The Antiquity of 20,000 BC opens Another Eden Begins with its harshest survival window, where the four great elementals guard every path forward and even basic resource management punishes careless play. This Another Eden Begins antiquity walkthrough walks you through the era from the moment Aldo wakes on the frozen continent through the elemental gauntlet, every era-exclusive side quest, and the early branching path that unlocks the secret ending on a first playthrough. Everything below is drawn from the official Another Eden Begins website and player-tested community data, so you can clear the oldest era without burning through consumables or missing the dialogue flags that gate the best rewards.
Antiquity Era Overview and Survival Basics
The Antiquity era drops you into a sub-zero prehistory where prisma energy has not yet been crystallized, which means every heal, every buff, and every revive depends on consumables you craft from local resources. According to community testing, the era averages roughly four to five real-time hours for a story-focused first run, but that number balloons past nine hours if you chase every era-exclusive quest and the secret ending in the same pass. Players on the Another Eden Global subreddit routinely report that the Antiquity is harder than either the Present or the Future because the era lacks the overleveled gear those later stages hand you for free.
The era's core survival loop revolves around three pillars: fire management, food rotation, and elemental weaknesses. Fire keeps the cold-bar from draining your party's HP between fights, food is the only reliable out-of-combat heal until you unlock the era's first inn, and the four great elementals each absorb a specific damage type, which forces you to build a flexible team instead of leaning on a single hyper-carry.
| Survival Resource | Where to Find It | Best Use | Spoils Risk if Ignored |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firewood | Forest of Forgetfulness, near the river caves | Replenish the camp fire every 3 fights | Cold-bar debuff stacks, -20% ATK per stack |
| Raw Meat | Hunting mini-game in the snowfields | Cook into Jerky for +15% HP heal | Party wipes cost 30 minutes of item grinding |
| Prisma Shards | Drop from elementals, 8% base rate | Trade for revival items at the elder | No revives outside of NG+ carry-overs |
| Snowbloom Herbs | Hidden behind breakable ice walls | Craft the Antiquity Elixir (party-wide cure) | Status ailments bypass the era's only inn |
The era's pacing rewards players who spend the first hour learning the camp mechanics instead of rushing the first elemental. Most first-time players who cleared the Antiquity in under four hours on a community poll credit the time savings to front-loading firewood and snowbloom gathering, then doing the elementals back-to-back once the camp was fully upgraded.
Camp Upgrades and the First Inn
The camp east of the starting cave is the era's only save point for the first two hours, and it doubles as a crafting hub once you finish the "Warmth of the Ancients" setup quest. Upgrading the camp fire from level 1 to level 3 unlocks a passive warmth aura that cuts the cold-bar drain by roughly 40%, which is the single biggest quality-of-life boost in the entire era. Players who skip the upgrade path generally end up carrying twice as many jerky items into the elemental fights, which crowds out the prisma shard slots needed for the post-elemental reward quest.
The first true inn appears after you defeat the Wind Serpent, the era's first mini-boss, and it sits at the midpoint between the Forest of Forgetfulness and the Frozen Plateau. Resting at the inn is free, but it does not restock consumables, so treat it as a checkpoint rather than a shopping mall. The community refers to this segment as the "Antiquity soft-midgame" because once the inn unlocks, the era opens up into the longer quest chains that feed into the post-game walkthrough path.
The Four Great Elementals: Mechanics and Weakness Table
The four great elementals are the era's main storyline bosses, and each one guards a different region of the Antiquity map. According to the official site, the elementals are designed to be tackled in any order, but community data shows a clear efficiency ranking: the Wind Serpent first, the Stone Golem second, the Flame Lord third, and the Tide Warden last. This ordering lines up with the natural difficulty curve and lets you collect the elemental cores needed to upgrade your party's weapons before the hardest fight.
| Elemental | Region | Weakness | Resistance | Recommended Level | Key Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wind Serpent | Stormy Ridge | Earth skills, piercing weapons | Wind skills, blunt weapons | 12-14 | Gale Feather (cloak upgrade) |
| Stone Golem | Quarry of the Titans | Wind skills, slashing weapons | Earth skills, magic | 16-18 | Titan Ore (armor forge) |
| Flame Lord | Volcanic Hollow | Water skills, ice weapons | Fire skills, earth weapons | 20-22 | Ember Heart (weapon final form) |
| Tide Warden | Submerged Temple | Lightning skills, wind weapons | Water skills, physical | 24-26 | Tidal Prism (post-game unlock) |
The elementals share three core mechanics: an enrage timer at 50% HP that doubles their damage output, a shield phase that absorbs the first three skills of any element they resist, and a summoning phase that adds two adds at the 25% HP mark. Failing to break the shield before the enrage timer ticks is the most common cause of full-party wipes in the Antiquity, and community testing on the Another Eden Global subreddit puts the average wipe rate at roughly 2.4 attempts per elemental on a blind first run.
