Sword of the Sea Abilities: Unlocks, Costs, and Tips

How to Unlock New Abilities

A longer jump can put a hidden rooftop within reach, while another trick gives you more ways to build a combo. Sword of the Sea abilities expand through story progression, Tetra purchases, secret-shell collection, and New Game Plus. Collecting currency and restoring water both pay off by giving you more ways to move through the world.

The Mysterious Vendor exchanges Tetra, the gold triangular currency, for a sequence of rewards. You encounter the vendor along the main route, so keep collecting as you travel rather than returning to an earlier location after every purchase.

Vendor reward	Tetra cost	Cumulative Tetra spent
Tricks	50	50
Spin Tricks	500	550
Drop	1,000	1,550
Super Jump	2,000	3,550
Secret Shell	5,000	8,550

Budget 3,550 Tetra to reach Super Jump, or 8,550 for every vendor reward. The final purchase also matters for completing your secret-shell collection.

Tricks and Spin Tricks expand your aerial repertoire. After unlocking them, cycle through different tricks and directions while jumping to work toward Tricky, the achievement for performing all aerial spin tricks.

You can continue collecting Tetra and buying rewards through New Game Plus and Chapter Select. Missing a purchase during your initial adventure does not mean starting your collection over.

Official page: Sword of the Sea (swordoftheseagame.com)

Hoversword Movement, Boosts, and Environmental Abilities

Your Hoversword combines surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding movement. Build momentum across the terrain, launch from wave crests, and use ramps and halfpipes to gain height.

Image: Steam / Giant Squid

Practice these techniques as you encounter them:

• Halfpipes: Move back and forth to build speed and catch more air. Keep the camera facing your direction of travel to make each approach easier to judge.
• Precision jumps: Line up with small platforms before takeoff, then stop your forward movement when you land.
• Wall rides: Use rideable walls to extend combos and perform tricks without immediately returning to the ground.
• Grinding: Look for rails, chains, and suitable skeletal surfaces that let you continue your route above the ground.
• Jellyfish bounces: Bounce between jellyfish to gain height and keep an aerial sequence going.
• Kelp rides: Use tall kelp stalks to travel upward after restoring water.

Restoration changes the routes available within an area. Revisit nearby structures after water returns: newly appearing wildlife and plants can help you reach places that were harder to access before.

Using Wisp Boosts

Wisps provide bursts of speed, and later areas introduce pillars that supply them when you approach. Use that extra momentum before a long jump, then aim for a jellyfish or another elevated surface to continue traveling without landing.

For Long Distance Jumper, take advantage of the downhill terrain near the early wisp-providing pillars. Launch from a raised platform with a boost and aim farther down the slope to extend your airborne distance.

Follow the boost prompt displayed by your control setup. Learning where to spend a wisp matters more than activating it immediately after collecting one.

How to Earn Tetra for Vendor Rewards

The September 19, 2025 update added a collectible tracker to Chapter Select and another to the pause screen in New Game Plus. Use those trackers when returning for missed collectibles, and gather nearby Tetra while exploring each area.

Image: Steam / Giant Squid

Several activities feed your upgrade budget:

• Treasure chests: Open the gold chests scattered throughout the levels, including those tucked behind short platforming routes.
• Fish tiles: Land on glowing blue tiles to collect their Tetra. Scan rooftops, statues, and elevated platforms for them.
• Breakable objects: Break jars, lamps, crystals, and ice formations along your route.
• Trick Attack challenges: Beat the target score for a substantial Tetra reward.
• Restored areas: Collect the Tetra that appears around newly activated water points.

There are four Trick Attack areas, located in Veiled Sea, Lost Grotto, Shadow Tundra, and Sacred River. Their challenges run for 40–60 seconds, with a target of 8,000 points in the first area and 10,000 in the other three.

Build Combos Before Landing

Alternate tricks while airborne, then extend the sequence through wall riding, grinding, or jellyfish bounces. Touching the ground completes your combo.

For a repeatable practice route, bounce between different jellyfish and perform tricks during the jumps. Returning to the same jellyfish does not increase the combo, so alternate between them.

Glowing boosts on rideable walls trigger a kickflip and add speed and air. Approach them carefully near an edge, where the extra movement can send you off the wall.

If you still need Tetra after finishing the story, replay Frozen Drifts or Sacred River. Break crystals and activate optional water points in Frozen Drifts; collect the currency released around restored areas in Sacred River. Chests and fish tiles become available again during chapter replays and New Game Plus.

How to Unlock Water Rails in Every Level

Water rails become available in Sacred River, the sixth level. Collecting all 50 secret shells lets you use them throughout the game.

Image: Steam / Giant Squid

The collection includes the vendor’s final shell, so exploring the levels alone will not finish it. Complete the vendor reward sequence alongside your shell hunt.

Water rails also support Water Rider, which requires using them four times without touching the ground. In Sacred River:

1. Bounce from a jellyfish near the beginning of the level.
2. Triple jump to trigger a water rail.
3. Jump off the rail and land on the jellyfish.
4. Bounce upward and trigger another rail.
5. Repeat until you have used four rails without landing on the ground.

Keep the jellyfish beneath your return path. It provides the airborne reset needed to repeat the sequence without breaking your combo.

What New Game Plus Adds

Finish the adventure to unlock New Game Plus. This mode adds a visible speedometer and an optional score/combo display, making it easier to track both your movement and trick sequences.

The Wisp Cloak lets you generate up to five speed-boosting Wisps through tricks and activate them when needed. That gives aerial tricks another practical use: you can build boost resources while moving through a level.

Practice a route that links a launch, several tricks, and a clean landing before spending those wisps on longer jumps. Use the speedometer to compare your approaches, and watch the combo display to see where a wall ride or jellyfish bounce keeps a sequence alive.

You can also finish outstanding vendor purchases during this playthrough. Keep opening chests and activating fish tiles while experimenting with the expanded movement tools.