How to finish La-Mulana without a guide

If you want to finish La-Mulana without a guide or general tips to make it as far as possible without help, then I am here to help you, as I have finished this game without a guide.

Introduction and what to expect from La-Mulana

I am very tired of the reputation of La-Mulana of being too unfair, hard and whathever, but the one I am most tired of is "La-Mulana is impossible to beat without a guide, because it is too obtuse !". Well, I finished this game without a guide with 100 hours of playtime. Of course, during my run, I've never heard about Hell Temple, I've never figured key fairies, I've missed a lot of items and most of the softwares, in fact, I’ve never used a software combo besides the one for detailed map.
But you know what, did it prevent me to finish the game ? Nope. I think a lot of the most obtuse things are related to 100% the game, but for the any%, it is doable. Remember, the game always give you everything you need to solve it.

I believe that Internet (as always) exaggerate a LOT about this game, many of La-Mulana "unfairness" is misunderstood, and actually, what people called "unfair" or "anti player", is just content and how the game is meant to be played. You’re supposed to be hurt a lot, whether it is through traps, combat or puzzles. But this is the fun, because the level-design is top notch, puzzles are clever, so the difficulty of the game is what makes it truly rewarding. As we love to say in french « To win without risk is to triumph without glory ». The thing is, modern audience don't see difficulty as content, while it is the core of La-Mulana and what makes it a great game.
I am saying this, because in the specific case of this game, its difficulty is the main gameplay loop. If you’re looking at a guide, you’re specifically skipping the content of this game, as its interest lies into solving its puzzles. For this to work, you have to acknowledge that you’re ready to invest yourself in this game like no other solo games require you, and this takes tons of efforts outside the game.

However, the "true" unfair content does exist, but it is almost always linked to optional content, that serves as bonus items to make the player run easier. When you find those secret shops, it is meant as a reward for the player that find something that was « impossible » to get.

Anyone, with determination and the right mindset, can beat this game without a guide. La-Mulana is directed to a very niche audience, so its OK to hate this game, because it is not for everyone. It is meant for fool, and the more you advance into this game, the more it makes you realize its insanity.

This guide is adressed to people who begin La-Mulana and want some beginner advices before jumping into this pit of madness. It is also a general guidelines that you can apply during all the game in order to beat it. I believe that finishing La-Mulana is all about mental, getting the mindset the game wants you to get, and apply the principles the game taught you into its exploration.

What to do before starting the game

Well, if you want to survive the world of La-Mulana, before wandering in the first area, you'll have to do some things before !

Lets do a quick to-do list :

-read the official manual : you can find it on the steam page of the game before launching it, or in the Internet. I cannot emphasize enough how important this manual is. It has so many hints that will be useful during all the game(some are very well hidden), as well as some crucial piece of information that the game won't tell you, since it is written in the manual. At the first read, maybe the manual will be daunting, but read it again and again.

-watch the beginner's guide video by Nigoro : it tells you how the gameplay works, and then it gives you the first steps to start the game. Watch it before you play. Then, when you play the game for the first time, do everything as Mulbruk said. She did a wonderful job to describe the game.

-decide how you'll take notes during the game : notekeeping is one of the most important aspect of La-Mulana. Imagine you're an archeologist and you want to tackle your work without handful notes, that's impossible ! This game was built upon the ideas that the player has to take notes. If this idea does not appeal to you, don't play this game. If this idea caught your attention, welcome to one of the best game of all time.

You can take note the way you want. If you're kind of purist and do everything by pen and paper, go on. It can be very fun, but it is longer !

I suggest to take notes on your computer, as it will speed up this part of the gameplay.

I'll share how I did. For me, it was the best I could do, since it made the experience so much smoother, to the point I felt like using a tool assist.

What I suggest is :

-download discord application on your computer and create a "La-Mulana server"

-download Capture2Text

-make a general category where you'll make channels for : one about your general ideas (just write everything you've thought about if you feel the need), one about the clues and what Mulbruk suggests you to find/do in the video, one channel per specific NPC (don't worry you'll understand quickly who are the key NPCs, but for now, remember everything Xelpud says)

-make a category for each area of the game : then make a channel for the stone tablet of the area, a channel for NPCs of the area, and if you want one for the corpses. Then, everytime you read a tablet or a NPC talk to you, screenshot it to the corresponding channel, then use Capture2Text, to copy/paste the content of the screenshot in the same message you upload the picture. It is really important to not only copy/paste, but also screenshot the picture, as sometimes hints use colors or pictures that are the clues to solve a puzzle. When you screenshot a tablet, give it a character and a number , for instance if I screenshot the first tablet, when I'll upload the picture, I'll write "*1", the second tablet would be "*2" etc.

