Black Beacon Guide – A starter guide to gear you up for Glohow’s mythic sci-fi action RPG

When you get started in Black Beacon, one of the first concepts introduced to you is the two camera options. There is the Top-Down view that offers classic RPG vibes, or the Free Use option that makes you feel like you’re playing an action RPG. Whilst the second one sounds the best, we’d urge you to opt for the former; at least until you get better acclimated with the game.

The crux of the matter with the Free Use option is that a lot of the characters have flashy attacks or dashes, and it can become overwhelming to try and manage skills whilst swivelling the camera every time you unleash an attack. So, stick to Top-Down. It’s the best way to start playing.

If you’re acquainted with modern action RPGs then you’ll know that normally you can just launch into battle, spam your skills when they come off cooldown, and things will be fine. With Black Beacon however, things are a little more in-depth, so you’ll need to do your homework.

To start with, you need Vigor to use your skills, a resource generated by whacking foes with your basic attack. After this, there are a lot of deviations depending on which character you play. Ereshan, for example, will throw out her Scythe when you use Skill One, and then you have a small window to reactivate it to dive at foes. Only then will you start to charge up her Second Skill.

Other characters have unique ways their skills work and synergise too, so before you jump into combat you need to read about the character; or at least be aware that combat isn’t as simple as “I’ll just throw all of my buttons at this enemy”; there will be niche differences between your team that you’ll need to take into consideration.

As you fly through the screen, blowing up your foes and having a grand old time, make sure to keep the basics in mind. No matter how much you level up your heroes, it is really surprising how quickly your health can deplete when you focus solely on going on the offensive. Your key defensive ability is dodging, which offers a brief period of invincibility, so ensure you keep using this.

Offense will obviously still be important, and sometimes your best defense. When an enemy charges their Killing Move they will glow, and this is your signal to hit them with a skill or a Heavy Strike to interrupt them and keep up the attack. Smack a foe around enough, and you will build up their anomaly points, causing a damaging effect based on your element. Therefore, it is important to try to stay on the attack as much as possible.

As easy as it can be to find your favourite character and stick with them, you will need to let that go for the sake of the devastating Combo Bursts. When you switch out your active character under this effect, their stamina and skill cooldowns will recharge faster, perfect to get your glass cannons in for a quick blast and then out to prepare for the next. Additionally, your incoming character will pull off a combo skill when tagged in, adding some excellent tactical advantages to your battle.

After you’ve mastered combat, it’s time to take a look at the management side of things. When you unlock the hub you will eventually gain the ability to nominate an Assistant. This person will then greet you when you enter the game, but they have a second function that’s worth engaging with.

By playing through the game you will start to earn Gift Certificates, which you can then give to your friend in order to increase their affection towards you. Understandably, this isn’t a feature that everyone will be attracted to, but it has rewards attached to it that you’ll definitely want.

For starters, levelling affection enough will unlock a second costume; a nice extra. However, the proper rewards come in the form of Rune Shard, a currency you can exchange to pull from the gacha banners. You get these affection-increasing items anyway, so you might as well use them.

This brings us neatly to our next point; milking every bit of free currency you can. This is very important for the obvious reason of wanting new characters and weapons. There are quite a few opportunities to earn currency, so be on the lookout.

One particularly good place to look is a character’s tutorial. Not only will this teach you how best to utilize them, but you’ll also receive a Lost Time Key, the item needed for summoning. Fully exploring each level will also provide these rewards occasionally. On the mission select, it will tell you if a stage has chests you can unlock. This will involve some occasional backtracking when you unlock a new mechanic, but it’s worth it.

The most consistent source of Rune Shards comes from your daily tasks, dubbed Pure Energy here. This is, in effect, Black Beacon’s Battle Pass, but you don’t need to pay. The part you are interested in is the Daily tab. There are simple missions like logging in, spending stamina, or stabbing people in the face. Your usual gameplay fun.

Doing this enough every day will get you 60 Rune Shards reliably, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but they quickly add up, especially if you keep doing it while you wait for a banner you like. As a bonus, you will also get EXP for the Battle Pass and earn some neat rewards at the same time. This can even include a free weapon, and you can never have enough of those.

All this resource farming leads to our final target: make sure you do 30 summons ASAP. This is done under the Retrieval menu and is how you will recruit the best characters. The reason it is crucial to do 30 immediately is that you will get to pick between five five-star characters, thanks to the giveaway.

You have a choice between three support characters and two damage dealers. The choice is yours, though I would suggest one of the attackers. I chose Ereshan, and she is quite an effective carry through the early game if you keep her levelled up. Plus, she is a main story character, and it is nice and lore-friendly to keep her around.

If you follow this guide, then your experience through Black Beacon will be much easier. Just keep these tips in mind, hoard those Rune Shards, and make sure you keep your characters and weapons upgraded as much as possible.

Also, it goes without saying (but we’ll say it anyway) that to get the most out of your Black Beacon experience you’ll want to keep track of the game’s latest developments by following the official website, Discord, X and Facebook channels.