REKA Beginner's Guide | Tips and Tricks

REKA is a crafting, exploration, and life-simulation game where preparation, resource management, and experimentation are essential to building your own witch's cottage and progressing through the world. Whether you're just starting your journey or want to make the most of your first few hours, these beginner tips will help you understand the main mechanics and avoid wasting valuable resources.

Complete the Starting Village Before Leaving

One of the most important things to know about REKA is that you cannot return to the starting map after traveling to the next region. This makes your first few hours particularly important.

Before leaving Kopnik, take some time to:

- Speak to the villagers and accept their requests.

- Complete any side quests you find.

- Explore nearby buildings and points of interest.

- Collect useful resources and ingredients.

- Look for hidden items using your lantern.

Several optional activities are available in the starting area, including helping villagers with missing animals and other problems. Complete the ones that interest you before continuing the main story. 

Pick Up the Recipe Book Early

When you reach Baba Jaga's house, look for the recipe book on the bench near the entrance.

Picking it up unlocks your journal and introduces your Faithful Crows, which are among the most useful tools in the game.

The crows allow you to:

- Collect mushrooms and other forage.

- Knock honeycombs and other objects out of trees.

- Break certain structures.

- Gather resources from places you cannot easily reach.

Use it whenever you spot something interesting in the environment. You will save yourself plenty of unnecessary walking. 

Learn How to Use Your Oil Lantern

Your Oil Lantern is useful when exploring unfamiliar locations. It can highlight nearby points of interest, including treasure chests and hidden items.

Get into the habit of raising your lantern when entering new buildings, ruins, and forest areas. Some objects are easy to overlook when you are focused on completing quests.

Remember that raising the lantern and switching on its light are separate actions, so make sure you are using the correct interaction.

Gather Resources Whenever You Explore

Resource gathering is an important part of REKA, especially when you begin crafting, cooking, and expanding your cottage.

Rather than making separate trips for every ingredient, collect useful materials while completing quests.

Prioritize gathering:

- Mushrooms for cooking and quests.

- Honeycombs for rituals and recipes.

- Grain for cooking and other activities.

- Raspberries for food and villager requests.

- Wood for building and maintaining your oven.

- Salt and flour for different recipes.

Also pay attention to seasonal availability. Some ingredients are easier to find in certain seasons, so collect extra when you find them.

Complete Baba Jaga's First Requests

Your first major objective is to complete Baba Jaga's Trial of the Chicken, which eventually unlocks your walking cottage.

You will need to gather:

- 10 edible mushrooms.

- 6 honeycombs.

- A Mortar and Pestle Talisman from the Lutki.

- A pine branch.

- A hen.

The Lutki are important because they help you unlock the talisman, which lets you return to your cottage.

Once you have gathered the required items, follow Baba Jaga's instructions to complete the ritual. This involves preparing the ritual area, placing the hen and egg in the oven, arranging the offerings, and bringing an ember from the fireplace.

After completing the ritual, your chicken-legged cottage will finally come to life. 

Make the Most of Your Walking Cottage

Your cottage is more than a place to sleep. It is your main base for crafting, cooking, decorating, and traveling between locations.

Once it becomes available, spend some time getting comfortable with its controls.

A few useful tips:

- Experiment with different furniture arrangements.

- Keep frequently used crafting stations accessible.

- Leave enough room to move around comfortably.

- Collect building materials whenever possible.

- Avoid spending all your resources on decorations immediately.

You don't need to build an elaborate house right away. Start with a practical layout and expand it as you unlock additional materials and construction options.

The full building system also includes snapping, rotation, roof placement, and tools for placing or deleting multiple building pieces.

Learn How Cooking Works

Cooking is another important mechanic, especially when traveling or completing villagers' requests.

Your cottage oven allows you to prepare different meals using ingredients you collect throughout the world.

A few things to remember:

- Your oven needs fuel before you can cook.

- Most basic recipes use three ingredients.

- Ingredient order does not matter for standard recipes.

- Different combinations produce different meals.

- Some villagers request specific types of food, so check their requests carefully.

For example, you can prepare bread using three flour or porridge using three grain.

Try experimenting with ingredients, but avoid using up everything you collect. Some resources are also needed for quests and other crafting recipes. 

Follow the Main Quests to Unlock New Abilities

REKA gradually introduces new mechanics through its main quests and trials. Instead of trying to unlock everything immediately, follow Baba Jaga's instructions and explore the activities she introduces.

Some important progression milestones include:

- Trial of the Chicken: Unlocks your walking cottage and building mechanics.

