical dungeon, and several side quests stacked together. The main route is narrower: establish a checkpoint, learn where the Breathsmith is held, survive Porcelain Court, descend to Greatblade Preacher, then carry the result back to the Firstsmith.

1. Near Uvid and the central market table, break the floor and activate the first Seal.
2. Reach Nailglader Sanctum Surrogate. This is the reset point to preserve before the city turns hostile.
3. In the Merchant’s Area, speak with Heimar about the Breathsmith.
4. Climb the ladder beside Lak, go left, and question the Breathsmith’s assistant. The conversation identifies Porcelain Court on the far-right side.
5. Follow that lead to Firstsmith Malik and the Tankard Warden encounter.

Uvid’s table request pays useful material, and the merchants are worth checking, but neither should replace the conversation chain above. If the journal still asks you to inquire about the Breathsmith, repeat the Heimar and assistant conversations before treating a door as bugged.

Tankard Warden punishes a depleted approach more than an unusual solution. Arrive with Breath available. Its sword can cover both sides, and several swings delay the moment of impact, so an early parry is worse than waiting for the animation. Create medium distance, learn the committed leap, and use Grasp Counter only when the game presents the response. The May 19 hotfix specifically repaired a barrier beyond this boss; an intact barrier on an older build is not evidence that the fight must be repeated.

When Malik directs the route downward, use the Ground Floor elevator into Lower Kankan. Establish the Savior Shrine Surrogate before exploring the spike rooms. The useful directional rule is not simply “go left”: cross the first Depth Traversal section, descend and climb until Ver is found, then follow her instruction left and up through the next Depth Traversal door. Activate the second Seal and open the shortcut before entering Greatblade Preacher’s chamber.

Remove the two Sword Scabbards at the start of the Preacher fight so they cannot distort every counter window. The Preacher has enormous reach but is vulnerable to Grasp Counters. After a successful counter, expect the immediate sword-slam answer instead of assuming the stagger is a long damage phase. Ver drops Vase-bombs into the arena; use them when their position is safe rather than chasing every one.

The boss Mold grants Dash Counter. Continue left, dash into the lever, and absorb the next Discarded Flesh to gain Wall Jump. Wall Jump, not a hidden key, is the tool that turns the post-boss shafts into an exit.

Return to Firstsmith Malik to advance the story state. After the scene with Manzil and Yr’Gog, climb out through the newly hostile pitcher route, revisit Porcelain Court, and finish the assistant conversation. Then warp from Nailglader Sanctum to Manzil’s House. Speak with Manzil again to receive Manzil’s Breathcrown and the objective for Yr’Gog’s three weapon components.

The first component route runs Underheads to Dregbourg#

Leave Manzil’s House by the lower exit, break the barricade to the right, descend, and use Dash through the falling sand. Underheads has an eastern portion visited during the Mountainborn detour and a western connector used now. Imprint at Sunken Faces before trying to reconcile those halves.

From Sunken Faces, the lower-right route leads toward the first Seal. The higher detour contains a Breath Capacity upgrade and a return toward Faceless Mountains, but it is not required to reach Dregbourg. Activate both Underheads Seals, open the bottom return to the Surrogate, and use Wall Jump plus Breathcrown at the golden barrier on the western route. That sequence reaches Dregbourg Entrance.

The bridge left of Dregbourg Entrance cannot be operated with the current movement kit. Go down instead, continuing until the route crosses briefly into Nailglade. Imprint at Town Outskirts, travel left, and enter the concealed chamber near the red-spike descent. The Discarded Flesh there grants Air Dash. Return to Dregbourg and use the new air movement to reach the bridge lever.

Inside Dregbourg, activate the first Seal before committing to the deeper moving-block section. A Breathcrowned enemy on an upper detour awards the Forged Breathcrown, which can heal without a full Breath meter at reduced strength. The main lower route leads to Forged Haven and another Discarded Flesh, this one granting Burst Jump. Use Burst Jump to cross the wall that blocked the second Seal, then open the shortcut back to Dregbourg Entrance before dropping into Anvilhead.

Stay near Anvilhead without standing directly inside every wind-up. Its hammer patterns are slow enough to read, several attacks expose Dash Counter windows, and the overhead laser can be lured across the boss. In the later phase, homing objects leave hazardous pools; respond with the indicator’s dash or grapple action before the floor becomes crowded. The reward is the Forged Anvil, the first component on this route. Break the left wall after the fight to return to Forged Haven.

Nailglade is a workshop key, not a dead-end town#

Return to Nailglade Town Outskirts. The right side is still a dead end at first, so use the grapple assembly on the left and work toward the region’s first Seal. Twinpalm guards the town. Its initial Meekpalm form hides the real health bar; the later phases add longer claw coverage and marked stone eruptions. Stay out of the floor markers and do not mistake the first collapse for the end of the fight.

Beyond Twinpalm, speak with Mayor Yadig and enter the western half of town. Uvid and the optional exploration can wait. Find Rakik in the lower center and take the Workshop Key. Use it on the sigil door below town, descend through the Table Smithed rooms, and imprint at Burden Smithed Workshop before the boss.

