To survive the cursed pixel-art world crafted by Xyros Games, you cannot rely on your starting gear. If you want to unlock every traversal tool, hidden lore entry, and combat upgrade, completing the Hololive side quests An Automaton's Journey throws at you is non-negotiable. Published under CCMC Corp's holo Indie label on June 4, 2026, this Zelda-like metroidvania stars Cecilia Immergreen fighting to save her fellow members from a mysterious curse. But the critical path only gives you the bare minimum.

The real meat of the game lies in its optional content. Many Steam Community guides vaguely suggest "exploring thoroughly," but they fail to map out the exact trigger conditions for the game's most powerful items. If you look at the top results on IGDB or Keep Track of My Games, they list An Automaton's Journey as a standard 10-hour action RPG. They are missing the point entirely. A 100% completion run, heavily reliant on finishing every single NPC quest, pushes the playtime closer to 35 hours. Kotaku's recent review praised the pixel art but claimed the mid-game difficulty spike was "unforgiving." This is a classic symptom of skipping the Advent branch side quests. If you enter the Crimson Keep without the Moai Shield, you are setting yourself up for failure. This definitive ownership-grade guide breaks down exactly how to start and finish every NPC questline, outperforming the fragmented Reddit threads and incomplete wikis currently cluttering the search results.

Unlocking the Best Hololive Side Quests An Automaton's Journey Features

Before you can start hoarding unique weapons like Gigi's Tail or the Chattini Jetpack, you need to understand how An Automaton's Journey gates its content. The game features 13 main bosses—all corrupted Hololive members—and over 30 types of fan mascots. Defeating a boss doesn't just advance the story; it actively changes the world state, unlocking new dialogue paths for the NPCs waiting in the Central Hub.

Roughly 60% of the game's traversal items are locked behind the Justice and Advent branch side quests. If you attempt to brute-force your way into the late-game Symphony Ruins without completing these optional arcs, you will be mathematically under-leveled and lack the movement tech required to clear the platforming puzzles. The side quests are not decorative filler; they are the architectural spine of the metroidvania experience. By completing the early quests for Gigi and Raora, your hidden "Justice" rating increases, permanently boosting the drop rates for rare items by 15%.

Step-by-Step Hololive Side Quests An Automaton's Journey Walkthrough

The following walkthrough details the exact coordinates, required items, and boss prerequisites to clear every major Hololive NPC storyline. We have divided these into the two primary faction branches that dictate the mid-game progression.

The Justice Branch: Gigi, Raora, and Elizabeth

Gigi Murin: The Phantom Tail

  • Location: The Brass Tunnels (Sector 4)
  • Prerequisite: Defeat the Chapter 1 Boss.
  • Objective: Gigi is hiding inside a massive, rusted clockwork gear near the region's primary save point. She tasks Cecilia with recovering 5 "Gremlin Gears" scattered throughout the tunnels. These gears are guarded by corrupted Takodachi enemies. Finding the 5 Gremlin Gears isn't just a matter of walking to a waypoint. Gear 1 is located behind the first steam-vent puzzle in Sector 2. Gear 2 is dropped by the Elite Takodachi guarding the eastern valve. Gear 3 is hidden behind a breakable wall near the save point. Gear 4 sits at the bottom of the flooded gear-shaft, requiring precise platforming. Gear 5 is rewarded after surviving the 60-second lockdown room in Sector 4.
  • Reward: Gigi's Tail. This is arguably the most important early-game item. It functions as a whip that deals double damage to unarmored foes, but more importantly, its retractable cable extends up to 15 in-game meters, allowing you to grapple onto the golden rings suspended over chasms.

Raora Panthera: The Pink Panthera's Palette

  • Location: Canvas Caverns
  • Prerequisite: Acquire Gigi's Tail to swing across the Canvas Chasm.
  • Objective: Raora is attempting to paint a cure for the mascot curse but lacks the proper materials. You must farm 10 Vials of Magenta Ink. Do not waste time farming standard enemies; the ink only drops from the elite Ink-Slimes located in the lower flooded sections of the caverns. The Canvas Caverns introduce the game's liquid physics mechanics, meaning the Ink-Slimes hide within the magenta waterfalls and will ambush you if you sprint through the biome blindly.
  • Reward: Chattini Jetpack. A game-changer for horizontal movement, allowing Cecilia to hover over medium-sized gaps and bypass floor traps entirely.

Elizabeth Rose Bloodflame: A Queen's Brew

  • Location: Crimson Keep
  • Prerequisite: Defeat the Chapter 3 Boss.
  • Objective: Elizabeth demands a cup of "Royal Earl Grey" before she will assist you. The tea leaves are located in the Keep's west wing, guarded by the Ruffian Knight miniboss. The Crimson Keep is the game's first true skill check. The Ruffian Knight has a three-hit combo that will instantly kill Cecilia if you haven't upgraded her base health.
  • Reward: Scarlet Greatsword. A massive damage upgrade that shatters heavy armor, essential for the late-game boss rush.

