This is a guide designed to help players earn the 'Ninja - Never get hurt' achievement.

This is not a walkthrough and is intended for players who have played through the game at least once and are familiar with its layout and mechanics.

The achievement itself is fairly self-explanatory; you need to go through the entire game without taking any damage from enemies or environmental hazards.

I personally feel that this is the most difficult achievement to attain in Secrets of Raetikon. At the time of writing this Steam shows that only 0.8% of players have earned it. It can be both challenging and frustrating, with certain areas requiring quite a bit of practice.

It may be possible to gain the achievement using mods which remove enemies, or by backing up your save files at certain points to create checkpoints. However, I have not tested this and where is the challenge in that anyway?

Let’s get started!

Dealing with Enemies

You will encounter several hostile animals as you progress through the game. Some of these should simply be avoided while others should be neutralised. The two most effective ways of eliminating enemies are dropping them onto brambles and luring them into fighting each other.

You do not have to actually kill enemies outright; you just need to reduce their health until they are critically wounded. At this point a red circle will emit from them and they will run (or fly) away from you when approached. Enemies never regenerate health so they are effectively neutralised for the whole game. If you prefer to kill enemies to completely remove them from the equation then they will never respawn.

There are three main hostile creatures which pose a threat to you. Knowing their patterns and how to influence them is critical to success.

Buzzards – These are the brown and blue birds who charge at you. Buzzards can be lured into certain areas by attracting their attention and then keeping just enough distance to stay out of their reach. They are vulnerable once they have just charged. At this point you should immediately turn around and fly straight into them for a grab. You can then drop them wherever you like (preferably onto brambles), two drops and they will be wounded enough to leave you alone.

Jackdaws – These are the black birds that grab hold of you and attempt to drop you over brambles. You should let them grab you initially and then flap your wings repeatedly to force them to let go. They are vulnerable while they are flying back to their perch. Chase and grab them during this time and give them a taste of their own medicine by dropping them onto brambles twice to critically wound them.

Lynxes – These are the agile brown cats that use the trees to leap after you. It is possible to pick lynxes up and carry them by their tail, but as we cannot take any damage they become too dangerous to fight head on. Avoidance and use of decoys is the key to dealing with them. Fortunately they only appear within two areas of the game.

Enemy Spawn Locations

New enemies will spawn in at certain points as you advance through the game. Knowing when and where these enemies appear will save you being caught off guard. From what I have observed, the spawns usually happen once you have assembled a statue and opened up a new area, or when you have pulled the lever on a shard machine. I will mention these in the guide below, and this will actually influence the route I take in certain places.

Planning your Route

There are a total of 205 slivers in the game and you need to collect all of them in order to access the seven shards and unlock the achievement. Some of these slivers are located in very hazardous areas where it is easy to take damage. I have planned my route so that we collect these slivers first. It simply wastes too much time to keep repeating the easier areas only to get hurt later on and have to restart.

The main sections which are likely to cause you trouble are the two wind tunnels which are lined with brambles. I try and clear these two passages first, followed by the forest floor and then the lake. You are then free to clean up the easier areas in relative safety. Of course you might find your own optimal route which suites you better, but I would say that if you can reliably beat these four areas without getting hurt then you should be fine.

As the game begins, our bird protagonist plummets down through the sky and hurts itself on a tree branch. Do not worry as this damage is unavoidable and does not affect the achievement.

The tutorial stage is a safe zone, just be careful to avoid the orange brambles when you collect the three slivers placed nearby. Obtain all 25 slivers in this area and advance to the next screen with the first shard fragment. Place it in the machine and continue to the next stage. This where the game properly opens up, allowing you to start planning your route. As I mentioned above, I have a very definite path I like to follow. My first goal is to clear the two wind tunnels of slivers.

You will find yourself in a stage with a large sunset as a backdrop. Here we encounter our first two hostile creatures - a buzzard and a jackdaw. We will be travelling through this area a lot so it is best to eliminate these two threats.

