Aether & Iron — Beginner's Guide

🎲 The Three Core Stats: Hustle, Smarts & Brass

Aether & Iron runs on three stats that govern virtually everything you do — in conversation, in skill checks, and in combat support abilities. You'll be asked to spend points at the start of the game, and while you'll earn a handful more as you progress, your opening allocation defines Gia's identity for the entire run.

Hustle represents Gia's street instincts, physical agility, and underworld knowledge. A high-Hustle Gia can pickpocket NPCs, find smuggling shortcuts, and intimidate gang members through reputation. In combat, Hustle governs evasive driving maneuvers and your ability to escape tight situations. If you want to play a quick, resourceful rogue-type character who lives by her wits, prioritize Hustle.

Smarts covers Gia's intellectual capacity — her ability to read people, understand technical schematics, and spot deception. High-Smarts dialogue options often reveal hidden information about quests and characters that Hustle or Brass builds would never see. In the investigation sequences, Smarts unlocks the ability to cross-reference clues and deduce faction motivations. A Smarts build is harder to master but offers the richest narrative experience.

Brass is Gia's raw confidence and force of personality. A high-Brass Gia can walk into a room and command it, stare down a crime boss, or bluff past a checkpoint guard. Brass also powers the game's most dramatically satisfying dialogue — the moments where Gia refuses to be pushed around. In combat, Brass affects your ability to rally crewmates and boost their Action Points.

🎯 How Dice Rolls & Skill Checks Work

Skill checks in Aether & Iron work similarly to Disco Elysium. When Gia attempts something risky — persuading a fence, hotwiring an aether engine, or bluffing a Heights security officer — the game reveals the relevant stat, a difficulty number, and the probability of success before you commit. You are never forced to attempt a check; if the odds look terrible, you can find another route.

Your stat value is combined with a two-dice (2d6) roll. So if your Hustle is 4, you're rolling 2d6 + 4. Most checks range from difficulty 6 (very easy) to difficulty 16 (near impossible without specialization). Critically, failed checks are not dead ends — they produce unique dialogue and outcomes that are often just as interesting as successes. Some of the game's best moments come from spectacular failures.

Passive checks also exist. These trigger automatically when you enter a scene and require no action — a high Smarts character might automatically notice a hidden door, while a high Brass character might unconsciously unsettle an NPC. Passive checks never fail; they simply don't trigger if you don't meet the threshold, meaning you may never know you missed them on your first playthrough.

🏙️ Understanding Floating New York — The Three Tiers

New York in Aether & Iron didn't just adopt new technology — it physically restructured itself. When the aether material was discovered in the late 1800s, its anti-gravitational properties were weaponized first by industrialists and later by city planners. By the 1930s, the city had been sorted into three vertical tiers, each reflecting a different era of architecture, culture, and power.

The Lowers are the oldest district, built with Victorian and pre-1900 architecture. Most of the game's criminal underworld, working-class characters, and morally grey factions operate here. Streets are narrow, aether vents are temperamental, and the police presence is corrupt and minimal. As Gia, you're most at home in the Lowers — it's your territory and your reputation matters here.

The Uppers represent the 1900–1930 era of prosperity. Art Deco towers, neon advertisements, and the emerging middle class define this tier. The Uppers are where Gia's escort target, Nellie, comes from — and where their culture clash produces much of the game's early comedy and drama. The Uppers have real police, real laws, and are far less forgiving of Gia's methods.

The Heights are the top tier — an aspirational fantasy built around the 1938 World's Fair aesthetic, gleaming with chrome and promises. Access to the Heights is heavily restricted. You'll visit them eventually, and what you find will reframe everything you thought you knew about the aether conspiracy.

🚗 Your First Hour — What To Do

When the game begins, resist the urge to rush the main story. Aether & Iron rewards exploration. In the opening Lowers district, there are three side conversations — with a fence named Davo, a mechanic called Rue, and a street kid named Pip — that each provide permanent stat buffs or early vehicle upgrades if you handle them correctly. None of them are marked as quests.

Your first combat encounter introduces the road-arena system. Pay attention to the tutorial prompt about Action Points (AP) and forward vs. backward movement costs. Moving forward costs 2 AP; moving backward costs 1 AP. This asymmetry is the foundation of all advanced combat strategy. If you internalize it early, the mid-game vehicle battles become dramatically easier.

Before leaving the Lowers for the first time, talk to every named NPC you can find. Aether & Iron tracks relationship values invisibly — characters remember how you treated them in the opening act, and some will reappear much later in the game in ways that depend on your early choices.

🔧 Recommended Starter Builds

For a first playthrough, a balanced spread of 3 Hustle / 3 Smarts / 2 Brass is recommended. This gives you access to the widest variety of skill checks without locking you out of any major story branches. You may not excel at any one approach, but you'll see the most content.

For an aggressive, combat-focused run: put 5 points into Hustle and 3 into Brass. Hustle powers your vehicle's evasive capabilities and your ability to find ambush routes, while Brass lets you intimidate your way through many non-combat encounters. Skip Smarts — you'll miss some investigation content but your combat effectiveness will be noticeably higher.

For a narrative deep-dive: 5 Smarts / 3 Hustle / 0 Brass. This is the hardest build for combat but unlocks the most hidden dialogue, the most lore, and several unique quest outcomes unavailable to other build types. Recommended for players who loved Disco Elysium's investigative tone.

💡 Essential Beginner Tips

Save often. Aether & Iron has a manual save system, and some skill-check failures have long-lasting consequences. The game autosaves at major scene transitions but not between individual dialogue trees.

Read item descriptions. Several key plot items and vehicle parts have descriptions that contain clues to side quests and hidden locations. The developers have confirmed that nothing in the item descriptions is filler.

Don't sell your first found vehicle part until Act 2. Early upgrades feel marginal, but a component you discard in Act 1 may be exactly what a mid-game quest requires.

Talk to Nellie between missions. She has unique commentary after every major story beat, and her relationship value with Gia affects a late-game choice that has one of the game's most significant consequences.

🎬 Video Walkthrough — Beginner Tips