With this, you have a dedicated discord server, that works as a personal database for the game. Now, everytime you want to look for something, you just have to put the keyword on the search engine of the discord server, instead of endless scrolling.

Drawing the map of the game

At first, the idea to draw the map of the WHOLE game is intimidating, but it has too much benefits in the long run : it makes solving a lot of puzzles easier as looking on the map of the whole arena makes some answers really obvious(especially one in the very late game), it helps a lot for orientation and to understand how the general game works, it shows you where are the unsolved puzzles, it helps to notice subtle changes in the fields, for orientation too...Well it helps you very much !

It is up to you how you want to draw it. If you have no ideas on how to draw maps, refer to page 19 of the manual, called Structure, as it explains how the general level design works. it is really crucial to understand this page to finish the game. As for myself, I used paint. However, there are two things you must do : do a screenshot of every room in the game, just do it everytime you find a new room ; put the name of the room in your map.

If you decide to do the note keeping as I told before, be sure to put the code of the tablet next to the picture of your map. With this, you will never forget the place you have found the hint, and on the flipside, if you want to look for the content of a specific table when watching your map, you just have to enter the code on your discord.


An example :

Some very general principles before starting Gate of Guidance

Take some time to enjoy Surface. You have enough of it ? Great, you're ready to go to Gate of Guidance, but first, you should take into consideration these principles.

Always save on fresh save file. Everytime you save, just use a new save slots, use all of them. When you run out of them, just save on the oldest. This is CRUCIAL. You will understand that sometimes you can miss items or some puzzles are one try, but don't worry, mandatory puzzles are not concerned by this.

Be curious with your whip. Maybe it can destroy much than you've imagined.

Always have weight on you. Don't hesitate to buy some in shops.

The first hours and understanding the goal behind the design of "Gate of Guidance"

OK, now you have prepared everything to have a smooth run in La-Mulana. You've launched the game for the first time. What do you want to do ?

As I told before, just follow what the video and the manual explained to you. In concrete terms, it means getting accustomed to the controls of the game, exploring Surface, buying the first key items, and the most important : completing Gate of Guidance.

Gate of Guidance acts as a tutorial in La-Mulana. Really, consider it as the equivalence of text tutorial or tutorial level of a random game, but the difference here is that the devs want the players to understand the "rules" of the La-Mulana, rather than give them directly to the player. This philosophy serves two purposes. First, what could be a boring tutorial because it would have been too easy, becomes an interesting puzzle solving sequence. Secondly, it is a mean to teach the player the right mindset to beat La-Mulana. It is a well thought zone, as you finish it you'll understand how fields work in this game, the kind of puzzles La-Mulana will throw to the players, how visuals can tell something about a puzzle, how traps are put, how you interact with the ruins, how some puzzles can be solved only later, and many more. It is actually a clever tutorial, because it shows what to expect from La-Mulana.

Of course, you'll struggle during this area. It might take few hours to complete it. If you find it too hard, do the following :

-read the manual again and again : it has precious hints for Gate of Guidance

-pay attention to messages you find on corpses : most of them are mostly about the general rules of the game

-read mails and talk to Xelpud : I don't guarantee our old friend will always be of an help, but sometimes he is very useful.

Since you might see entrances leading to other fields, you may ask yourself "When am I done with Gate of Guidance ?". Well, if you don't have an answer, it means you haven't explored Gate of Guidance enough. As told by the manual, you should beat this area first, and yes, you can beat it without going to new places.

If you finish Gate of Guidance without help, it means you have understood the basis of La-Mulana, and that you are ready to beat the entire game. The only difference with the rest of the game, is that you'll do the same, but in a much broader scale.

Congratulations for beating Gate of Guidance, now what is next ?

Well, I am not here to tell you the answer. In fact, La-Mulana is a very non-linear game, you can tackle things in the order of your choice.

From now on, the game will slowly open more and more, and it is up to you to decide where you want to explore. Each time you discover a new area, just try to follow everything explained before, and the experience you've acquired during Gate of Guidance should carry you. Don't forbid yourself to explore a new area, even if you haven't finished the previous ones, this can be VERY useful. Following the same logic, if you feel you can't progress in one area, go to an other place. One of the major difficulty of La-Mulana is understanding if you can solve a puzzle right now or later.

So just explore the ruins as much as you can ! If is it too hard, go somewhere else and comeback later.

Some guidelines to survive the whole game

One moment or another, you'll feel very overwhelmed. Don't worry, it is just the devs fooling with you and testing your sanity. Don't forget, if you have beaten Gate of Guidance, you can beat the game.

