Volcano Princess: Beginner-to-Endings Guide

A guide to raising your daughter in Volcano Princess: how the first year works, Action Points and classes, mood, father evaluations, colleges and lords, combat and side activities, endings, and save-file safety.

Researched September 2026 — current as of PC version V2.02.02 (March 2025). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

What Kind of Game It Is

Volcano Princess is a parenting sim in the Princess Maker tradition from Egg Hatcher, a two-person studio. After your wife's death you raise your daughter in the Volcano Kingdom over several in-game years, schedule her classes, take her around town, meet a large cast of NPCs, and steer her toward one of 50+ endings: careers, relationships, and hidden story endings. It launched on Steam on April 20-21, 2023 (date varies by time zone), reached Xbox Series X/S on June 24, 2025, and a China-only mobile version launched in November 2025. Global mobile and Switch versions were still in development as of the latest official news.

Quick Start

• Choose your father type carefully. At the start you pick how you want to parent: making her feel safe (judged on Kind and Intelligence), making her proud (Brave and Kind), or doting on her (Gentle and Kind). Your early evaluation is based on those values.
• Aim for 100 evaluation points before the Birdie Festival. That's the first big checkpoint for how you're doing as a father.
• Spend all 10 Action Points every round. They're your time. Refill them by sleeping, sitting on the stump at the lake, or eating at the Family Restaurant.
• Schedule five classes per round. Each class has recommended attribute levels; meeting them gives better results.
• Never let her mood drop below 50. Low mood costs her attribute points. Chat and play at home, or take her for stories and snacks.
• Complete Key Targets. They reward books that give big attribute boosts. The first ones are simple: finish three class courses, eat at the Family Restaurant three times, talk to townspeople ten times.
• Talk to everyone, often. NPC relationships unlock events, gifts, career options and romance endings.
• Back up your saves. Saves live in AppData; see the save section below.

The Core Loop

Each round you plan a schedule, then spend Action Points around town.

Classes and schedule

• You assign five classes per round. Courses span areas like music, painting, martial arts and academics.
• Every class shows recommended attributes. If she's under them, gains are weaker.
• Completing courses earns course points; finishing extra courses unlocks more options. (Patch V1.00.22, shortly after launch in 2023, raised course point gain from 10 to 15 and lowered extra-course requirements from 100 to 75.)
• Books from Key Targets and elsewhere can be read for big stat jumps. Batch use for food, books and notes was added in V2.01.05.

Action Points

Source | AP restored

Base per round | 10

Sleeping | 2

Sitting on the stump at Wild Horse Lake | 2

Children's Meal at the Family Restaurant | 3

Family Meal at the Family Restaurant | 5

Use AP for talking to NPCs, working, shopping, taking her out, and events. Unspent AP is wasted.

Mood

• Keep her mood at 50 or higher. Below that she loses attribute points.
• Home activities like chatting and playing raise mood.
• Restaurant visits (stories and snacks) raise mood as well.
• A heavy class schedule drains her; balance study with fun.

Values and Attributes

There are two layers to her growth:

• Values such as Kind, Brave, Gentle and Intelligence, which drive your father evaluation and are shaped by your dialogue choices. For example, respecting her secrets raises Gentle. There are also negative values to avoid.
• Attributes raised by classes, books and activities. English names vary a little between the game's translation passes and community guides, so go by the in-game stat screen and each class's recommended attributes. There is also a Darkness value tied to darker paths; an achievement requires Darkness of 150 or more.

Rule of thumb: during the first months, focus on the two values that match your father type. Once the first evaluation is secure, broaden out toward the attributes her target career needs.

Map, Locations and NPCs

The town map unlocks from day two. The first locations are the Family Restaurant and Wild Horse Lake; other places you'll visit include the Abandoned Harbor and the bathhouse. NPCs you meet at each location offer interactions that raise values or attributes; examples include the Lazy Soldier and the Magic Creatures Scholar at the restaurant and the Soothsayer at the lake.

Later you'll meet a large cast (for example Craig, Carlos, Claude, Rebecca, Mona and Nina), each with their own events and affection meter. The NPC profile shows useful info, including whether your daughter has already declined them once.

Gifts: Giving NPCs gifts they like raises affection. There is also a Broken Potion (sold by the Mystery Man at the Abandoned Harbor in winter) that lowers an NPC's affection by 40 if you want to close off a relationship.

Years, Seasons and Festivals

The game's years have seasonal names (patch notes reference, for example, the Summer Fire Year and the Winter Volcano Year). Events are tied to specific months and years, so the same NPC can be in a different place depending on when you look.

Key events:

• Birdie Festival (Birdie Day) — a competition where your daughter shows off her skills. It includes contests such as an arithmetic contest and debates. It's also your first father evaluation deadline.
• Volcano Festival — a competition with prizes (including furniture) for first place.
• Garden Ball — a dance event where she can meet various characters at different spots.
• Races, such as the Sea Breeze Race.

Colleges and Lords

As she grows, she can attend one of four major colleges in the Volcano Kingdom, which shapes her skills (music, painting, martial arts and combat, and so on) and the careers open to her.

When she comes of age she can pledge allegiance to one of three lords and complete tasks they assign to earn standing and fame among the noble families. Lord's quests have tiers; for example, the Knight career path includes an Intermediate Knight task (its EXP reward was raised from 50 to 60 in V2.02.01).

Tips:

• Pick a college that fits the career ending you want, and raise the attributes it values beforehand.
• Lords' tasks are a steady source of reputation. Keep up with them rather than binging near the end.

Combat and Adventure

Adventure and combat use a turn-based system with AP-costed skills.

