As the saying goes, two heads are better than one, and when you reach the Sacred River in Sword of the Sea, you’ll be thankful for your partner tagging along with you.
You may be down a sword thanks to your run-in with a scary snake that stalks you at every turn. But, thankfully, you can ride sidecar on your pals, and their sword has a unique skill.
This sword allows you to make use of the Water Rail ability. One that will allow you to reach hard-to-reach places with ease. Which, in turn, will make finding the shells in this area a lot easier.
That said, these shells are expertly hidden, and it’ll take a really perceptive explorer to track them all down. But we’ve taken all the hard work out of the equation, allowing you to gather all these collectibles in record time.
Please be aware that the developer (Giant Squid) informed us after we had completed these collectible guides that they had plans to relocate these assets in their final update. However, we were given no warning of this via pre-release documentation. We are working under the assumption that the vast majority of shells will still be located as listed below. However, these guides may be slightly inaccurate through no fault of our own. We will endeavor to amend them if needed when a day-one patch becomes available.
The first shell you will encounter is in the very first room with all the Dolphin Statues. You’ll need to head to the rock mound in the corner of the room and use Water Rail to glide from one statue to the next. Then, on the right-hand side of the one at the back of the room, you’ll find a hidden shell.
Not long after this, near the area where you’ll need to water rail in the air to light lanterns and open a gate and golden artwork on the wall, you’ll find a gap in the wall to the right-hand side. Enter this, and then glide over the chasm ahead of you, and you’ll find a second shell.
After this, you’ll come to an area where you’ll be able to cleanse the room, and this will spawn some nautical wildlife and lots of seaweed. Ride the whale all the way to the top of the room, and along the circular ridge at the top of the room, you’ll find a shell.
After this, you’ll step out into the large open area that immediately gave me Elden Ring Soifra River vibes, albeit with no aimbot archers. Step out and scan the cliffside on your right, and you’ll see a series of boats poking out of the cliff. One of these doubles as a cave entrance, and inside, you’ll find another shell.
After you unlock the lanterns and get up to the next level of the map, on the left-hand side, before you enter the archway leading to the area with the boat, you’ll see a shell on a boat floating out on its own in an area beside the exit doorway. This is hard to reach, but by using a blend of height and boost, you should be able to reach it.
If you may’t reach this one right now, wait until you fix the chain that descends down to the end of the level later, as this will give you a bird’s-eye view.
After this, you’ll want to cleanse the area and lift the ship above ground. Once you do, you’ll want to get onto the deck and use the ramp to get to the top and activate the chain to the higher area.
With that all done, you can then get some height using the ramp to get to the top of the ship, where you will find a shell.
After this, use this vantage point to look off the side of the ship. You should see a platform in the distance with a pair of statues and a shell sitting between them. With this area cleansed, you should have enough ways to get across, and you’ll get your seventh shell.
While you’re down there, you’ll want to head down past the little aqueduct structure that leads down to the lower level, but don’t drop down.
Instead, stay up top and hug the left-hand side. This will allow you to skate around the perimeter of the bottom level. If you follow this path all the way around, you will find another shell.
This is a proper sneaky one. You’ll want to float around the ship again, and you should find an opening allowing you to enter the hull of the boat. Inside, you will find a series of pots and treasure chests. Examine the pots carefully, and inside a pot tipped on its side, you’ll find another shell.
After this, you’ll want to use the chain to get up to the higher levels of the map, where you will find boats and jellyfish that will help you get across this precarious area. About halfway along, though, look down, and you’ll see a set of lanterns much lower than the rest. Allow yourself to drop down there, and in a little hidden area, you’ll find another sneaky shell.
Lastly, when you have all the top area cleansed and are about to use the path of lanterns to get from one of the tallest towers to the next, you’ll notice another trio of lanterns taking you to a floating island off to the side.
Glide with precision, and you should be able to get to this island where you’ll find your last shell in the Sacred River.
I grabbed the shell before getting the screenshot by mistake, but I assure you, it’s in there.