- Trial of the Forest Spirit: Introduces Leshy and eventually allows you to cut down trees for wood.

- A Shrine to Siva: Introduces gardening and plant-related mechanics.

- Later spirit quests: Introduce additional supernatural abilities and exploration mechanics.

Pay attention to conversations with Baba Jaga and other characters. Their instructions often point towards the next important activity. 

Don't Rush to Expand Your Cottage

It can be tempting to spend all your collected materials building a massive cottage as soon as construction becomes available. However, it is better to expand gradually.

Wood is particularly important because it is used for construction. You can obtain it from several sources, including felled trees after unlocking the necessary progression, scavenged planks, broken hunting stands, and the merchant.

Focus on collecting materials before committing to large construction projects. With a reliable supply, you'll have more freedom to experiment with different designs. 

Explore Ruins and Buildings

Not every useful discovery in REKA is directly connected to a main quest.

Take the time to investigate abandoned buildings, ruins, and unusual structures. You may find collectibles, useful resources, hidden objects, or optional activities.

Two locations worth exploring on the starting map are:

- Gloomy Ruin: Contains a talking mirror that can be used to customize your character after lighting the surrounding candles.

- Old Farmhouse: Contains an orange cat in a basket on the second floor that you can take home.

These discoveries are easy to miss if you focus exclusively on the main objectives. 

Pay Attention to Villager Requests

Helping villagers is a significant part of the experience. Many requests involve finding missing objects, collecting ingredients, preparing meals, or investigating something unusual.

Whenever you arrive at a new settlement:

- Speak to the villagers.

- Check what they need.

- Read the quest descriptions carefully.

- Gather requested ingredients before leaving.

- Return to characters after completing their tasks.

Some quests also introduce moral choices, so consider the consequences before making decisions.

Experiment With Your Witchcraft

As you progress, REKA introduces more recipes, rituals, and magical abilities.

Do not limit yourself to only the recipes required by the main quests. Experiment with different ingredients and pay attention to what you unlock.

Some recipes are useful for everyday activities, while others are connected to specific quests or supernatural interactions.

Keep your journal updated and use it to track recipes and discoveries. This makes it much easier to remember what you have already learned.

Take Advantage of the Seasonal Changes

REKA features changing seasons that affect the environment and certain resources.

Pay attention to which ingredients are available during your current season. If you find something particularly useful, consider collecting extra instead of assuming it will always be available.

Gardening also becomes more important as you progress. Once you unlock the relevant abilities, you can begin growing plants and managing your garden.

Plan your planting around the seasons rather than expecting every plant to remain available year-round.

Don't Forget to Collect Animals

Animals are another enjoyable part of REKA. As you explore, keep an eye out for animals that can become companions at your cottage.

You can discover different animals in the world, and some are tucked away in locations you might otherwise ignore.

The orange cat at the Old Farmhouse is an early example. Exploring buildings thoroughly can lead to some of the most memorable optional discoveries.

Final Thoughts

REKA is best enjoyed at your own pace. While completing Baba Jaga's quests is important for progression, exploring the world, helping villagers, collecting ingredients, and personalizing your walking cottage are just as rewarding.

The most important beginner tip is to finish the activities you want to complete in Kopnik before leaving, collect resources whenever you explore, and avoid spending all your materials on unnecessary decorations early on. These habits will make your first few hours much easier.

FAQ

Q. Can you return to the starting village in REKA?

A. No. Once you leave the starting map and travel to the next region, you cannot return to Kopnik. Complete any optional activities you want before departing.

Q. How do you unlock the walking house?

A. Complete Baba Jaga's Trial of the Chicken by collecting the required ingredients, obtaining the Lutki's talisman, and performing the chicken ritual.

Q. What are the crows used for in REKA?

A. The crows help collect resources, retrieve objects from trees, gather forage, and interact with certain environmental objects.

Q. Can you customize your character?

A. Yes. You can use the talking mirror found in the Gloomy Ruin to customize your character after lighting the surrounding candles.

Q. Can you have pets in REKA?

A. Yes. You can discover animals while exploring and bring certain animals back to your cottage.

Q. Is there combat in REKA?

A. REKA is primarily a combat-free exploration and crafting adventure. It focuses on witchcraft, resource gathering, cooking, quests, and cottage building.

Q. What should you do first in REKA?

A. Start by helping the merchant, exploring Kopnik, finding Baba Jaga, collecting the recipe book, and gathering the ingredients needed for the Trial of the Chicken.