This guide is a series of hints that will point you in the right direction to solving the Nari language. The game has a very obvious and specific end goal; solving that final artifact. The good news is that you don't need to be a master of the game to get there. You don't even need all the words.

Some of you may be stuck right at the start, somewhere in the middle, or maybe you're already done with the game and are looking for some advice on those last few words.

Some words are impossible to verify as the game lacks enough use cases for you to guarantee your answer. However, most of the words are. I am not an English major; and although I have a loose understanding of Objects, Subjects, Predicates and Clauses, I don't believe this game actually requires an expert in the field.

The first thing Epigraph provides you with is a letter explaining what's going on. There's a language called Nari that we need to decipher and 7 artifacts in total to solve.

We don't know much about the language. Actually, we know next to nothing about the language other than what it looks like. What we do know is that the Nari had two kings named "Makudovu" and "Bakuzhati". There was also a place called "Pagomaru".

The letter also mentions that the Stele, one of the artifacts, seems to be a rosetta stone of sorts. The Cuneiform on the back has been translated for us.

Lastly, the Nari co-existed with another tribe called the Shori. We've been given some of their words to work with as we believe there might be some similarities.

The first thing to do is study the Nari language. But what does that mean? Well, we know how English works. English has letters, those letters make sounds and join together to make words. Those words have meaning and we can modify words to change their meaning. English has grammar and structure; a beginning middle and end. We have punctuation.

The Nari is going to seem confusing at first because they use what looks more like a symbol than a letter. Sometimes these symbols have a triangle or circle above them? What the hell do those mean? Am I trying to turn these into english sounds and words? Where's the punctuation? Why are all these symbols so similar?

The beginning is likely the hardest part and that's because it is. This game took me about 10-15 hours and a lot of that is going to be spent figuring out how the language works. But once you start slotting in answers, man, there is nothing more satisfying! Everything starts to Click!

Here's the great news! The game gives you a VERY CLEAR starting point. Try and match up those two king names and the place name first. This is absolutely the best place to start. Your job is to find three words and mark them with those three names.


The hint's get progressively more helpful. Proceed at your own comfortable pace.

King Names & Place Hint #1
I wonder where I think I should find them
King Names & Place Hint #2
Man those are some loooong names...
King Names & Place Hint #3
That statue looks like it has a face on it. And I think there was a drawing of something that might have been a place?

This game can be tackled in a lot of different ways. Maybe you want to spend some time trying to make the Stele work, because you have the translation for it. Maybe you want to take a crack of some of the more visual aspects like what we see on the tablets.

Regardless of the route you take, all roads lead to Rome. The symbols are the center of everything. With the three names in place, it's time to start reading the language. I know this seems early, but you already have everything you need.

This is your first hint: With the three names in place, you now have everything you need to read the language.


The following hints are going to guide you to create a method of reading the language.

How to read the Nari Script Hint #1
Do the three names have any common symbols between them?
How to read the Nari Script Hint #2
What direction do I read this language in anyway?
How to read the Nari Script Hint #3
"How can I make sounds out of the symbols?" You've already made sounds out of ten!
How to read the Nari Script Hint #4
Syllables
How to read the Nari Script Hint #5
Makudovu. Pagomaru. Bakuzhati. 4 Syllables each. 4 Symbols each. 10 unique syllables.

The next thirteen hints are structured to guide you on turning a table of all the unique Nari symbols into a sound.

Alphabet? Hint #1
Some of these symbols look just like other symbols except they have dashes or dots
Alphabet? Hint #2
These dashes and dots seem to happen on every symbol!
Alphabet? Hint #3
If I make a table, I can start grouping symbols by their appearance, and also the dashes and dots
Alphabet? Hint #4
Alphabets are for letters. Are these letters?
Alphabet? Hint #5
Syllables don't use an alphabet
Alphabet? Hint #6
Syllables use a syllabary
Alphabet? Hint #7
Syllables are one unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound

If you haven't made a table by now, DO IT. Otherwise, here it is. If you want to proceed with yours, skip the image and keep reading hints.



Alphabet? Hint #8
How many vowel sounds does this game have?
Alphabet? Hint #9
The three names should have given you some
Alphabet? Hint #10
The three names should have given you all
Alphabet? Hint #11
Link the dashes and dots to a certain sound
Alphabet? Hint #12
Link the symbols themselves to a certain sound
Alphabet? Hint #13
Link the dashes and dots to a certain vowel and the symbols themselves to a certain pronunciation

If you're confused about all of what you SHOULD be doing but still want all the fun of cracking it yourself. Here's the jist:

1

You're trying to mark each symbol with how it should sound one by one using your table and the names of the kings and places as reference.

The end of this chapter requires you to have solved for a way to read the language in it's near entirety. If you want to confirm you've done everything right, you should have a table that looks like this:



All that's left to do is mark every symbol you can with it's pronunciation ingame.