As you enter the stage, you will immediately see the buzzard ahead of you chasing a robin. Ignore this encounter and continue straight on to the wheel device which requires slivers to operate. Wait here for a couple of seconds and the buzzard should catch up to you. Once you have attracted its attention, fly slightly downward to the tree where the jackdaw is perched. The two should ignore you and begin fighting each other. Finish off whoever is left by dropping them onto some brambles (there are two patches nearby). If the two separate while fighting you can lure the buzzard back to the daw, or just take care of both yourself.


Advance all the way to the top right and onto the next stage. You will find yourself in a forest canopy looking area. There are no enemies here so casually proceed right again to the next stage. A jackdaw will almost immediately attack you here. Let it grab you and then flap your wings quickly to break free of its grasp before it drops you onto the nearby brambles. Return the favour to neutralise this threat.

Fly upward and activate the hanging chain device by using 10 slivers. In the next area you will need to build a buzzard statue, but first we must take care of the buzzard hovering above. Let him charge and then turn and grab him. There are two patches of brambles nearby but they are awkwardly placed flat on the walls. You will need to build up some speed and then release the buzzard at the right time to get the angle of your throw right.


Build the statue and continue right through the narrow gap which opens up. Advance further to the right and you will reach the entrance to the first wind tunnel. In my opinion, this is probably the trickiest part of the game to pass through without taking damage. The wind current is blowing against you and falling rocks are crashing through the tunnel which is lined on either side with brambles.

There are two safe niches in the tunnel which contain slivers. As you approach the tunnel entrance you will begin to hear an audio cue to signify the crashing rocks. You have a few seconds before the boulders begin to actually fall and you should try and use this time to reach the first safe spot. I found it easier to approach the tunnel at a steady speed, if you are going too fast then it will be difficult to control effectively.

Use the bird’s beak as a directional marker, point it in the direction you want to travel and then flap your wings once. Keep repeating this motion as quickly as possible and try and stay aligned with the centre of the tunnel. Once you are at the first safe spot, you will need to time your run to the second spot to avoid the falling rocks. Every five seconds or so there is a giant boulder which fills the whole tunnel, I found it good to try and time your move directly behind this boulder. Do this once more after you reach the second safe niche.


The camera does not pan very far ahead of you and the tunnel twists awkwardly so you may need to practice this part several times before you know what direction you need to travel in next. Do not immediately give up if you get hurt; instead use the run to practice the tunnel a few more times. When you reach the bottom, immediately fly left out of the way of the falling debris. Clear the path out by using the branches as levers. This gives you an alternate path through so you do not need to traverse the tunnel ever again.

At this point I choose to head back on myself in order to clear out the second wind tunnel. When you get back to the sunset stage, pull out the rock on the hillside and the boulder will plummet down and destroy the log to open your path. Activate the pendulum device using 10 slivers and advance right. Here is the second wind tunnel, which I find slightly easier to navigate than the first.

The initial part is relatively forgiving with wide spaces to fly through. Once you reach the spot with the fox statue piece, pick it up and fly directly upwards collecting the slivers as you go. Try and use the same strategy as before, using your beak as a directional tool and then flap forward once in a rhythmic motion. There are no falling rocks here so you should have a lot more time to realign yourself in the centre before moving forward. Be aware of the statue piece which you are dragging behind you as it can occasionally get caught in the narrow areas of the tunnel. Carefully flap backwards to release the piece if this happens.


When you reach the other side, say hello to the Fox Queen and breathe a sigh of relief. Assemble the fox statue and advance through the temple until you reach the next stage.

You will find yourself on the forest floor. Two lynxes patrol this forest and we want to avoid them as much as possible. Slowly advance to the right until you see the pool of water covered with stones. There are slivers in the pool, so carefully pull the closest stones back toward the temple. This should give you enough room to dive in and collect the slivers without attracting too much attention from the nearby lynx.


