Curse of Resthaven: Tips and Tricks to Unravel the Island’s Secrets

Hi there! I’m Scott Christian, the studio director of Hilltop Studios here in Toronto, and the game director of Curse of Resthaven. We make games with a particular emphasis on strong characters, intricate storytelling, unique mechanics, and the occasional musical interlude.

Before making games, I spent fifteen years working as a composer and conductor here in Toronto, mainly in theatre. That background informs how we approach our games at Hilltop: character, timing, and a good dramatic reveal go a long way. Our debut, Lil’ Guardsman, was a comedic fantasy gate-guard simulator about a twelve-year-old put in charge of a castle gate, with the fate of the world in her hands.

For our follow-up, Curse of Resthaven, we decided to take a different turn into gothic horror, creeping dread, and a mystery that unfolds over a repeating six-day time loop. You play as Ambrose, the island’s newly appointed governor, tasked with restoring prosperity to the colony but he also has his own agenda: finding his missing niece, Amalia. The problem is that Resthaven is destroyed six days into his tenure… and Ambrose is sent back to the day of his arrival, the only one to remember the island’s fate.

Mashing up mechanics from narrative adventures, trading sims, deckbuilders, and roguelikes, Curse of Resthaven challenges you to investigate a town full of secrets, keep its economy running, and venture into the strange wilderness beyond its borders. You have six days to work with before disaster strikes and the island resets. Fortunately, you get to keep what you learn.

Solving the mystery is just the first step. You’ll soon discover there are three different timelines to explore, and only by reaching all three conclusions will you unlock the fourth, true ending.

Whether you’re stepping onto Resthaven for the first time or looking to make the most of your next loop, here are a few tips to help you get started.

A Few Simple Tips

Curse of Resthaven is a game about connecting the dots. Its systems feed into one another, and the best discoveries often come from combining information gathered in different ways. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you investigate the island.

• Talk to everyone, and then talk to them again. Resthaven’s residents have their own motivations, grudges, and secrets. What someone tells you depends on what Ambrose already knows, what topics you bring up, and what has happened during the current loop. If a character isn’t being helpful, you may simply need to learn a little more before approaching them. Your journal can be counted on to let you know when to ask someone about something again.
• Pay attention during interrogations. You can question characters about different topics to uncover clues, advance quests, and learn more about the island. Information gathered from one resident may unlock the topic needed to move the needle with another. If you’re stuck, revisit people you’ve spoken to and see whether they have a perspective on newly acquired topics or, better yet, can guide you in the right direction.
• Don’t treat trading as a side activity. As governor, Ambrose is responsible for keeping Resthaven’s economy moving. Merchant ships bring goods to buy and sell, while the island’s businesses can be upgraded to produce useful resources. Money is only part of the equation: having the right resources is essential for pursuing opportunities elsewhere, including expeditions into the wilderness.
• Experiment with your approach. Not every problem has an obvious solution, and not every promising lead will pay off immediately. Try different approaches, pursue unexpected conversations, and see where your investigations take you. Even a botched loop may teach you something useful for the next one.

Make the Most of the Time Loop

The six-day time loop is at the heart of Curse of Resthaven. Each loop begins with the island’s inhabitants returning to their usual routines, but Ambrose retains his knowledge and progression. That distinction is everything.

You aren’t expected to solve the entire mystery in one pass. Instead, each loop gives you another opportunity to apply what you’ve learned, approach old problems differently, and uncover information that was previously out of reach.

• Knowledge is your most valuable resource. A character who refuses to cooperate on Day 1 might be much more forthcoming once you’ve discovered what motivates them. An apparently impossible obstacle might become straightforward once you know the right person to talk to or the right question to ask.
• Plan your days around what you want to learn. There are more people to question, businesses to manage, and places to explore than you can necessarily get to in a single loop. Focus on the leads that seem most promising, and don’t worry if you have to leave something for next time.
• Use each reset as an opportunity. When the island resets, you can take a different approach with the benefit of everything you’ve discovered. You don’t have to repeat the same actions just because you did them last time. If you already know where a particular lead is going, spend that time pursuing something new.

