AMID EVIL Beginner Tips - Weapons, Soul Power, and Secrets

AMID EVIL, developed by Indefatigable and published by New Blood Interactive, is a fast single-player retro FPS built around magical weapons, enemy souls, non-linear levels, keys, secrets, and seven distinct campaign episodes.

Content warning: AMID EVIL includes fantasy combat and blood effects. This guide keeps the discussion focused on mechanics.

This guide covers base AMID EVIL on Windows PC and Steam Deck. It does not cover The Black Labyrinth expansion, AMID EVIL VR, Ancient Alphas, mods, community maps, current speedrun routing, or patch-specific weapon meta.

Difficulty caveat: this is a beginner guide, but AMID EVIL itself can become demanding. Higher difficulties reduce resources, raise Soul Power requirements, and make enemies faster, tougher, and more aggressive.

Essential Tips

1. Treat Every Episode as Its Own Combat Test

Each of the seven main episodes changes setting, enemies, and encounter rhythm.

Do not assume the first episode teaches every answer. AMID EVIL has four levels per episode, and the fourth level is a boss arena. Learn the enemies and spaces in front of you, then adjust your weapon mix instead of forcing one favorite tool through the whole campaign.

2. Use the Axe More Than You Think

The Axe of the Black Labyrinth costs no mana, which makes it your safest default between fights.

Use the Axe to conserve ammo, finish weakened enemies, and handle isolated targets. Its pull can bring a target toward you, but that does not make the enemy harmless. Keep moving after the pull so you do not drag danger into your own face.

3. Spend Mana by Job, Not by Color

Mana is split across weapon types, so your best choice is the weapon that solves the room.

Use homing shots for twitchy or airborne enemies, slashes for lines and corridors, lightning for accurate hits and chain kills, explosive planets for clusters or vertical tricks, spread shots up close, and your heavy purple weapon when a room needs to end quickly.

4. Save Soul Power for Pressure

Soul Power is short, strong, and easy to waste if you trigger it after the room is already won.

Enemy souls fill the meter, then Soul Power supercharges your current weapon set for a brief burst. Use it when a fight opens badly, a boss phase gets crowded, or you need to reclaim space. If you are safe and only one weak enemy remains, hold it.

5. Keep Exploring After the Obvious Path

AMID EVIL hides power in side paths, vertical spaces, water, odd walls, and timed openings.

Secrets often hold health, mana, souls, powerups, or weapons. You do not need 100% secrets to finish, but missing every hidden route makes the game harder than it needs to be.

Pick the Right Difficulty

AMID EVIL’s difficulty settings affect more than enemy damage. Easy, Medium, Hard, and Evil change pickup supply, enemy count, enemy health, enemy speed, stun chances, and special enemy behavior. They also change how many souls you need before Soul Power is ready.

For a first playthrough, Medium is the clean baseline if you know classic shooters, while Easy is reasonable if you mainly want to learn the levels and weapons. Hard and Evil are not just bigger health bars; they ask you to manage thinner supplies, faster threats, and more consistent enemy special behavior.

If you start too high, your bad habits become expensive. Dropping to a lower setting while learning weapon roles is better than crawling through every room with no mana and no confidence.

Weapon Roles

Weapon	Beginner Role	Best Habit
Axe of the Black Labyrinth	Free melee and target control	Use it between fights to save mana
Staff of the Azure Orb	Homing shots	Use on flying or evasive enemies
Whisper’s Edge	General-purpose slash projectile	Fire through groups and corridors
Voltride	Hitscan lightning and chain kills	Pick off key targets accurately
Celestial Claw	Explosive planet launcher	Respect splash damage and use it for height tricks
Star of Torment	Close-range spread pressure	Move closer only when you have escape space
Aeturnum	Heavy room-clear power	Save purple mana for dense fights or bosses

The big lesson is flexibility. AMID EVIL rewards swapping because enemies move, dodge, rush, fly, and fight from different ranges. If a weapon feels weak, you may be asking it to do the wrong job.