• Your daughter's skills include Sunbird (applies burn; buffed from 15 to 20 burn in V2.01.13) and Black Crow (AP cost 2).
• Companions bring their own skills: Nina has Healing (AP cost 1, multiplier raised to 1.0) and Mona has Emergency Cooking.
• Dark Alleys battles drop gold and reputation.
• The dark canyon holds the secrets of the ancestors and is where much of the deeper lore is found.
• Dice games are a separate minigame; opponents' dice have effects of their own.

Combat tips: bring a healer when you can, open with damage-over-time skills like Sunbird, and don't take her into fights that her attributes aren't ready for.

Jobs and Money

• Part-time jobs such as the bathhouse job earn money and raise related attributes; bathhouse random events can also raise Fame.
• Money buys food, gifts, books, outfits, furniture and seeds for farming.
• Don't let work crowd out classes; the classes drive her long-term stats.

Endings

There are more than 50 endings, split mainly into career endings and relationship endings, plus special and hidden ones.

• Career endings depend on attribute totals, her college, her lord standing, and events. Some endings are graded; for example, the evil cult outcome was re-graded to a four-star result in patch V1.00.11.
• Named endings mentioned in official notes include Theater Star, Top Chef, Hardworking Farmer's Wife, Volcano Goddess and Volcano Empress.
• Relationship endings depend on affection with specific NPCs, plus event choices. The V2.00.00 update (2023) added new romance endings, including three multi-NPC romance endings, and revised the Lebsa event.
• Hidden endings — some endings are tied to the main mystery of the kingdom and the dark canyon; they need specific events rather than raw stats.
• Ending requirements shift with patches. Early patches lowered some score requirements for the Volcano Goddess and Volcano Empress endings and re-graded the evil cult outcome, so older guides may quote stricter numbers.

Strategy for multiple endings: keep separate saves around the key decision points (college choice, lord pledge, late relationship events) so you can branch without replaying everything. Version 2.02.01 raised the number of save slots to 24.

Patch History That Changes Advice

Volcano Princess was patched heavily after launch, so older guides can be wrong. The changes most likely to matter:

Version | Change

V1.00.09 | Lower score requirements for the Volcano Goddess and Volcano Empress endings; Theater Star ending fix; Garden Ball meeting odds fixed

V1.00.11 | Evil cult outcome re-graded to a 4-star ending

V1.00.15 | Fixed the Darkness 150+ achievement not unlocking

V1.00.21 | Dice opponents no longer use HP-recovery dice

V1.00.22 | Course points 10 to 15; extra course cost 100 to 75

V2.00.00 | New romance endings, including three multi-NPC romance endings; Lebsa event revised

V2.01.05 | Batch use for food, books and notes

V2.01.10 | Korean language; winter outfit from first chat with Rebecca in the Winter Volcano Year

V2.01.11/12 | Black Crow AP cost 2; Nina's Healing AP cost 1

V2.01.13 | Sunbird burn 15 to 20; Nina's Healing multiplier 0.7 to 1.0; affection-lowering potion added

V2.02.01 | Steam Cloud back, 24 save slots, Intermediate Knight EXP 50 to 60, Dark Alleys drops fixed

V2.02.02 | Two-way "Sync Steam Achievements"; "Heartbreak Potion" renamed "Broken Potion"

Saves, Cloud and Achievements

• Save location: press Win + R, type AppData, and go to LocalLow\EggHatcher\VolcanoPrincess.
• Back up this folder. Older versions stored saves only in AppData\LocalLow, where Windows cleanup could remove them. Steam Cloud was re-enabled in V2.02.01, and old-version saves are moved to an OldVersionArchives folder on first launch of 2.02.
• Multiple PCs: the developer recommends disabling cloud save to back up first, then enabling it when launching the game.
• Sync Steam Achievements button: in V2.02.02 it can sync in both directions, which helps if you lost a save but already have achievements on Steam.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Letting mood fall below 50 and losing attribute points.
• Leaving AP unspent at the end of a round.
• Ignoring your father type's values before the Birdie Festival.
• Scheduling classes she doesn't meet the recommended attributes for.
• Spreading too thin. Pick a target career early and push its attributes.
• Not saving before big decisions like the college, the lord and late relationship events.
• Not backing up saves, especially if you play on more than one PC.

Advanced Tips

• Track NPC schedules by month and year. Many events only fire at a specific place and time.
• Use Key Target books strategically on the attributes that are closest to a threshold.
• Plan career and romance together. Some partners fit naturally with certain careers and lords.
• Farm reputation and gold in Dark Alleys once her combat stats can handle it.
• Use the collection room to track what you've seen. (A dialogue log was added to the mobile version; check the Steam update logs to see whether it has reached PC.)
• Replay for endings. With 24 save slots, keep a save per year to branch quickly.

FAQ

How many endings are there? More than 50 (the game also has about 330 illustrations to collect), across careers, relationships and hidden story endings.

How do I keep my daughter happy? Chat and play with her at home and take her to the Family Restaurant for stories and snacks. Keep mood at 50 or higher.

What should I do in the first year? Pick a father type, focus on its two values, spend all 10 AP each round, schedule five classes, complete Key Targets and aim for 100 evaluation points before the Birdie Festival.

Where are my save files? AppData\LocalLow\EggHatcher\VolcanoPrincess. Back up the folder before updating or switching PCs.

Is there a Switch or mobile version? A China-only mobile version launched in November 2025. Global mobile and Switch versions were still in development per the developer's latest post. An Xbox Series X/S version launched in June 2025.

How do I lower an NPC's affection? Give them a Broken Potion, sold by the Mystery Man at the Abandoned Harbor in winter. It reduces affection by 40.

Sources

• Volcano Princess on Steam
• Volcano Princess Steam news and update logs
• Volcano Princess — Wikipedia
• Game Rant — Volcano Princess Beginner Tips
• Volcano Princess mobile launch announcement (Nov 20, 2025)