The goal isn’t simply to repeat the same six days until you get everything right. It’s to use what you learned last time to change what happens the next time.

Venture Beyond the Town

Beyond the safety of Resthaven’s fortified walls lies a much stranger version of the island. Expeditions take Ambrose into this wilderness through a card-based narrative system that blends roguelikes, deckbuilders, and choose-your-own-adventure games.

Each expedition draws encounters from a pool, meaning your journey can unfold differently from one attempt to the next. You’ll face decisions, discover strange events, and encounter opportunities that may not appear again on your next trip.

• Expect the unexpected. Expeditions aren’t fixed sequences of events. The encounters you discover on one outing may be very different from those on another, so stay curious and be prepared to adapt.
• Don’t assume you’ve seen everything. There are more encounters than you’ll experience in a single run. Returning to the wilderness on subsequent playthroughs can reveal entirely new stories and discoveries.
• Remember that expeditions are part of the larger investigation. The wilderness isn’t separate from the mystery unfolding in town. Information and resources you gather can help you make progress elsewhere, so consider how an expedition might support your other goals.

Explore Every Corner Of Resthaven

It’s worth taking the time to look around. Beyond the main investigation, Resthaven contains optional discoveries, including collectible moth relics and other secrets tucked away throughout the town.

These discoveries reward players who aren’t in a rush. You can barely take a single step if you rely heavily on the handy town map + fast travel functionality, but you’ll certainly miss out on some optional, flavourful side content. Give yourself permission to wander a little. After all, in Resthaven you have nothing but time (in six-day intervals)!

And don’t be afraid to revisit familiar places. As you learn more about the colony and its inhabitants, locations and conversations that seemed unremarkable at first may take on new significance.

What To Do If You’re Stuck

Your journal is your best friend. Check your active leads for hints about what to pursue next. If you’ve exhausted all the possibilities in town, it may be time to head back out on expeditions and look for Amalia’s campsites. And your journal will probably tell you so!

Your journal has another trick up its sleeve, too. After the opening hours, you’ll unlock a timeline showing important events across the six-day loop and where they take place. If you’re stumped by a “???” on the timeline, it means something important is happening at that moment you haven’t discovered yet. To progress, you might just need to be in the right place at the right time.

The town map is another easy-to-miss resource. It shows which characters are accessible in each zone at any given time. Once you’ve spoken to a named NPC, their question mark becomes a portrait, making it much easier to track them down in subsequent loops. Still seeing a “?” in a zone? That might be a good place to start looking for someone new.

Finally, don’t underestimate the power of a little community gossip. Some leads require interrogation, but the answer might simply be to ask the townspeople about a particular topic. Resthaven is a small, tight-knit community, and information has a way of getting around.

We’ve designed the investigation around a trail of clues(We’ve classed them as  bronze/silver/gold behind the scenes, but you won’t see these terms in-game.)

• Bronze clues give you a little information and nudge you in the right direction, and many townspeople have them
• Silver clues offer more specific details and bring you closer to the truth; fewer townspeople have them
• Gold clues unambiguously reveal the next step in a lead. Only one or two townspeople have them

Follow the trail, and you shouldn’t be left out in the cold for long.

Don’t Worry About Seeing Everything the First Time

Curse of Resthaven features three branching timelines, each revealing different pieces of the larger mystery. You won’t necessarily encounter every quest or revelation during a single playthrough, and that’s intentional.

As you progress, you’ll uncover new information that changes how you understand the island and its people. Some discoveries will answer questions, while others will leave you with even more to investigate.

Once you’ve completed a timeline, New Game+ introduces Ambrose’s growing sense of déjà vu, allowing you to fast-track through content you’ve already experienced and focus on what’s different. You can spend less time retracing familiar steps and more time exploring new possibilities.

So don’t worry about finding every secret on your first visit. Pay attention, follow the leads that interest you, and let your growing knowledge guide you through the next loop.

Resthaven has a great many secrets. The trick is figuring out which ones to pursue, when to pursue them, and what to do with what you discover.

Six days remain. Good luck, Governor. You’ll need it.

Curse of Resthaven launches October 29 for XBOX Series X|S and XBOX on PC.