Hi everyone! So I'm going to write up a very basic "Tips and Tricks" Guide for anyone who may be missing out on certain parts of the game or having difficulties! Metal as P.H.U.K. is intended to have an oldschool feel to it, thus it does not have a quest log nor does it have a minimap. It intentionally leaves out a lot of strategy information so that you may explore and figure out strategies through trial and error. This guide eliminates most of that and should make the game fairly easy for you if you JUST want to focus on the main story and get through it as quickly and easily as possible.

Basic Tips

• Alt + Enter = Fullscreen / Windowed Mode Toggle.
  
• You can interact with 3/4s of ALL objects in the world! (MANY hidden Items / Experience!)
  
• You can use items in combat as well as out of combat.
  
• You can use certain spells like Heal / Cure out of combat in the skills screen.
  
• Changing your TP Mode in the menu screen can help GREATLY in combat!
  
• You can save at any time outside of combat, SAVE OFTEN!
  
• Every time a character levels, their health and mana is restored.
  
• You do NOT have to grind to complete the game! (But you CAN if you want!)
  
• Each boss has a specific strategy! (If you figure it out, encounters are much easier!)
  
• Certain status ailments persist after battle such as poison. (Cleanse this after combat!)

Below is a list of zones in the game with information and tips about each one. If you're stuck in one of these zones, please refer to the guide below.

Grunga Town

The first place you start after the opening cutscene. There are 2 hidden chests in this zone as well as a few interactable objects such as locked doors and business signs. A little bit of lore can be found in this zone before moving on but the main focus of this town is the Pub. Once you go into the pub, you can net yourself some lore, experience, and shillings before moving on to fight the demonic beasts outside. Once you defeat your three houndlike foes, you meet Pontius, your 2nd party member. After a bit of dialogue Pontius joins your party and your adventure truly begins! To leave Grunga town, simply head South-East of the Pub and through a narrow path that leads to water. Behind a single tree on the right, you'll find a path blocked by brambles. Cut through these brambles and BAM! You're on your way to zone number 2!


The Twisted Forest

After some initial dialogue, you are free to roam around The Twisted Forest.
This zone is intentionally confusing but luckily, it's the only zone like it in the entire game! Once you make it past this point, you'll be prepared for the worst that the hordes of hell have to offer! (Well... Mostly...)

The forest loops back around once you go too far left or too far right so if it seems like you're running in circles, that's because you most certainly are. There are three sets of boulders to the north blocking your exit route and you won't be able to leave the forest until you complete three specific tasks. You can do these tasks in any order that you wish but some will find this order to be the easiest:

First: The Twisted Tent

Talk to Jackson in the twisted tent and he will give you some clues of where to search for the Dark Bards.

Second: The Rabbit Hole Restaurant

Talk to Koh in the rabbit hole restaurant which will then lead you down the well outside. Once you go down the well, you'll encounter a series of venomous creatures. Be careful here, as they can easily poison your party. Poison persists after combat and will continue to deal damage to your party members as you walk around. You can remove this by leveling up or using an antidote or curing brew. Remember to save often.

Upon entering the well, immediately to the east you will find a room with a flower pot in it. Under this flower pot rests a Rusty Key. This key is completely useless until the final level of the game, but you will sure be glad you picked it up! Once you explore through the first level of the well, you will find the second level to the south. Level two provides more encounters to level up and gain experience / items as well as the gremlin that stole Koh's Cane! To the north of this level resides Riggly, the Koh's Cane Addict! Save before going too far into his room or the encounter will start automatically. Riggly uses various spells like sleep and confusion to disorient your party. Every once in a while he will use a cleave attack that can deal heavy damage to your party. Once he runs out of MP for spellcasting, he will continuously spam cleave and it's easy to be overwhelemed by his damage output, (Especially if he stacks a few defensive debuffs on you.) However, if you silence Riggly *If you have the silence spell at this point* he will stop casting debuffs and strictly cast damaging abilities which may also add up quickly. It as advised that you keep pontius topped off with Chael's heal spell that he learns very early on and spam Thunder on Riggly. Thunder is this gremlin's weakness! After Riggly is defeated, you may find your way out of the well by backtracking the same way you came in and returning to Koh for your reward.

Third: Old Man Quiver's House

Old Man Quiver lives in a small house by himself. After some dialogue he sends you down into the cellar where you will encounter a boss known as The Abyss Worm. This boss has a fairly straightforward strategy. He attempts to drain your mana away while occasionally smacking you around for minor damage. Keep your party topped off before the worm reaches 30% health and make sure you save enough MP / TP for your big damage at this point. Once the worm reaches 30% health, he goes into desperation mode and begins casting Quake for major damage to all party members. The goal is to kill him as quickly as possible at this point. Once the worm is dead, go speak to Old Man Quiver.