If you've done everything correct, your statue should look like this:

With the symbols complete, you're now able to "read" the language. But we don't know what it means! Not yet at least.

At this point, you can honestly put down the guide and figure this game out on your own. The hard part is over. But if you'd like to proceed:

It's time to move on to the next two parts of the letter. The Shori and the Stele. We know the translation for the Stele and what it's supposed to say. We also know that the Shori is similar to the Nari script. But in what ways?

My advice here is to see if you can find some of the Shori words anywhere in the game. Lock in what you're confident in. We know Bakuzhati and Makudovu are kings, so we should find the word for King somewhere. Maybe the two sound similar.

We also want to try and solve the stele. We can look for any overlapping shori words to help us.

We also want to try and understand the language a bit better. How do words flow? What do those symbols above the words mean?

Stele Hint #1
The common word between the Stele translations and the Shori words is "Conquer". You should find this word first.
Stele Hint #2
The Shori word for Conquer is WaBo. Is there a word that sounds close to Wa Bo?
By now you should have found the word for Conquer. Time to make some assumptions about the shapes above the words and test them out. You should be able to figure out the circles and the triangles. Ignore the squares for now.

Triangle Hint #1
These appear as singles or pairs. And above the names of the kings and the place.
Triangle Hint #2
Singles... and... p...
Triangle Hint #3
Denotes person or place
Circle Hint #1
The shori word is Conquer. But the translation is Conquered.
Circle Hint #2
There seem to be three shapes all based on the circle.

Time to start slotting in all the words and seeing what works and what doesnt. We know what the words marked with circles should be, that's a good start. Then we can do the triangles. We can also look for repeating words.

If you ever start second guessing your answers, start flicking through the other artifacts and seeing where your words pop up. Things should start feeling right very quickly.

By now, you're hoping to have your Stele entirely filled.

If you still need more help, here's what your Stele should look like with all the circles filled.
[/spoiler]

If you've made it this far you should be able to read the language, understand what the triangles and circles denote, fill in the Stele and find some of the Shori words.

By now you're looking to do four things. Solve the Statue, Solve the Mural, Solve most of Tablet b and figure out the pronunciation of last two symbols we're missing.

The order you do this in is completely irrelevant. What matters is getting there. I will tell you now, that JUST ABOUT every Shori word can be found in the game.

The mural has lovely diagrams to help guide you to the story it's trying to tell. The statue tells it's own story about the king. Tablet b has some hieroglyphics that are veeery ambiguous intentionally.

If you're ever stuck, try to mark words to see where and how frequently they turn up. I like to mark words with "1000", "2000" and that let's me clearly see where else it turns up in the game. This also helps keep tabs on what word you're trying to solve.

Having blank words is completely normal. Especially for words which only have a one time occurrence. Try to get at least 10 of the 12 Shori words down and you should be good.

Tablet a is a strange one because it's unlike anything we've seen yet. It doesn't even look like Nari, but it has Nari words on the front and back of it.

You might already have an idea of what these symbols mean, but if you don't:

Tablet a Hint 1
This can be solved at any point in the game, independently of the language.
Tablet a Hint 2
How many unique symbols are there?
Tablet a Hint 3
How many unique symbols are there?

Okay so we know what these symbols are. But how do we know which is which? If you've solved the Stele (which you should have by now), the text on the left gives you a clear hint.

Tablet a Hint 4
This is an equation with a math puzzle
Tablet a Hint 5
"This line" "And this line"
Tablet a Hint 6
"And" is synonymous with "Plus"

Alright, so I know what I need to do to solve this. Where do I begin?

Tablet a Hint 7
There's two equations. One of these is easier than the other.
Tablet a Hint 8
The solution to one of these equations can only be so big
Tablet a Hint 9
The bottom equation is the sum of two three-digit numbers. Meaning the total has to start with the number _

Wait a minue, one of these numbers is interchangeable with another. Which is which! There is a way to verify which is which once you've filled in most of the words. One sentence in combination with one image will tip you off.

We're right at the finish line. The obelisk should be a lot of world building. If you zoom out, you can see one of the sides has a marking at the top which gives you an idea of where this obelisk starts.

Most of this should be filled in by now. By now you should have all you need to solve the artifact.

In order to solve the artifact, you need to turn 3 rings to give an answer. If you want to save yourself the headache of which ring to start with, the rings are turned in this order: Start with the outer ring.

The easiest one is the one with the different symbols. The solution is once again the same solution you used to solve for the symbols.

Here are some random hints for the last three:

1. Did we figure out all the shori words?
2. One of the words I saw on an artifact was pretty weird
3. One of the words I missed might be a name, like Makudovu
4. Shori has some funky pronunciation when it's converted to Nari, I should try that one last
5. I doubt the game wants me to make a new word I've never seen before
6. What words have I seen that I can make here?

If you'd like to wrestle this game to it's knees, check out my translation guide. It's full of spoilers with an explanation my take on the grammar. And also a lore summary!
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3171688772