The Life of the Blessed Hand

VÆ VICTIS

Woe to the Conquered

The Life of the Blessed Hand

A companion to Væ Victis: the story, the systems and the complete guide

Vae victis.

The Life of the Blessed Hand is not our title. It is the church’s. In the church’s language a life is the story of a saint, set down for the faithful to read, and the Blessed Hand is the name the church gives Wick. The opening scroll of the game is that life, read aloud to him over his body.

This book borrows the title and keeps it honest. Read it once now, as the church means it. Read it again when you have finished the game: it will not say the same thing twice, and the reason why is under the last seal of the first chapter.

It explains the world before you walk into it, so the story lands the first time, and it keeps the solution to everything under seals you break only when you choose.

NOTEHow to read this book

Three books in one. The Grimoire is the story and the people, set like an old illuminated book. The Manual is how Wick works, set like the strategy guides of the nineties: callouts, tells, numbers. The Walkthrough is the road itself, link by link. After them comes the back matter: the album of the score, how every pixel is made, the collector’s box and its keepsakes, and a short making of.

Three readers. Every chapter is marked for whom it serves most. Newcomer: you have not played, or you have just begun. Lore chaser: you want every name, every document, every rhyme. Streamer: you want to know what is coming so you can stage it, without ruining it for the chat.

Two voices in the margins. The game’s own lines are set with the speaker’s tag and their line id, exactly as the game says them. Notes on ruled slips with a small red seal are the book’s own voice, kept in the manner of the priest’s ledger: an accountant’s summary of what the game has shown, never a line from the game and never anything the game has not established.

The seals. Anything that spoils lies under a wax seal. A red seal marked I opens after the first house falls. A black seal marked II is the middle of the game. A gold seal marked VII is the ending. Click a seal to break it. On paper, the sealed pages are gathered at the back as Appendix A.

UNDECIDEDThis is the phase A edition

The story, the people and the systems are written. The walkthrough is a skeleton: the order, the routes, the bosses and the secrets are laid out, and every screenshot it still needs is a marked slot (SHOT and CLIP). The guided road it follows is being built now, so wherever the design is not settled the text says TBD instead of guessing. Numbers are the build of 4 October 2026 and may be retuned.

Book One · The Grimoire

The world, the houses, the people and the voice below. Read it before you play, or after a long night.

  1. IOpen ItThe primer. The city, the boy, the voice below, the one button that matters.NewcomerStreamer
  2. IIThe City and Its HousesThe city on the hill, the hall under the cathedral, the season, the counters, and the six great houses.NewcomerLore chaserStreamer
  3. IIIThe GalleryEvery character that matters, as gallery entries: who they are, what they say, who they owe. Secrets sealed.Lore chaserStreamerNewcomer
  4. IVThe One BelowThe god in the fire: his rules of speech, what he does, the argument Wick never loses, and (sealed) who he was.Lore chaserStreamerNewcomer
  5. VThe Clues in Plain SightThe calendar, the mould, the wall, the scratches, the ledger: a reading list for the mystery, with every answer sealed.Lore chaserStreamer

Book Two · The Manual

How Wick works: blood, forms, arms, gifts, death, the rites, the skins, and every boss’s tells.

  1. 1Blood and FeedingThe red orb and the blue, every source of blood, the bite, the price of feeding on the town, and the habits that keep Wick alive.NewcomerStreamernumbers as of 2026-10-04
  2. 2The FormsThe bat, the crows and the mist: what each goes through, what stops it, what it costs, and the one table that explains the level design.NewcomerStreamerLore chasernumbers as of 2026-10-04; the mist is designed, not built
  3. 3Arms and the KitEvery weapon with its chain and its move, the swap and the wheel, and Wick’s innate powers with their costs and the rooms where they fail.NewcomerStreamernumbers as of 2026-10-04
  4. 4Gifts of the DeadThe six gifts from below, one per house: how to cast them, their prices, the rooms where they fail, and the ways they reopen the world.NewcomerStreamerLore chasernumbers as of 2026-10-04; foresight is designed, not built
  5. 5Death and Its CostWhat happens when Wick falls, what it costs, how the remarks teach, and how a house prepares for your return.NewcomerStreamernumbers as of 2026-10-04
  6. 6The RitesThe house as a siege in stages, the rules every rite keeps, kill or spare and their consequences, the forced kills, witnesses and the counters.NewcomerStreamerLore chaser
  7. 7SkinsClassic, Bright Red and Silver Dark: how to wear them, what changes, and what does not.NewcomerStreameras of 2026-10-04
  8. 8The BossesA panel per boss in road order: wounds, phases, every move’s wind-up, floor ink and pose, the openings, what the house does when you die, and the god’s remark.StreamerNewcomerLore chasernumbers from the build of 2026-10-04; tells shorten as houses fall

Book Three · The Walkthrough

The guided road, link by link, to the opening of the world; then the open world, the last two houses, the finale and everything optional. Skeleton edition: the routes are drawn, the screens are slots.