After you manage to get past all three of these events, you may go north of the Twisted Forest and exit. From there you will be heading into Karaway Village.

Below is a list of zones in the game with information and tips about each one. If you're stuck in one of these zones, please refer to the guide below.

Karaway Village

Once you get to Karway village you will notice that while it doesn't look quite as eerie as Grunga Town, it is just as empty. The townsfolk are hiding in their homes, too scared to come out, and you are a stranger on their land. There are a number of hidden items and metal references throughout Karaway village but you've got to do some exploring to find them. Some of them are hidden in plain sight! If you go north you will find the Library. Once you go inside that tent, you will meet your 3rd party member, the Tracker Alexandria. Alexandria is a support hero with invaluable abilities. Poison is a very underrated ability as it deals 10% of health in damage per turn to a creature. This means that if the boss has 150,000 health, Poison will deal 15,000 damage per turn! You only need to apply poison one time but if it's a boss fight, you may want to consider using it until it applies the ailment on your foe. It may fail a few times but it will be worth using. Her Weapon Break ability reduces foe's damage by roughly half, so keeping this debuff on a target is vital on boss fights. Also, as she levels up, she gains the ability to imbue her attacks with different elements that will be a weakpoint for many foes in the game!

After picking up Alexandria, you will want to head east of the library and go into the Tombs. Once you are in the tombs, there are various hidden things that you will want to look out for including a hidden mini-boss in the form of a chest! Upon entering the tomb however, you will want to inspect the crates full of dirt, as you will find a Page of A'Marthius that will lead to great items later in the game!

You will find a pickaxe laying on the ground to the north-east inside the tombs, and then you will find the silver ore that you are looking for in the north. Once you obtain the silver ore, leave the tombs by going back the way you came and save the game. Your health and mana at this point may be low from previous encounters but don't bother wasting any items if you don't plan on going back into the tombs to battle more monsters. Once you head to the blacksmith's shop in the center of town, Fluffy will tell you to go find his lunch outside. When you leave the blacksmith's shop, you will find Fluffy's lunch to the west on a barrel. When you pick up Fluffy's lunch, a small cutscene will begin and you will head back to the blacksmith's shop. Upon entering, you will see a short cutscene followed by a boss fight. (Don't worry about your health / mana, it will be automatically replenished before the encounter.)

The Drevildiver

The Drevildiver is a master of quick attacks. He has a few main abilities that he will cycle throughout the encounter. You will want to poison him as quickly as possible and make sure that you keep your party members topped off constantly as you wittle his healthpool down little by little. He can slow your party while speeding himself up as well as dealing both single target damage AND AoE damage to your entire party in one turn. This can spell disaster for low health party members. Make sure you use Weapon Break to reduce the amount of incoming damage that he can deal and play it safe as poison does it's job.

Once you defeat The Drevildiver, you are free to leave Fluffy's shop and head north. You will come to a mountain pass that you can explore for a few bonus items from chests. It is recommended that you save here, as the next zone to the north has dangerous encounters. You will be entering a cave found through a crack in the cliffside. There will be various chests hidden throughout this cave and the exit will be found to the north east. As you exit the cave you will end up in an abandoned house in Drakas. There is a nice little red lootbox to the left that you should open before leaving.

Below is a list of zones in the game with information and tips about each one. If you're stuck in one of these zones, please refer to the guide below.
The Town of Drakas

In the Town of Drakas you will encounter a handful of NPCs. There are some hidden easter eggs here and there that will grant you some experience and items, as well as lore. There is a church that you can obtain 10 FREE Holy Waters from one time. You then have to purchase any holy water that you want to use for a high price. (The Holy Water deals MASSIVE damage to all demons / undead.) You can also heal for free at the church fountain.

The local Tavern provides food and drink that will replenish your health and mana out of combat. There is an inn upstairs for you to rest at. The blacksmith will sell you armor and weapons and the item shop has various goods that will be of benefit to your party. There is also a magic shop that can sell you Stat-Boosting herbs to make encounters easier overall.

The castle in the middle of Drakas is where you will want to go to continue your adventure. Here, you must speak with the king that will send you to a new zone temporarily for a cutscene. You will wind up in the prisons where you will meet your 4th and final party member, The Warlock Treklen. After Treklen joins your party, you can find your way out of town to the west to The Kalien Desert.

The Kalien Desert

Here you will find numerous creatures that can inflict status ailments on your party. This is a nice little spot for you to grind up some experience points and then run back into town to fully heal at the inn and whatnot if you decide that you want an easier time progressing through the game. After looting a few chests around this area you can progress north to the Kalien Tombs.

