10
Nov

Carto Walkthrough – Chapter 1

10 Nov, 2020

Stuck in Carto? This walkthrough will guide you through the first chapter of the game, including finding Shianan and setting sail.

Welcome to the Into Indie Games walkthrough guide for Carto. This is a puzzle-focused guide to complete the story and it does not cover extras or hidden collectibles.

Learn more about Carto here.

Chapter 1

After starting the game, wait for Carto to wake up and then go straight North until a scrolled-up map comes into view. Interact with it to grab it.

Now bring up the map and connect the disconnected map piece to the piece you’re on. Make sure you rotate it so that the grasslands connect.

Carto walkthrough screenshot

Return to Explore mode and go onto the unexplored piece of the map to find a new Map Piece (the glowing white page of paper). Grab it like you did before.

Now on the Map screen, connect the maps so that you can access the new map piece.

On this piece, you’ll find a man fishing by the sea and a piece of the map. Grab the map piece and talk to the man.

The new map piece has a house. Place it somewhere with an open grassland edge (such as the piece you’re on).

There’s a new Map Piece on the piece with the house, found in a grassy area. Pick it up.

Place this piece on the map, making sure that the light green grasslands connect. The dark green forest edge will not connect to any of your current pieces.

Go to this piece and pick up the new Map Piece here.

Connect the new piece to your current piece, along the Forest edge. At the tip of the peninsula on this piece, you’ll find your next piece.

Carto walkthrough screenshot

When you drop this piece on the Map, you’ll find yet another person to talk to. Talk to them.

The man wants you to take him to ‘east of the house on the grassland’. To take him there, you need to connect the piece he is standing on to the East (i.e. right) of the piece of the house, like below:

Carto screenshot

If you get it right, a new house will appear on the same piece, along with a new person to talk to, and a map piece.

Connect the new map piece to an existing piece and go there. Remember that you can also move the piece you’re on, and that you can leave pieces disconnected until you need them again.

Talk to the kid on the new piece. The hint he gives about finding Shianan is that she lives in a forest that’s much bigger than the one he’s facing.

Wait for the seagulls to land on the piece you’re on and then drive them away to find two new pieces of the map.

Pick up both piece and on the map, connect all the forest-edged pieces you have together to form the biggest forest possible. This will spawn a house on one of the pieces. Go to this piece of the map.

Go indoors into the house once the door is open. Talk to the folks here if you wish, but to proceed, inspect the glowing seashell necklace on the wall near the moustached man.

Go outdoors and connect this piece of the map so that the lake edge connects with another lake.

Carto screenshot

This will cause Shianan to spawn, so go talk to her. To get her the soil she needs, you will need to find a piece where the forest, coastline, and grassland meet.

This piece is easy to find: just look for a piece that has all three kinds of edges, and go there. Remember that if it’s too far, you can even just bring it closer to you.

Interact with the soil on this piece to get it. Give it Shianan and she’ll hand you a new piece.

This piece has the Pier on it, but it should be to the North, so place it to the North of a grassland piece. This will spawn a boat.

Carto screenshot

Head to the pier and talk to the woman on the far right. You may also talk to the others if you wish. Once you’re ready, talk to Shianan. Answer with a Yeah and set sail to Chapter 2.

Head on to the next chapter of Carto here!