  1. 0The PrologueFrom the dark grave to the bat: the haven, the churchyard, the graveyard court and Andrevel.NewcomerStreamerskeleton · built content
  2. 1The Labyrinth GardensThe King’s maze as the bat, the Penitent on the Height, the crows, the crow run, the Pleasance and Ambry.NewcomerStreamerskeleton · built (G0 to G2); the Man of Secrets’ late content is designed
  3. 2The TowerThe gutter and the orphanage, then the Earl Marshal’s keep: three ways in, two lieutenants, the circle and the gap.NewcomerStreamerskeleton · the Tower is built; its two cinematics and the two-body rule are new for the guided road
  4. 3The WheelThe travelling circus and its seer, the Assayer’s acid falls, and the Prince of Coin’s wager room.NewcomerStreamerskeleton · circus, works and exchange built; foresight, the conduit and the two cinematics are new
  5. 4The GreenwoodThe sunlit wood, the outlaws’ tests, the camp in the branches, and the raid on the tithe barn.NewcomerStreamerskeleton · the Greenwood is built and dressed; the whistle and the Master as a required boss are new
  6. 5Marrowmere and the EmpressThe Stair of Pools, the head-gate, the Duchess’s cistern rite, Snuff’s turn on her road, and Slack Water down to the summons.NewcomerStreamerskeleton · the Falls and the Empress are built; the river stops, the turn’s move to this road and the three cinematics are new
  7. 6The SummonsThree ways up to the crown, the casks and the kennels, and the feast laid in a triangle.NewcomerStreamerskeleton · the crown is built in graybox; the buttery’s cellar exit and the two cinematics are new
  8. 7The OpeningMother Carrion’s rooks, the pact on Rook Knoll, and everything that unlocks after the King.NewcomerStreamerskeleton · the pact is built; its move to this point, the cinematic and the new locks are designed
  9. 8The Open WorldThe five regions of the Wastes, their towns and gateways, the five masters the god keeps, and the roads between.NewcomerStreamerLore chaserskeleton · the five regions are built in graybox and dressed in part
  10. 9The High PriestessAcross the South Bridge to the marsh convent: the rings of sound, the Black Coachman, and the Marchioness in the dark.NewcomerStreamerskeleton · the house is built in graybox
  11. 10The MagicianUp the quarry’s terraces, read the plans left open, crush the twins in the seams, and set the machine to bring the President down.NewcomerStreamerskeleton · the house is built in graybox
  12. 11The CanonisationThe church opens: the homily, the kneeling heads, the hunt through the gutter, the priest’s last visit, and the Bishop’s rite.NewcomerStreamerskeleton · the church and the Bishop’s rite are built in graybox
  13. 12The DescentDown the stair behind the orphanage altar to the last room. Everything here is sealed.StreamerLore chaserskeleton · built in graybox; the rooms’ staging is partly designed
  14. 13Everything OptionalAmbry’s hints and hunts, the Hedge-King, the Rat King and the Barghest, the optional late fight, the mist’s rooms, and the rest of the side roads.Lore chaserStreamerNewcomerskeleton · Ambry’s hints are built; the hunts, the full late fight and the mist are designed, not built

Back Matter · The Keepsakes

The album, the art book, the collector’s box and the making of: the things that came out of the game.

  1. The MusicThe album of the score: the fourteen in-world titles in the order you meet them, what you hear and where it plays. Links the soundtrack page.NewcomerLore chaserStreameras of 2026-10-06 · the album is a keepsake rendered from the live score
  2. How Every Pixel Is MadeA condensed art book: the palette, the figures rendered from a model in eight directions, the pictures drawn by recipe, the dither, and where every piece comes from.Lore chaserStreameras of 2026-10-06 · condensed from the full art book
  3. The Collector’s Box and KeepsakesThe big box, the jewel case, the disc, the manual, the paper inside, the cards, the stickers and pins, the poster, the merch and the wallpapers, with their faces and their words.NewcomerLore chaserStreameras of 2026-10-06 · keepsakes are drafts the owner has seen
  4. Making OfA short making-of from the design documents and the repository’s history, with the owner quoted only where his words are recorded verbatim.Lore chaserStreameras of 2026-10-06 · short version of the making-of page