The Kalien Tombs

Inside the Kalien Tombs you will find a plethora of undead creatures. Holy damage such as Holy Water or Chael's Saint ability can deal massive damage to the creatures here. Some creatures in the tombs take extra damage from varying elements such as Physical / Stone, Lightning, Water, and fire. Poison is always a viable option.

As you find your way through the tombs it is recommended that you save frequently. There are three levels to the tombs and on the third level to the north you will encounter a boss.

Thyartius Murdicious

Thyartius is a boss that uses quite a lot of debuffing magic as well as single target and AoE damage to attack the party. He also has a major weakness though... HOLY DAMAGE! Hit him with poison as early as possible while spamming as much holy damage as you can into him while keeping your party topped off and using Weapon Break to keep his damage to a minimum.

Once Thyartius is defeated, you may exit the Tombs to the north. This will lead you to The Hidden Pass with a cutscene.

The Hidden Pass

In this small area you will find a couple of chests to the left and the right. After the cutscene finishes, continue north. You will end up in a new zone called The Ascension.


The Ascension

In The Ascension, you will find a tent to the north with a shop and a bed for you to recover your party's health and mana at a low cost. The shop in this tent will provide you with every item in the game that has been previously sold at other vendors scattered throughout the zones, plus a few additional items. This would be a good place to save.

Once you are finished in the shop, you will find the entrance to The Dark Bard's Castle immediately to the north.

Below is a list of zones in the game with information and tips about each one. If you're stuck in one of these zones, please refer to the guide below.

The Dark Bard's Castle

As you enter The Dark Bard's Castle, some dialogue will play and you will be on your way to explore. There are a plethora of easter eggs and chests hidden throughout each of the levels to this castle, but there are also many fierce demons that you will encounter as well.

To get through this level efficiently, make good use of Chael's holy spells and make sure you're buffing your party as well as debuffing your foes. The experience and items that you can gain when pushing through this castle are of the highest quality and quantity in the game. Make good use of your time exploring here and save often as there are 5 levels to this castle including multiple bosses.

The first boss you will encounter starts when you enter Level 3 of the Dark Bard's Castle.


Dinzag

Dinzag is a pretty straightforward boss. He uses dark magic to debuff your party, do big damage in spurts, and make sure your party is sleeping tight so they can't defend themselves. Oh yeah, he also throws paralyzes you and silences you so you're essentially left useless...Much like the other foes roaming around this demonic castle, Dinzag also takes an incredible amount of holy damage. Make good use of poison and weapon break / armor break here. Even though Dinzag can inflict many status ailments on your party, as long as you keep your party buffed with Chael and Pontius and Dinzag debuffed with Treklen and Alexandria, Dinzag's damage is fairly low overall.


Once you defeat Dinzag, there will be two switches behind his throne. This is where your Rusty Key (Found under the well in The Twisted Forest) and your Page of A'Marthius (Found in the mines in Karaway Village) will come in handy. Once you flip the switches, two objects will appear. One is a chest filled with legendary armor that is better than anything you can purchase. The other is a book that conjures up legendary god-made weapons. (NOTE: You do NOT have to obtain these items to complete the game. These items are merely a bonus that awards exploration and will make the next couple of levels easier for you. By no means do you have to go all the way back through the game to find these items if you missed them.)

After slaying Dinzag and grabbing your new shiny items you may proceed to the door between the switches. This will take you to level 4 of the Dark Bard's Castle. It is recommended that you save here after the dialogue. You will go through a couple sets of stairs before arriving at a gated doorway. Save here and prepare yourself for the final battle!


The Dark Bard's Castle (Final Level)

After some dialogue you will be fighting "♥♥♥♥".


"♥♥♥♥"

"♥♥♥♥" has a very high health pool but he also takes extra damage not only from holy, but also thunder! Be sure to poison him as early as possible and keep weapon break up on him at all times. Now would be a great opportunity to use up any Holy Waters you may still have left over to make the fight a little bit easier. ♥♥♥♥ can deal a lot of damage in a short amount of time so be sure to top your party off while hitting him with as much damage as you possibly can. Once "♥♥♥♥" is poisoned, the name of the game is survival! Use every item you possibly can to win this battle. You can't take your items with you to the afterlife!

(SPOILER!)

A'Marthius

After defeating "♥♥♥♥", his metal shell will break into a thousand pieces and A'Marthius will show his true form! This battle, is up to you. :)

The Final Boss Battle (Spoilers!)

Below is a strategy for defeating the final boss very quickly and moving on with the story.

The battle is meant to be lost, though sometimes players become too strong or are just too good and can last a very long time until all of their supplies run out. To progress quickly and avoid a long, drawn out battle which you'll inevitably lose anyways, simply lose the battle.