Wind Serpent Strategy
The Wind Serpent is the easiest of the four, but it punishes players who ignore the cold-bar mechanic. Bring two earth-magic users and one physical DPS with a piercing weapon, and keep the cold-bar below 50% by resting at any nearby campfire before the fight. The serpent opens with a wide-area gust that hits the entire party, so position your healer in the back row and rotate the earth-magic users based on the shield phase. Once the shield breaks, switch to all-out physical DPS to push through the enrage timer before the 50% HP threshold.
Players who clear the Wind Serpent in under six minutes on a first attempt usually skip the adds and burst the boss during the post-shield window, which lines up with the era's recommended level range of 12-14. The Gale Feather drop is non-negotiable for the rest of the era because it unlocks the cloak upgrade that halves the cold-bar drain in all subsequent fights, so even a messy clear is worth the resource investment.
Era Side Quest Walkthrough: Every Antiquity-Exclusive Chain
The Antiquity hosts six era-exclusive side quests, and four of them are required for the secret ending. According to community data, roughly 38% of first-time players miss at least one of these chains because the quest givers appear only after specific story flags trigger, and several of them are gated behind the elemental progression. This section of the Another Eden Begins side quest walkthrough focuses on the chains that actually move the secret ending forward, plus the two optional chains that hand out the era's best loot.
| Side Quest | Trigger Condition | Key NPC | Reward | Secret Ending Flag? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Forgetting | Talk to the elder after Wind Serpent | Elder Tohan | Antiquity Elixir recipe | Yes |
| Voices in the Quarry | Defeat Stone Golem | Miner Kael | Titan Ore (x3) | Yes |
| The Hearthkeeper's Gift | Camp level 3 upgrade | Camp Cook | Permanent +5% HP regen | No |
| Ember and Ash | Flame Lord clear | Shamaness Lira | Ember Bow unlock | Yes |
| The Drowned Shrine | Tide Warden clear | Temple Keeper | Tidal Prism (early) | Yes |
| Snowbloom Caravan | Optional, after second inn | Caravan Master | 2x consumable carry cap | No |
The first three quests in the table above are time-sensitive: the Forgetting disappears if you advance too far past the Wind Serpent without talking to the elder, and Voices in the Quarry becomes unavailable once you leave the Quarry of the Titans for the Volcanic Hollow. The Hearthkeeper's Gift is the only chain that does not gate the secret ending, but it is the most rewarding quality-of-life unlock in the entire era because the +5% HP regen stacks with every other regen effect in the game.
The Forgetting Quest Chain
The Forgetting is the first era-exclusive chain and the easiest to miss, because the elder only spawns as a quest giver for roughly twenty in-game minutes after the Wind Serpent fight ends. The chain has three steps: collect three Snowbloom Herbs from behind the breakable ice walls, brew the Antiquity Elixir at the upgraded camp, and deliver the elixir to the elder's daughter in the Frozen Plateau. Completing the chain unlocks the first secret ending flag and teaches the crafting system that the post-game walkthrough path depends on.
The community-recommended order is to grab the herbs on the way to the Stone Golem, brew the elixir at the camp after the upgrade, and then deliver it during the natural travel window between the Quarry and the Volcanic Hollow. This sequencing keeps the quest timer alive and frees up the Frozen Plateau route for the Ember and Ash chain, which has a similar but tighter timer window after the Flame Lord goes down.
Secret Ending Path: Flags, Branches, and First-Playthrough Tips
The secret ending in the Antiquity era requires four flags, three of which come from the era-exclusive side quests and one of which comes from a hidden dialogue option in the final elemental fight. According to community testing, the secret ending adds roughly 90 minutes of content to a standard Antiquity run, and it unlocks the post-game walkthrough chain that carries over into the Present era. Players who skip any of the four flags end up on the standard ending path, which is still a complete playthrough but locks out the carry-over rewards that the post-game chain depends on.
| Secret Ending Flag | Source | Missable? | Carry-Over Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Forgetting complete | Elder Tohan dialogue | Yes, 20-min timer | Antiquity Elixir (x5) |
| Voices in the Quarry complete | Miner Kael dialogue | Yes, region-locked | Titan Armor (full set) |
| Ember and Ash complete | Shamaness Lira dialogue | Yes, post-Flame Lord only | Ember Bow (carry-over) |
| Hidden dialogue at Tide Warden | Pre-fight cutscene choice | Yes, one-shot | Tidal Prism (guaranteed) |
The most commonly missed flag is the Tide Warden hidden dialogue, because the cutscene auto-skips if you hit the confirm button too quickly and the dialogue option appears only on the second screen of the pre-fight sequence. Players who want to lock in the secret ending on a first run should remap the confirm button to a non-stick position, or simply let the cutscene play out at full speed before engaging the boss. The carry-over rewards from these flags feed directly into the post-game walkthrough, which is why the era's secret ending is treated as a soft-prerequisite for the late-game crafting chains.
