🌱 Beginner Guide - First Steps & Starter Tips

Take it slow and bring everyone home. The Merlies is a cozy, combat-free metroidvania — there are no enemies to grind and no gear to buy. Your job is to explore carefully with your bird squad, rescue the Merlies scattered by the storm, collect scraps on every trip, and build them into your village. Bigger flock, more abilities, more map: that is the whole ladder.

• Explore: lead the squad through the biomes at the flock's pace.
• Rescue: find lost Merlies scattered by the storm and bring them home.
• Collect: gather scraps from every biome — junk is the only currency.
• Build: upcycle scraps into village homes, storage and training.
• Train: prepare housed birds for the next, further expedition.

The official store text is unusually direct about this: your Merlies are "fragile little fellows exposed to the dangers of Nature", and while no creature or fight will block your way, "every thorn, every rock, every tree becomes an obstacle". The skill being tested is care, not reflexes — losing a Merlie on the way is the failure state. Walk routes before you climb them, regroup often, and treat the flock's slowest member as your pace car.

The Merlies launched its demo controller-first, then added full keyboard play in June 2026 after community feedback — both are supported, with key remapping promised for release. Full controller support is confirmed on the Steam page. Check the controls page for the current layout, and pick whichever input makes slow, careful movement feel natural.

• Wishlist on Steam before the September 29 release if you have not already.
• Play the opening at a relaxed pace — meet the flock, learn the storm backstory.
• Practice squad movement: climbing in single file, regrouping at ledges.
• End your first trips at the village with scraps — building starts immediately.
• Mark (mentally or on the in-game map) every passage you cannot yet use.