The main difficulty of La-Mulana is how the game gets broader and broader, which make backtracking and solving puzzles harder. You should not give up when you feel like the game offers you many possibilities and you don't know where to go. If you are still correctly taking notes, it means you have everything you need to progress.

La-Mulana plays a lot with the player mind. By adding new pieces of information everytime, it tries to sink your mind into madness. Conquering this game is all about finding the right mindset, because you'll be always given the necessary to progress. Internet wants you to cry about obtuse puzzles. Nigoro wants you to feel like a fool. If you start to think the game is impossible, you'll never beat it. Instead, you have to prepare a general plan to carry you, a plan you'll comeback everytime the game will feel impossible. Good mindset is the condition to beat this game.


Solving puzzles is always about transcribing what a tablet says, with a specific action into a specific place. Remember that the game gives everything to be solved, if you are lost, it means you lack the piece of information or you didn't understand something.Stick to the followings, I couldn't beat the game if I couldn't recall them to me :


-SCAN EVERYWHERE : tablets and corpses are not the only thing you can scan, your tool can also scan background, don't forget this !

-Hints are 99% used one time.

-When figuring out a tablet, look to the others who have the same (key)words : this is where having the discord server really shines.

-You'll accomplish tons of progression without realizing it, and even progress into sequences of puzzles without understanding why : you just have to accept it, because puzzles can be so obstuse from time to time that you're blindly making progress. This can be linked to the next advice...

-Backtrack a lot : sometimes, without realizing it, something you did on one field will unlock a path on the other field. Since fields are small (5*5, less than a minute to do the whole trip), backtracking in La-Mulana is easier than any games. This is also where drawing maps become precious, because when you get an item, by looking at the map, you can guess if you can unlock something or not.

-Forcing some fights : if you have really no ideas on how to progress but you have encountered sub bossed or guardians, try to fight them, as they will unlock progression. If you struggle against them, using sub weapons can help a lot.

-Most of the time, the answer to a given puzzle will be more simple than it seems : stone tablets are sometimes very long and lore heavy. The amount of information might let you believe that the answer of a puzzle is a terrifying sequence, while it is actually your mind who does too much. In this case, you should read the tablets literally, as some puzzles are, in fact, just literally what the tablets are saying.

-Some puzzles require out of the box thinking : La-Mulana seems limited at first, but you'll be surprised at the amount of solutions that needs you to have a out of the box logic. Even though the simple 2D platformer gameplay has a lot of limits, for solving puzzles, sometimes, you have to come with very ingenious and out of the box solutions.

-Instead of walking straight, just jump and hit with the whip, you'll be surprised by how many times this can reveal something : many puzzles (not always mandatory) needs you to break something unexpected, and there are so many puzzles likes this in the game, than if you do random whip hit, one moment or another you'll find unexpected treasure.

-Bruteforce : similar to the previous point, many puzzles can be bruteforce the hints are too obstuse for you. Sometimes, bruteforce is the first key to understand the logic of a puzzle. This works very well when one puzzle requires you to use an item in a specific place. If you have guessed the place but not item, just use everything in your inventory, and eventually it will work.

-As soon as you make progress, come back to two specific NPCs, you'll know which ones, since they comment your progress. One of them gives a lot of must have hint to progress into the game.

-Logical deduction : every so often, you will KNOW that a puzzle lies here but you DON'T KNOW how to solve it. Try to be a little imaginative but still grounded. What I mean is, for instance, you have unlocked a new item, make an effort to guess what could be its use. You have seen the name of an item somewhere ? Go into the manual and read about the item(actually this saved me two times in the game). You have still never used this hint, then maybe its the time to work on it. You have seen many times the same keyword on tablets ? One element you have seen many times but you still didn't use ? Maybe it is the moment to solve a big puzzle. The goal here is to identify that a puzzle exist, if possible where it is solved, what do you need, and aiming for the answer. This advice seems abstract, but thinking like this saved me tons of troubles.

The fight is too hard

Well, La-Mulana is a git gud game. You'll die again and again, and facing sub bosses and guardians is not an exception to this. I'll disappoint you because I can't give you a best answer : try it again because every fight is winnable and fair, or go explore the ruins.

If you want to play without guide, fights would be even harder, since items that make fights easier are really well hidden.

Still, it is technically possible to finish the whole game with base whip and 36 hp. Beating bosses in La-Mulana is all about mastering patterns. If you can predict attacks, you'll never be touched. Don't be surprised if you end up nohit some bosses. So don't give up and try it again, eventually you'll beat the tough guy. Again, sub weapons can make a big difference during some fights.