Burden Smithed can strike in front and behind. Its body slam launches a ground wave; a successful parry cuts off that sequence and creates the cleanest punish. After the victory, continue right, pass the breakable wall, collect the nearby Volatile Vase if desired, and use the Depth Traversal door to open the western Blade Garden approach.

Do not try to finish Blade Garden from that side immediately. The complete offering requires another boss reached through Jagged Forest. Return toward the route below Kankan and enter Jagged Forest.

Jagged Forest supplies the second Blade Garden entrance#

Activate the first Jagged Forest Seal before the platforming branches. Reach Knight’s Cave Surrogate, open the connection back to Underheads, and decide whether to fight the Fourth Lahav Knight; the knight is optional to the component route. The necessary line continues through the second Seal toward Learning Paint.

The eastern side of Nailglade is also reached from this forest. Opening it is useful for the local map and return travel, but the decisive gate is Blade Mammoth. Do not stand under its bladed body. Its ground waves often demand both a jump and an Air Dash, while the green after-effect warns that a second pulse is coming. In the later rhythm, the facial blade can be launched on a chain. Keep enough horizontal space to see whether the next response is a parry, a Dash Counter, or a full evade.

After Blade Mammoth falls, break the right wall to connect its arena to the forest, then take the left tunnel into Blade Garden. This is the eastern entry and the clean handoff to Yr’Dunal.

Blade Garden is an offering with four inputs#

Speak with Yr’Dunal before exploring. The Quadblade offering depends on two Penspears and two Greatblade Torsos. Thinking in those four inputs prevents the garden from turning into an unstructured collectible sweep.

1. Imprint at Sword Side Surrogate and activate the first Blade Garden Seal.
2. Open the shortcut back to Sword Side before entering Impaled Longblade’s arena.
3. Defeat Impaled Longblade. Early in the fight, the green threshold on its health bar warns that parrying can still hurt you, so rely on movement until that protection is broken.
4. Collect the Sword Greatblade Torso on the post-boss route.
5. Reach and activate the second Seal to enable Area Warp.
6. Meet Ver by the fallen Bladebeast after both Blade Mammoth and Impaled Longblade are dead. She produces two Penspears; interact with both objects so they enter the inventory.
7. Imprint at Quadblade Arena, backtrack upward, and defeat Axe Greatblade for the second Torso.
8. Return to the arena route and complete the offering.

Impaled Longblade’s opening slam sends a floor wave. Its later sword summons introduce delayed projectiles, so attacking through the animation is dangerous even after the body has moved. Once the green protection threshold is gone, normal parries become a more reasonable part of the plan.

Quadblade is a defense test. The aerial face-down dive leaves a delayed wave after impact. Jump the wave rather than rushing to punish the landing. Normal attacks are most readable from behind, and the dash attack exposes a Dash Counter. At half health, the boss draws two face blades and adds sword pressure to the existing waves. Preserve position, use the Grasphook response when the leap indicator appears, and take one or two hits of damage output only after the arena is safe. The reward is the Quadrant Blade, followed by a Mold that raises Breath Capacity.

Use the patch ledger before replaying a region#

If the route state does not match the checkpoints above, confirm the installed version, reload the current save, and revisit the exact trigger area once. The official update history records several relevant repairs:

• 1.2.17960f, May 19: repaired the barrier beyond the Tankard boss in Kankan.
• 1.2.17960d, May 13: added a failsafe for returning players stuck on Yr’Gog’s three-component objective and adjusted collision in Mudfalls and Nailglade.
• 1.2.17960c, May 1: overhauled map persistence, area coloring, completion tracking, active-checkpoint display, and Warp Menu markers.
• 1.1.17780c, April 20: addressed progression after freeing Yr’Gog before obtaining a Breathcrown and a case where Ver did not appear after the weapon parts were returned.
• 1.1.17780b, April 18: repaired The Forged encounter in Dregbourg and the related loss of Grasp function.
• 1.0.17551c, April 7: made a one-sided Upper Kankan wall breakable from both directions and added recovery for missing boss rewards.
• 1.0.17360h, April 3: repaired re-entry through the Impaled Mountainborn interaction.

Do not use a completion percentage as a quest-state test. Patch 4.0 counts Seals, checkpoints, items, Molds, bosses, and unique enemies. A route can be ready to advance while optional discoveries remain. Conversely, a visible room on the map does not grant the ability needed to enter it.

If the client is newer than the versions listed here, its objective text and official patch notes take precedence. Avoid console warps or forced quest flags: skipping the NPC, boss-reward, or Discarded Flesh link can leave the next gate with no valid state to read.

Sources and media#

Valve’s official Steam listing identifies AppID 2529790, Clover Bite as developer, Kwalee as publisher, and March 31, 2026 as the release date. The patch boundary was checked against the game’s official Steam announcements. Route details were synthesized from readable walkthrough references and checked against the saved official update feed.

All four images are untouched 1920×1080 JPG files from the official Steam media set. No community-guide image or AI-generated artwork is used. The Steam-linked official website returned a Cloudflare origin-DNS error during this research pass, so it was not used to support article facts.