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Fighting Kemono isn’t always the easiest job in Wild Hearts, and sometimes, it would be great to get a little bit of help on a hunt. Luckily, there’s a little dude out there waiting to assist you: your friendly Tsukumo.
Tsukumo are adorable round robots that are more than willing to take on terrifying beasts at your side, but if you’re not too far into the game, you might not have found this rolling companion yet. Even if you have, you might’ve missed how you’re supposed to upgrade your orb companion, and those improvements are key to keeping your Tsukumo useful throughout the whole game. Here’s how you can find and upgrade Tsukumo.
How To Find Tsukumo
Before your Tsukumo starts following you around, you can find it and its friends scattered around the various maps in the game. Each zone has a specific amount of these robots hidden away in key locations. For example, there are fifty different Tsukumo to find throughout the Harugasumi Way map, the first location you’ll find yourself in.
Once you find a single Tsukumo, they’ll start following you around and helping out in combat, which can be especially useful since the fights in Wild Hearts can be pretty difficult at times.
Finding Tsukumo is a test of your exploration skills and attention to detail. While many Tsukumo are located near key points in main story missions, many more are placed just beyond the beaten path inside interesting structures or at the top of a well-marked climbable wall.
The best way to find these friends is to keep an eye on what’s directly in front of you while scanning around for points of interest that might draw your eye — you can find tons of these little guys just by being curious about your surroundings. But if that’s not enough, keep an ear out for their tell-tale rattling which will play whenever you get close to one of their hiding spots. Just be careful not to confuse this with the sound of your own Tsukumo rolling up beside you!
Solving Simple Tsukumo Puzzles
Sometimes, you can hear or see Tsukumo that are frustratingly close but inaccessible, whether that’s because they’re behind a seemingly unbreakable barrier or hidden from view. Don’t worry, these puzzles are never too complex! If the Tsukumo is behind a set of vines, build the Torch Karakuri and slash toward the vine. The added flames will help you cut them down.
If you can’t see the Tsukumo easily, try looking behind light foliage or on top of the roof. It’s surprising how many you’ll find this way!
How To Upgrade Your Tsukumo
Upgrading Tsukumo depends on finding more first and foremost. Every Tsukumo you find past the first will award you an Old Cog. You can spend these Old Cogs at a campfire to upgrade various aspects of your Tsukumo.
The abilities your Tsukumo have can very roughly approximate what it feels like to play with a friend. Sometimes it will draw the attention of the Kemono, and other times it will spew out useful healing mist or Karakuri Threads. Whatever the case, it’s certain to help you out and may even save your life every once in a while.
Each upgrade improves the function of the corresponding aspect slightly and, maybe more importantly, may increase your max Karakuri Thread capacity by one. That makes these upgrades a slow but steady way to improve your combat ability.