The Advent Branch: Bijou, Nerissa, and FuwaMoco

Koseki Bijou: Moai's Minerals

  • Location: Crystal Caves
  • Prerequisite: Access the caves using the Chattini Jetpack.
  • Objective: Bijou wants 15 Shiny Pebbles. Be warned: the game actively trolls you here. The "Pebbles" are also the names of the deadly rock-type fan mascots that populate the area. You must defeat 15 of these surprisingly lethal enemies to harvest their shiny cores. The Crystal Caves feature pitch-black segments where the only light source comes from the glowing geodes on the enemies' backs, turning this farming route into a tense survival horror sequence.
  • Reward: Moai Shield. This defensive tool perfectly deflects incoming projectiles and is mandatory for surviving the bullet-hell phases of the final bosses.

Fuwawa & Mococo: The Ruffian Rescue

  • Location: Ruffian Wastes
  • Prerequisite: Defeat the Chapter 4 Boss.
  • Objective: The twins have lost control of 10 runaway Pero dogs. You must track them down across the ruined desert environment. The Ruffian Wastes are a sprawling, open-ended desert zone. The 10 runaway Pero dogs have advanced pathfinding AI; they run away if you approach too quickly. You must use the Chattini Jetpack to hover silently above them and drop down to capture them.
  • Reward: Twin Claws. These allow Cecilia to scale vertical walls, opening up the final 20% of the game map.

Nerissa Ravencroft: Song of the Soup

  • Location: Symphony Ruins
  • Prerequisite: Twin Claws required to climb the ruined amphitheater.
  • Objective: Nerissa needs 3 pieces of scattered Sheet Music to complete her masterpiece. The Symphony Ruins operate on a global BPM (Beats Per Minute) timer. The platforms phase in and out on the upbeat, meaning these pieces are hidden behind complex, rhythm-based platforming puzzles.
  • Reward: Demon of Soup. Upgrades your base healing flask, increasing the amount of health restored by 50% and granting a temporary attack buff upon use.

The Lore Implications of the Mascot Curse

Why are you running these errands in the first place? An Automaton's Journey uses its side quests to deliver environmental storytelling that the main critical path glosses over. The mysterious curse that has driven the 13 bosses mad is revealed, piece by piece, through the item descriptions of the quest rewards.

For example, the flavor text on the 10 Vials of Magenta Ink implies that the curse is not magical, but digital—a form of rogue code corrupting the pixel-art world. When you return the 10 runaway Pero dogs to FuwaMoco, their dialogue subtly shifts, suggesting that the mascots themselves were the original carriers of the virus. Reddit lore theorists have spent months debating the timeline, but completing all the side quests provides undeniable in-game evidence that the CCMC Corp universe is interconnected.

Farming Fan Mascots for Quest Items

A massive pain point for players—and a frequent topic of confusion on the Steam forums—is the drop rate of quest items from the 30+ types of fan mascots. The game does not explicitly tell you this, but drop rates are tied to your current completion percentage of the Justice faction quests. If you are grinding for hours in the Crystal Caves without seeing a Shiny Pebble drop, it is because you skipped the early-game side quests. Stop grinding, go back to the Brass Tunnels, and finish Gigi's questline first. The interconnected nature of these quests is exactly why a linear approach fails in this game.

FAQ: Hololive Side Quests An Automaton's Journey

How many side quests are required to beat the game? Technically, zero. An Automaton's Journey can be beaten any% without doing a single side quest. However, doing so requires frame-perfect damage boosting to cross gaps that are otherwise trivialized by the Chattini Jetpack and Gigi's Tail. For a standard playthrough, skipping them is highly discouraged.

Can you miss any Hololive side quests An Automaton's Journey offers? No. Xyros Games designed the metroidvania map to be fully backtrackable. Even after defeating all 13 bosses and curing the curse, you can return to the Central Hub and complete any NPC questlines you bypassed. There are no hard lock-outs.

What is the hardest side quest to complete? Nerissa's "Song of the Soup" in the Symphony Ruins is widely considered the most difficult due to the precise, rhythm-based platforming required to reach the top-tier Sheet Music. You will need to memorize the global BPM timer to survive the phasing platforms.

Do Myth or Promise members have side quests? Currently, the side quests heavily focus on the Justice and Advent branches. However, there are hidden cameos, including a cryptic riddle provided by a time-warden NPC in the post-game, hinting at future DLC or updates from CCMC Corp.