Olympus 2249 Beginner Guide: Your First Hours
Olympus 2249 is a single-player, turn-based cRPG set in a post-nuclear dieselpunk America. The Early Access build that unlocks on October 6, 2026 contains the first of three story acts, which Dieselship Studio puts at 3 to 7 hours depending on your build and how many side quests you take. Everything below comes from the Steam page, the studio’s first devlog and developer replies on the Steam forum; anything we could not confirm is marked.
Use a preset on your first run
Character creation asks for paired attributes, two specializations and a Karmic Type. The developers’ own advice for a first playthrough is to take one of the four presets, which they describe as “perfectly effective”, and build your own character once you understand the system. Attributes are paired so that raising one side caps the other, which makes a careless custom build easy to get wrong. The full rules are on the character builds page.
Choose your Karmic Type on purpose
There are five types, from Asshole through Rascal, Neutral and Optimist to Moralist. Your type decides which dialogue lines you can pick, which jobs people offer you and how they treat you. The devlog goes as far as saying some types never see certain locations. You see your own type’s lines and those of the two neighbouring types, and picking a neighbour’s line moves your Karma toward it. The Karma guide has the details.
Your peacetime specialization matters
You pick one combat specialization (your weapon preference) and one peacetime profession. The Steam page says there are five peacetime specializations and that each opens new dialogue options and new ways to solve problems. The skills you specialize in grow faster and come with their own perk list. The game’s quests are built around those skills, so a talker or a sneak is a real way through, not a weaker one.
How you earn experience
- Quests give the most experience.
- Combat gives experience for each kill, and you also earn skill points just for landing hits. Fill that up and the skill rises and you get general level points as well.
- Unmarked places. Some spots are not on the map at all. The devlog’s example is a shooting range near your character’s home: shoot the bottles and you get experience.
Reading the HUD
Official screenshots from the Early Access build (v0.9.7.8-2) show the main bar at the bottom of the screen:
- Health (red) and Stamina (blue) bars on either side. Stamina pays for special combat abilities.
- The active weapon in the middle, with its fire mode (for example “Shot”) and ammo by calibre (for example “.38, 9/10”).
- Quick slots either side for items like a knife or grenade and a second weapon.
- INVEN and SKILLS buttons, a log line that also shows hints (F1 or H opens navigation help) and a Feedback button that sends a bug report to the studio.
- Top right: a clock and the in-game time. NPCs follow a day and night routine, so the time matters when you look for someone.
The inventory is a grid where items take up space and have a weight, and quest items sit in a separate Quest-O-Matic panel.
What the Early Access build includes
All of the planned systems are already in: crafting, stealth, an armor system, dismemberment, desert storms that change how an area plays, radiation and poison zones, and procedural enemies and loot for random encounters and raids. What is missing is story: Acts 2 and 3, plus more locations, factions, quests, characters and items. See the Early Access plan and whether it is worth buying now.
Quick tips
- Save often. The game lists save anytime and Steam Cloud on its store page.
- Talk before you shoot. The studio says quests “rarely ask you to just kill someone”, and an honest-but-rude answer can lock you out of a faction or a quest.
- Use the terrain in fights: fuel barrels, oil spills, electricity and traps are all part of the combat system. See the combat guide.
- You will mostly be alone. Apart from the short tutorial, companions only join for specific quests. See companions.
Noted. Safe travels out there.