THE LAST GOD: a guide to the controls, combat and bosses of Part 1

The game plays in landscape. A floating stick on the left moves Arin; drag anywhere else on the screen to turn the camera. On-screen hints name the button to press.

• LIGHT: fast lashes. Five presses make the full light string.
• HEAVY: overhead slams. Three presses make the heavy string. Hold it for Updraft, which throws a foe into the air.
• DODGE: a roll. It cancels any attack once that attack has connected, so you can always roll out of a string.
• JUMP: hold for a higher jump, press again in the air for a second jump, and hold while falling to drift down slowly.
• PULL: Tether Pull, and also the use button. It opens chests, swings you from posts, drags blocks and buys upgrades at burned stones.
• FIRE: Ember Surge, a cone of fire about 12 m ahead. It burns thorn seals and has a short cooldown.
• GUARD: hold to block blows from the front with the crossed chains. Tap it just before a blow lands to turn it aside.
• FURY: Ash Fury, once its meter is full: ten seconds of more damage and bigger fire, during which nothing staggers Arin.
• LOCK: locks the camera onto one enemy. Tap again to release.
• The two-bar button at the top right pauses the game. In cutscenes, tap the marked corner to skip.

Arin fights with the Cinder Tethers, two blades on chains of fire, which he wakes in Chapter I. Strings branch:

• LIGHT, LIGHT, HEAVY (Rising Pyre): both blades circle Arin and rise, launching everything around him.
• LIGHT, LIGHT, LIGHT, HEAVY (Ashen Reap): a low sweep that knocks every nearby foe off its feet.
• HEAVY, LIGHT (Brand Lance): a lunge that spears about 8 m ahead and hauls in the first foe it hits.
• In the air: LIGHT strings keep a launched foe up, LIGHT, LIGHT, HEAVY spikes it into the ground so it bounces back, and PULL (Skyhook) zips you to a juggled foe up to 10 m away.

Tether Pull hooks a foe up to 12 m away and hauls it in. A staggered, downed or heavy foe pulls Arin to it instead, and bosses always do. On a foe left open by a heavy blow or a power, PULL grabs it and slams it into the ground.

The same button solves the road. Hook a far post to swing across a gap, and hook an ice slab or a burned trunk to drag it into place. Thorn seals block the way three times in Part 1, and only Ember Surge burns them.

After Chapter II, the pull becomes Undertow: it drags heavier foes and tears shields away.

With GUARD held, LIGHT, HEAVY and FIRE fire three ember powers on their own cooldowns: Cinder Maelstrom pulls foes into a whirl of fire, Rift Brand sends a fire line about 9 m ahead that throws foes up, and Pyreshard throws a blade like a spear that bursts where it lands.

• Roll at the last instant for a perfect dodge: time slows and the attacker is left open.
• Hold GUARD against foes in front of you, and tap it just before a hit to throw the blow aside.
• Break urns and open caches for orbs: heartwood restores health, rage orbs fill Fury, and frost-sap pays for upgrades. Fallen foes drop orbs too.
• Marked chests hold heartwood and ash fragments. Three heartwood fragments raise your maximum health; three ash fragments grow your Fury.

Stand at a burned stone and press PULL to spend frost-sap.

• Tether Edge, three levels (30, 60 and 100 frost-sap): each level makes Tether blows 15% stronger.
• Long Chain, two levels (40 and 80): each level makes the chains fly 12% farther.
• Ember Cyclone (25): hold LIGHT to spin with both chains out.
• Tether Pull (40, after Ember Cyclone): the pull and Skyhook. From Chapter II it is given to you either way.
• Starfall (60, after Tether Pull): HEAVY in the air plunges down and bursts on landing.

Chapter I, First Ember: find your father beside the village well, defend Ashen Pass from the Ashbound, return to him, wake the ember, test your fire on a hunter, burn the thorn seal at the mountain gate, climb the stone path to the old shrine and fight Veyr.

Chapter II, The Drowned Road: break the tithe lanterns in the ruins at dawn, then head east and down the Rimegorge. Expect a patrol on the bridge ledge, two post swings, an ice slab to drag over a broken ledge, a second thorn seal, the Drowned under the frozen river, a fight on the ice, and Mardun at the end of the lantern line.

Chapter III, The Hearthmother's Ashes: the Thornlings and scouts of the Cinderwood, a briar nest to burn, a trunk to drag over a ravine, a wall of black briars, Fenk and the Hearthkeepers' kiln, Shieldbearers on the temple road, a held temple stair, and the Thornwarden at Seyra's temple.

Every boss has a Break gauge that heavy blows, ember powers and Ash Fury fill. When it is full the boss reels for about three seconds: press PULL for Pyre Bind.

Veyr, the Hollow Warden: his armor turns chain lashes aside unless he is recovering or staggered, so dodge his swing and punish the recovery. Ember Surge interrupts his wind-up, and heavy blows break his poise. Below half health he winds up faster and every third swing is a heavy one.

Mardun, the Drowned King: fire only makes steam and plain blows do little. Every so often the shackle-link in his chest glows blue for a few seconds. PULL then hooks him out of the water and he freezes for about six seconds, taking full damage. He also sinks under the ice and rises beside you straight into a slam, so keep moving.

The Thornwarden: cut stems grow back, so blades alone will not finish it. Burn it twice within a few seconds with Ember Surge and its stems sag, baring the tail of its binding knot behind it for about four seconds. Get round to its back and PULL the tail: each pull unravels a quarter of it. It rages for a few seconds after each pull, so dodge, then burn it twice again.

• Ashbound raiders and hunters: pull one out of a group with Tether Pull and fight it alone.
• The Drowned: they climb out of the ice. A blue glow builds before their grab, and close in they spray frost. Roll when the glow peaks.
• Lantern-Wardens: from mid range they raise the lantern, which flares, and throw lantern-fire. A heavy blow or a Tether Pull breaks the lantern and spills orbs.
• Shieldbearers: the tower shield turns light blows from the front. Heavy blows wear it down twice as fast, fire goes past it, and Undertow tears it away.
• Thornlings: a line of glowing cracks runs toward you before thorns burst along it, so step sideways. Cut stems regrow unless fire touched the Thornling in the last three seconds: burn, then cut.

The game saves at every checkpoint. The main menu offers Continue with the chapter you reached, New Game, Chapter Select and Settings; chapters you have not reached are marked in Chapter Select. Settings has graphics quality, subtitles, volume and music.

On an older or warmer phone, lower the graphics quality first. The game needs Android 8.0 or later on a 64-bit phone and about 1.3 GB of space, and once installed it never needs a connection.

The game itself: Part 1 of THE LAST GOD, Unreal build 1.0.4 for Android, its touch layer, Move List, upgrade menu, chapter objectives and enemy behavior, checked on 13 November 2026. THE LAST GOD is made by the same team as HookStep.

• THE LAST GOD: the game
• Press kit
• All Hookstep products