Celestial Claw deserves special respect. It can blast groups and help with high secret routes, but it can also hurt you if you fire carelessly into nearby walls or enemies. Treat it like both a weapon and a movement tool.

Soul Power Habits

Soul Power changes every weapon. The Axe spins rapidly, the Staff floods the room with bursting orbs, Whisper’s Edge becomes a ricocheting cutter, Voltride turns into a sustained beam, Celestial Claw throws larger celestial blasts, Star of Torment fires a seeking crystal burst, and Aeturnum becomes a black-hole-style room clearer.

Because the effect lasts only a short time, activate it with a plan. Face the biggest threat first, then sweep the room while moving. If you trigger it at a doorway and hesitate, you spend the strongest seconds looking at a wall.

Legendary Soul pickups can fill the meter instantly. Do not grab one when your meter is already full unless you are ready to fight immediately. If you can safely leave it in place, clear nearby trash first, then collect it before the larger encounter.

Movement and Survival

AMID EVIL is not a cover shooter. Backpedaling in a straight line invites projectiles, leaping enemies, and flanking pressure. Strafe, circle, jump, and weave through open space while watching enemy animations.

Sound and animation matter. Some enemies telegraph dangerous attacks, some punish close range, and some create hazards that make a previously safe floor unsafe. If you are taking repeated hits, slow your shooting brain down for a second and read the room.

Pickups are part of combat routing. Health orbs, mana, keys, souls, and temporary powerups are placed to pull you through spaces. A Full Health pickup is strongest before a heavy room or immediately after surviving one. Flight, Torch, Invisibility, and Invulnerability are powerful, but their timers mean you should move with purpose once activated.

Secrets and Exploration

AMID EVIL’s levels are non-linear enough that the main path is rarely the whole map. When searching, check under stairs, behind drops, around ledges, inside water, along odd wall textures, and above you for hidden switches. Small holes and dark side paths are often more important than they first look.

Use the map shape as a clue. If a room has a suspicious empty wall, a platform you can almost reach, or a pickup visible behind bars, assume there is a switch, lift, jump, or alternate route nearby. The game often rewards curiosity without requiring modern objective markers.

Do not turn your first playthrough into a checklist crawl. Find enough secrets to stay healthy and stocked, then save exact 100% routing for a dedicated run. A blind run keeps the campaign’s strange spaces surprising.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Do not hoard Soul Power through hard rooms - It is strongest when it prevents a fight from spiraling.

2. Do not waste purple mana on weak stragglers - Save Aeturnum for dense fights, bosses, or emergency room clears.

3. Do not fire Celestial Claw into close walls - Splash damage can punish careless shots.

4. Do not ignore the Axe - Free damage keeps your mana pools healthy for larger encounters.

5. Do not stand still while aiming - Enemies pressure you from too many angles for turret play.

6. Do not grab timed powerups without a route - Flight, Torch, Invisibility, and Invulnerability lose value if you wander.

7. Do not skip suspicious water or ledges - Many secrets hide below, behind, or above the obvious route.

8. Do not treat every weapon as interchangeable - Homing, hitscan, splash, spread, and piercing shots solve different threats.

9. Do not start on Evil just for pride - The higher settings change resources, enemy speed, and enemy behavior.

10. Do not import expansion habits into the base campaign - Base AMID EVIL has its own weapons, levels, and pacing.

Summary

Category	Top Tip
Scope	Learn base AMID EVIL before expansion, VR, or mod content
Difficulty	Start where you can learn movement and weapon roles cleanly
Weapons	Swap by enemy behavior, not by favorite animation
Soul Power	Activate before the room overwhelms you
Movement	Strafe, jump, and read attacks instead of backing straight away
Secrets	Search vertical spaces, water, odd walls, and hidden switches
Resources	Spend mana and powerups with a near-term fight in mind