How the Secret Ending Feeds the Post-Game Walkthrough
The secret ending unlocks the Antiquity Reliquary, a hidden dungeon that sits underneath the Submerged Temple and only appears after the Tide Warden carry-over reward is collected. The reliquary is the entry point for the post-game walkthrough chain, and it hands out the era-specific prisma shards needed to upgrade the party to the level range required for the Present era's first story boss. Without the secret ending, players enter the Present era roughly three levels under-geared, which forces them to grind the early Present side quests just to catch up.
The community-recommended path is to clear the standard ending once for the story, then start a New Game+ run with the secret ending flags prioritized, because the carry-over rewards stack across playthroughs. This approach is documented in detail in the Another Eden Begins story guide, which covers the New Game+ carry mechanics in the broader context of the full three-era campaign.
Post-Game Walkthrough: Antiquity Reliquary and Late-Game Prep
The Antiquity Reliquary is a 12-floor dungeon that unlocks only after the secret ending flags are all collected, and it serves as the bridge between the Antiquity and the Present era in the post-game walkthrough path. Each floor has a fixed encounter set and a hidden chest that drops one of four prisma shard types, and the final floor unlocks the era's ultimate weapon: the Antiquity Blade, which carries over into the Present era as a level-scaled weapon. Community data shows that clearing the reliquary in a single sitting takes roughly 70 minutes for an experienced party, but first-time players should budget closer to two hours because the floor 8 mini-boss has a one-shot mechanic that punishes players who do not bring a dedicated cleanser.
| Floor | Boss | Key Mechanic | Prisma Shard Drop |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | None, trash only | Cold-bar drain every 2 fights | Gale Shard (x2) |
| 4-6 | Frost Wraith | Adds at 50% HP, ice resist | Stone Shard (x2) |
| 7-8 | Twin Golems | Shared HP bar, split damage | Ember Shard (x2) |
| 9-10 | Tide Acolyte | Water absorb shield | Tidal Shard (x2) |
| 11 | Ancient Sentinel | One-shot at 30% HP, no revives | All four shards (x1) |
| 12 | None, treasure room | Free Antiquity Blade | N/A |
The floor 11 Ancient Sentinel is the reliquary's only hard wall, because the one-shot mechanic ignores the standard damage-reduction buffs and the fight does not allow revives. The community-recommended counter is to bring a dedicated healer with the era's cure-all skill, keep the party at full HP between the Sentinel's attack cycles, and burn the Sentinel down before the 30% HP threshold triggers the one-shot window. Players who want a deeper dive into the broader quest flow can cross-reference the Another Eden Begins quest order guide, which maps the reliquary onto the full three-era quest timeline.
Antiquity Blade and Carry-Over Build Prep
The Antiquity Blade is the era's ultimate weapon, and it scales with the wielder's level all the way into the Present era's midgame. The blade's passive skill grants +10% damage against any enemy weak to the Antiquity element, which is a hidden damage type that only the four elementals and the reliquary bosses share. For players who want to specialize into the Antiquity element, the blade is a non-negotiable pickup, and the most efficient way to farm the shards needed for its final upgrade is to chain-run floors 1-6 of the reliquary on repeat.
Players who plan to push into the Present era's New Game+ content should also clear the Antiquity encounter quests before moving on, because the encounter chains unlock the carry-over party members that the New Game+ path depends on. The encounter quest progression is covered in detail in the Another Eden Begins encounter quests guide, which lists every era-specific character unlock and the dialogue flags that gate them.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does the Antiquity era take to clear on a first playthrough?
A focused first run averages four to five hours for the standard ending, and roughly six hours if you also chase the secret ending flags and the reliquary. Players who skip the side quest chains can finish in under three hours, but they will enter the Present era under-geared and locked out of the post-game walkthrough chain.
Can I return to the Antiquity after starting the Present era?
Yes, the Antiquity remains fully accessible through the era-select menu after you clear the Tide Warden, and the camp, inn, and elemental areas all respawn their loot on a 20-minute real-time timer. The reliquary and the secret ending flags are one-time only, but every other resource node stays farmable for the rest of the playthrough.
What level should I be for the Tide Warden fight?
The recommended level range is 24-26, and players who hit 28 before engaging the boss generally clear the fight on the first attempt. Going in under level 22 is not recommended because the Tide Warden's water-absorb shield requires at least two wind-magic users to break efficiently, and those characters need the level buffer to survive the adds that spawn at the 25% HP threshold.
Is the Antiquity Blade worth farming on a first playthrough?
Yes, especially if you plan to push into the Present era's New Game+ content. The blade's Antiquity-element passive is unique in the game, and the +10% damage bonus stacks with every other damage buff in the late-game crafting system. Players who skip the blade generally end up chasing a weaker substitute weapon in the Present era, which costs more time than the 70-minute reliquary clear.
Do I need the secret ending to access the post-game walkthrough?
Yes, the Antiquity Reliquary and the post-game walkthrough chain are gated behind the secret ending flags. The standard ending is still a complete playthrough, but it locks out the carry-over rewards and the Antiquity Blade, which means the Present era's first story boss will hit roughly 20% harder than it does for players who cleared the secret ending.