After this, you will need to fly around the tree branches collecting all the other slivers. I find it best to hover over the pool until you catch sight of the lynx (the camera should pan slightly to the right when it gets in range), then immediately fly above and over it. You do not want to push blindly into the forest or you could accidentally dash straight into its clutches. Once you’ve cleared the left side of the forest of slivers, head to the shard machine in the centre. The lynxes do not patrol here so this should be a safe zone.

The right hand side of the forest is patrolled by the second lynx and contains a lot more slivers. Do not forget the ones trapped behind the rubble in the top right hand corner of the screen. From the central shard machine, you should try and bait the lynx out and then fly up and over it until you get to the rubble. Try and clear out a couple of rocks at a time and then fly back to the centre before the lynx catches up to you. Once you have cleared the forrest, continue right onto the next screen.

Head right again and dive under the water into the swamp area with the mutant tree. Avoid the mosquito swarms near the bottom and collect the slivers on either side of the tree. However, be aware that a buzzard will be patrolling the sky at the top of this area. You can either lure him upwards to where you assembled the buzzard statue earlier or use the bramble patch to the right of the tree base to dispose of him. Continue to head right through the giant buzzard beak again and then advance through the secret passage you opened up at the bottom of the first wind tunnel. Head right into the final stage.

You will now find yourself at the lake. There are three lynxes patrolling the lake floor, and five buzzards roaming the skies above. There are slivers awkwardly placed deep underwater, and it is very difficult to get access to them safely with the lynxes in such close proximity. Our solution is to lure the buzzards down from the skies and have them engage the lynxes for us.

Slowly fly to the right but be ready to have quick reflexes because the first lynx will be heading straight for you. Head up with the wind current until you see the buzzards circling around. Do not go too high or you will attract a lot of attention, try and lure just one down at a time. This can be difficult because you are flying against the wind current and the buzzards will dive to catch you. I found it helpful to fly downward in a zigzag pattern to throw their charges off.

When you reach the bottom scan left and right until you spot a lynx; two of them patrol around the central tree and the third hides in the cave system to the right hand side of the screen. The lynxes are a lot more vulnerable while swimming in the water as their mobility is significantly reduced.

Once the two are in the same vicinity they should ignore you and begin fighting each other. The engagements are largely down to random chance but hopefully the buzzards will come out on top. It takes three buzzard charges to kill a lynx. It is easy to accidentally get hit here so stay away from the fighting when it ensues but just be ready to lure the buzzard back down if it disengages early.


After all three lynxes are dead you can start to collect the slivers located around the caves and the tree. There are none in the sky so you can ignore any remaining buzzards up there. Afterward dive underwater and collect the slivers there using rocks to weigh you down, being careful not to take any drowning damage.

Next head right through the underwater passage and clear the path to loop back around to the tutorial stage. From here you should progress through each stage again and begin collecting any leftover slivers.

On the sunset stage, a new buzzard will have spawned in just above the thistles where you pick up the robin statue head piece. You can easily eliminate it by luring it to the left and dropping it over the bramble patch. You can also use the thistles directly below, but this takes five drops instead of two.

I would advise leaving the robin statue in the forest canopy incomplete until the very end of the game. You need to assemble it because it opens a pathway to the forest floor which contains five slivers, however once you have built the statue two new buzzards will spawn into the forest canopy area above you. They only appear once you have left the stage and then retuned, therefore if you plan your route and do not return to this zone then you will never have to encounter these two enemies.

You can collect the shard pieces in any order you like. Just be careful when going for the fox den fragment and the forest floor (stag chase) fragment, as you will have to pass through the patrolling lynxes again.

Activating certain shard machines will also cause magpies to spawn in the nearby areas. These creatures will not inflict any damage on you, but they steal your shard pieces with great precision. I like to hunt them down and drop them on some brambles before I cross their path with the fragment. This should stop you taking any accidental damage while you are furiously chasing after them.

Once you have inserted all seven shard fragments into the central machine, the achievement should pop up in the bottom right hand corner and you can congratulate yourself! It can take a lot of practice and perseverance, but I can assure you it is possible.

If anyone needs any extra help or clarification on anything then just post me a comment and I’ll do my best to answer!