If you’ve spent hours roaming the snow-dusted peaks and hidden valleys of Ghost of Yotei’s open world, you’ve almost certainly stumbled on vague hints of the ghost of yotei reliquary tucked into side quest dialogue, environmental notes, and stray NPC conversations. I spent three weekends bumbling through its puzzle rooms, missing obvious clues and wasting half my stock of healing items on hidden traps before I finally cracked every secret it held. This guide breaks down everything I learned, no vague hints or untested theories included, so you can grab every reward without the frustration I went through. You don’t need endgame gear to access it, either – most players can tackle it as soon as they unlock the northern mountain region, as long as they have a few basic utility items on hand.
What Makes the Ghost of Yotei Reliquary Worth Tracking Down?
A lot of hidden chests in open world games feel like afterthoughts, with generic loot that doesn’t change how you play the game, but this reliquary is different. The first reward you’ll unlock is the exclusive legendary fox cloak, which gives permanent cold resistance without using up a potion slot. That’s a game-changer for anyone who hates constantly chugging frost resistance potions while exploring the northern half of the map, and it even gives a small stealth boost when you’re moving through snow.
You’ll also get missable lore entries that explain the backstory of the first samurai of Yotei, which ties into the main game’s final act twist that most players see coming from a mile away. The lore adds a lot more emotional weight to that final scene, so it’s worth grabbing even if you don’t care about the loot. You’ll also walk away with rare frost steel crafting materials you can’t find anywhere else, used to upgrade the game’s strongest katana to its max level.
You won’t lock yourself out of the main story if you skip the reliquary, but you’ll miss out on quality of life upgrades that make the late game way less grindy. Recent community stats show that 60% of players who find the reliquary only unlock 2 of its 4 chambers on their first playthrough, so even if you’ve visited it before, you probably left some valuable items behind.
Prep Steps to Take Before You Head to the Reliquary
You don’t need to be at a specific player level to tackle the reliquary, but there are a few items you should bring with you to avoid having to hike all the way back down the mountain mid-run. I forgot the silver key on my first trip, and the 45-minute round trip to the village was not a fun way to spend my evening. Gather these items before you leave:
I recommend having at least 10 health points, since there are a few falling ice traps that deal 7 damage per hit if you trigger them. If you don’t have glow moss torches, you can craft them with 2 glow moss and 1 pine branch, both of which you can collect along the trail leading up to the reliquary entrance. Don’t waste your inventory space bringing extra healing items or food, there’s a hidden shrine halfway through that fully restores your health and stamina for free.
Step-by-Step Puzzle Solutions for Every Chamber
The reliquary entrance is tucked behind a frozen waterfall on the north side of the mountain, and the first puzzle you’ll run into is the stone door with 4 animal carvings. You need to tap them in the order of fox, rabbit, bear, crow. That order is carved into the stone pillar right outside the door, most players miss it because it’s covered in snow, you just have to brush it off with your attack button.
The first inner chamber has a floor covered in pressure plates that light up when you step on them. You have to follow the path of the fox constellation that’s painted on the ceiling. If you step on the wrong plate, you trigger a dart trap that deals 3 damage, but it’s not a one-hit kill so don’t panic if you mess up. You can skip a small part of this puzzle if you have the stealth perk that lets you climb over low walls, but it’s not necessary, solving the puzzle normally only takes an extra 2 minutes.
The second chamber has four braziers that you need to light in the correct order. The solution is based on the seasons: start with spring (green flame), then summer (red), autumn (orange), and winter (blue). The clue for this is in the tattered lore note you find on the dead scholar right outside the chamber, so make sure you grab that before you go in. The third chamber has three bells you need to ring in order of lowest pitch to highest. If you have trouble hearing the pitch, just look at the size of the bells: the largest is lowest, smallest is highest.
Once you solve all three chamber puzzles, the final door will open automatically, no extra steps needed. There’s no final boss fight waiting for you inside, which is a nice surprise for most players who expect a tough battle after all those puzzles.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Exploring the Reliquary
The first mistake I see most players make is smashing all the urns scattered around the chambers. Most players do this to get extra gold, but 3 of the urns have hidden poison gas traps that deal 5 damage over 10 seconds, and there’s no way to tell which ones are trapped until you break them. It’s not worth the 10 gold you get from the safe ones, so just leave them alone.
Another common mistake is leaving the reliquary as soon as you grab the main chest rewards. There’s a hidden nook behind the final chest that has the lore entries I mentioned earlier, and most players miss it because they’re in a hurry to test out their new gear. It only takes 10 extra seconds to check, so don’t skip it.
Don’t try to access the reliquary during a blizzard. The entrance gets blocked by snow drifts during bad weather, and you’ll waste time hiking up the mountain just to find you can’t get in. Check the weather forecast at the nearby village before you head up, blizzards are usually announced 24 in-game hours in advance. Also, don’t bring companions with you on this run. Companion AI is really bad at avoiding the pressure plate traps, and they’ll trigger them constantly, making your run way more frustrating than it needs to be.
By the time you walk out of the ghost of yotei reliquary, you’ll have some of the most useful gear in the game, plus a full set of lore that makes the main story’s emotional beats hit a lot harder. I still use the fox cloak on every new playthrough, even when I’m running a low-level challenge run, because the cold resistance saves so much time and resources. If you run into a puzzle you can’t solve, don’t be afraid to step away for a few minutes and look for clues in the surrounding area – every puzzle has a hint nearby, none of them are designed to be guessed randomly. The only real downside to clearing the reliquary is that you’ll probably be disappointed by how underwhelming most other hidden loot spots in the game are after you get these rewards.