Nocturne: 100% Achievement Guide and Missables
Nocturne has 38 achievements: 11 story achievements, 13 gameplay challenges, 12 missables and 2 item achievements. This page gives the requirement for every one, and for each missable, the chapter it belongs to and where to look. It names chapters, characters and places from the whole story, but not boss names or the ending.
Short version: 10 story achievements come from playing and Perfect Sync from the Options menu, so none of the 11 can be missed. All 13 challenge achievements can still be earned after the story in Arcade mode. The 12 missables are the ones to plan for, and three of them are in Chapter 1: Found you!, how did you know? and It’s still got a lil’ fizz. Check the missables table before you leave each chapter. For the 2 item achievements nobody has pinned down a deadline, so finish them during the story to be safe.
Story achievements
10 unlock from playing the story and Perfect Sync comes from the Options menu. None of the 11 can be missed.
| Achievement | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Perfect Sync | Run Latency Calibration from the Options menu, at any time |
| Chapter 1 to Chapter 8 | Eight achievements, one for beating the boss at the end of each chapter |
| The End of the Beginning | Unlocks automatically as the story moves forward |
| The Beginning of the End | Unlocks automatically as the story moves forward |
Gameplay challenge achievements
These 13, the seven below plus the six Rank achievements, come from the rhythm fights. None are missable, so the hard ones can wait until after the story.
Full Combo
Clear any level without breaking your combo. Autoplay does not count.
Stagger
Bring an enemy’s health down to zero. That stuns it, and the first time it happens the achievement unlocks.
In sync with the silence
Pull off one Riposte. You can only do this once you have the Ancient Katana, which you get when Chapter 3 is over. To riposte, attack just before an enemy’s attack lands. Every enemy has a different timing, so watch the attack animation and learn when the hit actually connects.
They’re so satisfying to hit
Touch 20 mines in one level and still clear it. Mines are the red notes. Hitting them is not enough on its own: you have to survive to the end of the level.
Keep it going
Keep an enemy staggered for 50 seconds in one level. Long boss levels make this easier, and so do the Chapter 7 enemies, whose songs run long.
If it is not happening, come back later. Your character level carries over, so once it is higher, use Arcade mode to replay an early boss, which you can stagger with little effort. Keep hitting an enemy while it is staggered, because each hit adds to how long the stagger lasts. The Spiked Rebar, Flawless Sigil and Woven Bandanna all help.
Ninja like reflexes
Score 10 crits back to back. Bosses are the best place for this, since they attack more often.
Space Ninja
Land a riposte on a Catena. Catenas show up in the void section of Chapter 5. Their attack animation is long. Wait until the two streaks of the Catena’s attack have left its body, then attack just before they reach you.
Rank achievements
Each needs the listed rank or better on every melody in the game. Every melody has to be on the same difficulty, so do not mix difficulties.
| Achievement | Rank needed on every melody |
|---|---|
| Rank D | D or better |
| Rank C | C or better |
| Rank B | B or better |
| Rank A | A or better |
| Rank S | S or better |
| Rank S+ | S+ |
Missable achievements checklist
These 12 are in story order. “No” in the last column means it has to be done during the story. For the three marked “Yes”, the achievement can wait, but the item it needs has to be picked up during the story.
| Achievement | When | After the story? |
|---|---|---|
| Found you! | Chapter 1 | No |
| how did you know? | Chapter 1 | No |
| It’s still got a lil’ fizz | Chapter 1 to the end of the game | No |
| DUCK | Chapters 2 to 7 | No |
| That hurt my brain | Chapter 3 | No |
| The most powerful Crawler | Chapter 3 | No |
| I knew someone would try this | Chapter 4 (Pool Noodle) | Yes |
| BONK | Chapter 4 (Pool Noodle) | Yes |
| Just one more, please! | Chapter 5 | No |
| but this is the best part! | After the Chapter 6 boss, before Chapter 7 | No |
| EMP | Chapter 8 (or the Yama vendor) | Yes |
| MAX LEVEL | Before the final area of Chapter 8 | No |
Found you!
