Silver Palace Beginner Guide: What to Do First

In Silver Palace, finish the first hour of story, then spend Vitality and Free Time every day, start City Property as soon as it unlocks, and save Reactor Crystals for limited banners. That is the order Pyrrh Gacha's CBT2 walkthrough follows, and it is the order this guide follows too. Every screen here comes from the Dichotomy beta (July to August 2026); the game launches on 14 December 2026 (UTC+8) and Elementa has said several of these systems will change.

Updated 31 October 2026: this guide replaces the placeholder that stood here since July. It is now built on Pyrrh Gacha's video "Silver Palace Beta Test Guide - What to Do First" (16 October 2026), checked against Elementa's official posts and other creators' beta footage.

What should you do first in Silver Palace?

Play the story and do not worry about anything else yet. Pyrrh puts the opening at about an hour of tutorials and cutscenes, and another hour to learn the menus and the first daily tasks. The early game teaches itself: follow the markers, click the eye icons to investigate, and follow the prompts for jumping, climbing and the grappling hook.

The first fight starts the built-in combat tutorials. If action games are not your thing, switch to Casual Mode (Settings, Combat) rather than quitting: Pyrrh says the game itself suggested the switch to them when they struggled. Our tips and tricks guide covers the parry and dodge prompts.

One habit to pick up early: open each new character's Character Tutorial from the Characters menu. It teaches the kit (here, the Detective building Ammunition and Gravity Overdrive), and the first completion pays out. It is free currency and free practice.

When to start the daily routine. Pyrrh's marker is the scene where you wake up in your own bed and meet Alf. From that point, the systems that refill or reset on a timer are open, and leaving them idle is the only real way to fall behind.

Where is everything? The main menu

Most beginner systems live in one place. Pyrrh's main menu shows them all as tiles.

The header also shows your Reputation level and Crisis Level. Pyrrh's account was at Reputation 50 (maxed for the beta) and Crisis Level 4.

How do Vitality and Free Time work?

Silver Palace has two energies that refill over time. Spend both every day and never let either one sit at the cap.

Vitality is the Genshin-style resin. It pays for character EXP, Motive EXP, Ounce (the general currency) and boss materials. The beta cap on screen is 240. Pyrrh refuses to quote the refill rate because it is likely to change, which is fair: the cap could move too.

The first things to spend it on, by Pyrrh's advice: EXP and level materials for the Detective, and the daily boss. That boss sits in Case Review, which drops the materials for Methods (talents) past a certain level. You can fight the bosses as often as you like, but you can only claim one reward group per day. The claim screen asks for 30 Vitality for normal rewards or 60 for double.

Free Time is separate and buys nothing from the Vitality list. It is spent on the City Affairs minigames, which pay their own shop currencies: Scarlet Gambit (cards), the Coffee House (a timed clicker) and the Royal Equestrian Tournament (horse racing). Pyrrh says more minigames are planned.

What are the daily tasks? City Roaming

City Roaming is the daily list inside the Agenda. Pyrrh compares it to Genshin's commissions: pick tasks from a list, fill a Steps meter, open the chests along it. The meter resets on a timer (20h 59m left on Pyrrh's screen).

These were the tasks on that day:

Spending 150 Vitality is one of the tasks, so the energy you burn on bosses also pays the daily list. You do not need every task: the chests stop at 100 Steps, and Pyrrh's meter already read 140.

Is City Property worth starting early?

Yes, and it is the system that pays most for starting early. City Property is a real-estate minigame: you buy buildings, level them up and earn investment revenue per minute. You get a limited number of turns per day, and the further you go, the faster you earn.

Buying certain buildings opens the assistant feature. You assign a character to a building, and in CBT2 the assistants paid out free resources, pull resources included, every 12 hours. Pyrrh's advice is to claim each time they refresh, or at least once a day when you log in.

City Property is also the main source of Antique Coins. They buy Twin Argent Strands, the item that takes a Method from level 9 to 10, and the scarcest resource of the beta: one per month in the shop. Starting City Property in week one means more coins banked by the time your first character needs a Strand. See character progression for the full upgrade path.

What should you spend Reactor Crystals on?

Shots for the limited character banner, and almost nothing else. Reactor Crystals are the premium currency. They are not spent on banners directly: you trade them for Shots, at 360 Reactor Crystals per Shot, or 3,600 for a ten-pull, as Hako read from the CBT2 rules and Rexlent repeated. GxG Noir's mechanics guide notes they convert into any of the four Shot types:

Why limited first: Hako notes the standard banner has no wishlist, so you cannot aim it at anyone. A limited character is also a whole new kit, while a Motive only gives its skill to a character of the same Identity. Free Standard Shots from events are a different story: spend those on the standard banner as you get them.

How fast crystals come in is still unknown, and it is the number that decides everything. Rexlent counts about 900 a week from Hilbert's Hotel, so four weeks of that mode alone pays one ten-pull. The beta mailed out 73,800 crystals to testers, a test-only gift that does not tell you anything about launch income. Full rules are in the gacha system guide, and the reroll guide covers whether to restart for a better opening pull.

How do Acquaintances and gifts work?

Acquaintances is the friendship system. Gifts raise a character's friendship level, and higher levels unlock new animations. The catch is the daily limit, so the advice is the same as for every timer here: start early.

There are two limits on screen: one per character (Rex could take 7 more gifts that day) and one for you (39 gifts left across everyone). Spread gifts across the characters you actually use rather than maxing one.

What resets every week?

Hilbert's Hotel, the roguelike mode with weekly earnings. Start it as soon as it unlocks. Pyrrh's two tips: you earn points toward the weekly total even without clearing a full run, and you are not stuck with the Detective. You pick one main character, and three others assist without taking the field. The other weekly resets in CBT2 were mostly shop stock. Our game modes guide covers the hotel and the Thought Experiment endgame.

How strong does your team need to be?

Not very, for the story. Pyrrh calls themselves a button-masher and reached almost the end of Act 4, the end of the CBT2 story, with light investment in the Detective and some free characters. One boss there forced them to build characters and learn to fight, and they say it was still doable, before they even knew about the auto-combat options.

So do not spend early resources chasing a perfect team. Level the Detective, add the free characters you get from the story, and build a party with one damage dealer, one support and one sustain, as our combat styles guide explains. Check the tier list once you know which characters you like playing.

Silver Palace day-one checklist

1. Finish the opening story until you wake up in your bed and meet Alf.
2. Spend Vitality: Detective EXP and materials, then the Case Review boss claim.
3. Spend Free Time on any City Affairs minigame.
4. Open City Property, buy what you can, and assign an assistant.
5. Clear City Roaming to 100 Steps.
6. Give your daily gifts in Acquaintances.
7. Run each new character's Character Tutorial once.
8. Start Hilbert's Hotel when it unlocks.
9. Leave Reactor Crystals alone until a limited banner you want is live.

Sources

• Elementa: The Science of All Things - Combat Edition (22 July 2026), "Dichotomy" Beta Test News and Important Rewards (23 July 2026), Dichotomy Beta Test Feedback and Optimization (22 August 2026)
• Creator videos: Pyrrh Gacha, Hako, Rexlent, GxG Noir