This is in Chapter 1, the first time you reach Satoru’s house and Kimothy runs off to hide. Do not carry on with the dialogue. Walk into the trees on the right side of the campfire and keep moving around in there until an inspect prompt shows up. Inspect it to find Kimothy and unlock the achievement.
how did you know?
In Chapter 1 you reach a locked door, and Kimothy asks you to put in a code. Enter 1384 at the keypad before he reads it off his phone. The door opens and the achievement unlocks.
It’s still got a lil’ fizz
In Chapter 1, Kimothy asks you for a soda. Refuse to hand it over. Hold on to the soda without using it, all the way to the very end of the game. The achievement comes in the finale, after one more step involving the soda that we have not confirmed, so make sure it is still in your inventory when the finale starts.
DUCK
Spot the duck. It appears in several chapters, any time after Chapter 1 and before Chapter 8. Go to Bert and Martha’s house and find the pond just below the crystal. The duck sits at the pond’s bottom left edge, and seeing it is enough.
That hurt my brain
In Chapter 3, Kimothy touches a glitched pillar. Go back to that pillar and inspect it to heal the corruption.
The most powerful Crawler
The Ladybug is a hidden fight in Kai’s lab in Chapter 3.
In the top left part of the lab, find the room that has a switch. Just right of the switch is a short hall that looks empty. Walk to the end of that hall and inspect the wall, and a secret door opens with the Ladybug behind it. Beat the Ladybug’s level, because it cannot be done after the story.
I knew someone would try this
Put an enemy into a stagger while the Pool Noodle is your weapon.
The Pool Noodle has to be picked up during the story. It is in a chest in the mansion you explore in Chapter 4. Go downstairs into the left wing and find the pool room, which is just above the room with the piano. The chest is the one in the pool room’s top left corner. Once you have it, equip it in any fight you like and go for the stagger, even after the story.
It deals little damage, so pick easy targets. Chapter 1 enemies have little health, and a boss gives you a long song to chip away at it. Anything that raises weapon damage makes it much easier.
A faster setup that players found, which worked at the time of writing: wear the Fractured Medallion and the Ceremonial Chain and start a fight with an Exilium enemy. Let exactly one critical note (the white notes) go by, then land a crit. That crit should be just enough to break it into a stagger.
BONK
Land one Pool Noodle hit on the final boss. The Pool Noodle is in a chest in the Chapter 4 mansion and has to be picked up during the story (see I knew someone would try this). After that, this is much easier in Arcade mode after the credits. Equip the Pool Noodle, start the final boss level, land one hit and quit.
Just one more, please!
In Chapter 5 you read stories to Kimothy. Go through all 3 of the stories on offer instead of stopping after one.
but this is the best part!
This window opens after you beat the Chapter 6 boss and closes when Chapter 7 starts. At Asayla’s shop, talk to Asayla on the balcony first. Then go into Kimothy’s room and talk to Satoru and Kimothy, who are watching TV.
EMP
Use the EMP item to end a level before its song is over. In Chapter 8 an EMP sits in the room with the giant fan, and a vendor in Yama sells it too. Arcade mode works for this after the story, but only if you got an EMP during the story first.
MAX LEVEL
Reach level 20 during the story. Levelling after the story does not count, and once you enter the final area of Chapter 8 there is no going back to fight more enemies. A seller in Yama has the Master Textbook. Buy it early and equip it for boss fights, which helps a lot with reaching level 20.
Item achievements
When these two can be done has not been pinned down, so the safe plan is to finish them during the story.
Well that was useless…
Pick up the Broken Capacitor. It is in Kimothy’s room at Asayla’s shop in Yama, the same room as the TV scene for but this is the best part!, tucked behind drawers in the top left corner.
I was saving those for later…
Hold 99 potions at once. It has to be the item actually called Potion. Other consumables do not count. A seller in Yama has them for 300 TKS each, and chests around the game hand out more.