You’ve Hit 10 Golden Gears in Demon Tides – Here’s How to Clear Shiverbeaks and Beat Tridentarius

Why Shiverbeaks Feels Like a Wall (and How to Break Through It)

After spending around 15 hours in Demon Tides on PC, Shiverbeaks was the first place that really slowed me down. I’d just beaten the Jester, hit 10 Golden Gears, launched off toward a new ocean… and suddenly I was alone, my crew was missing, fast travel was gone, and there were three mysterious locked gates between me and the next big boss, Tridentarius.

This guide walks through the exact steps I now follow every run:

• Unlocking Shiverbeaks once you’ve got 10 Golden Gears
• Finding your crew quickly so you get fast travel back
• Activating the three gate switches that block Tridentarius
• Beating the cannon-armed Gearserker without getting melted by poison
• Clearing all phases of the Tridentarius fight for that extra talisman slot
• What to do afterward to reach 20 Golden Gears and unlock Thuintir

This is based entirely on my own PC playthrough. I can’t see your exact talisman setup or preferred movement tricks, but the route, puzzle logic, and boss mechanics are the same, so if I could push through this section, you can as well.

Step 1 – Unlocking Shiverbeaks with 10 Golden Gears

You’ll reach Shiverbeaks after finishing everything you need to do in Lokitana, including beating the Jester. By this point you should have at least 10 Golden Gears from that first ocean.

• Required: Defeat the Jester in Lokitana.
• Required: Collect at least 10 Golden Gears from challenges and collectibles in Lokitana.
• Hub: Return to Runa’s Village.

Back in Runa’s Village, head to the container directly in front of Runa. Interact with it and select Shiverbeaks from the interface. This triggers a cutscene where Runa fires your ship out of a cannon toward the new ocean.

Mid-flight, Ragnar interrupts. He grabs Beebz, warns you to stay away, and drops the twist that he didn’t send the original “invitation” letter. When this scene ends, you’re dumped in a new location called King’s Landing, without your crew.

Don’t panic – this is all scripted. Your crew is fine, and you’ll get them back soon. For now, focus on getting your bearings and clearing the first challenge.

Step 2 – King’s Landing: First Challenge and Early Progress

King’s Landing is your entry point to Shiverbeaks. The first time I arrived, I wasted time wandering around, thinking I’d somehow missed my crew nearby. You don’t. The game wants you to start exploring and tackling challenges.

Right away, look for the main challenge gate or obvious level entrance in King’s Landing. Clear that challenge as soon as you can. Doing this is important for two reasons:

• It progresses one of the locked gates connected to Tridentarius’ area.
• It sets up the next big trigger: contacting your crew.

When you finish a challenge and open its treasure chest, you’ll receive a call from your crew. They’ll tell you they’re safe, have fired a flare into the sky, and ask you to come find them “whenever you can.” Ignore that “whenever” part – you want to do this immediately because fast travel is disabled until you reunite.

Step 3 – Chasing the Flare: Finding Your Crew and Runa’s Cannon

This is the moment that can quietly ruin your pacing if you go the wrong way. On my first run, I thought, “I’ll just grab a few more Gears before I bother with the crew,” and paid for it with a lot of backtracking on foot. Don’t repeat that.

As soon as the crew calls you:

• Look up and spot the smoke from the flare on the horizon.
• Orient yourself so you’re always moving roughly toward that smoke.
• Use your usual movement tools (double jumps, wall runs, rails) to hop across nearby islands in that general direction.

Following the smoke trail eventually brings you to a location called Runa’s Cannon. Your crew is there, perfectly fine. After a short exchange, Runa shows up and explains what’s going on in Shiverbeaks.

Key story bits from this scene that matter for gameplay:

• Shiverbeaks is ruled by Tridentarius, an evil scientist figure.
• She’s the one responsible for all the Gearserkers you’ve seen roaming the seas.
• Runa marks a circle on your map showing where Tridentarius’ lair is.
• Reuniting with your crew re-enables fast travel, which is crucial for hunting Gears and gate switches efficiently.

Beating Tridentarius is technically optional. The reward is an extra talisman slot, while main progression is gated by how many Golden Gears you’ve found. But that extra slot makes the rest of the game smoother, and the fight is a good skill check, so I highly recommend taking her down while you’re already here.

Step 4 – Unlocking the Three Gates to Tridentarius

Between you and Tridentarius’ arena are three locked gates. This is where a lot of players feel lost, because the game doesn’t shove each switch in your face. Instead, their locations are spread across Shiverbeaks’ islands, and you’re expected to open them as you explore.

The three gate switches are located in:

• King’s Landing – Your starting area in Shiverbeaks.
• Red Forest – An island with distinctive red foliage.
• Giant’s Fire – Specifically, a small offshoot island that’s part of this area.

Here’s how I approach them now:

• King’s Landing switch: After you’ve cleared its main challenge, explore the area thoroughly. The switch isn’t usually too far from the central activity. Check platforms, side paths, and any suspicious pedestals or devices you can interact with.
• Red Forest switch: The dense red environment makes it easy to miss landmarks. I work methodically around the island’s perimeter first, then sweep through the middle, looking for anything that stands out as interactable. Don’t be afraid to use your flags to checkpoint before tricky platforming here – I fell off this island more than once.
• Giant’s Fire small island switch: This one’s easy to overlook. Once you’ve accessed Giant’s Fire, look for smaller adjacent islands or side branches. There should be a path that breaks away from the main fiery route; follow it to find the final switch.

Each switch unlocks part of the path toward Tridentarius. When you’ve hit all three, the route to her lair, the Tridentarius Gearserkium, is fully open and you’re ready for the most intense part of Shiverbeaks.

Step 5 – Reaching the Gearserkium: Presses, Maze, and Climbing

Head to the area Runa marked on your map – this is the entrance to Tridentarius’ tower-like domain. With all three gates unlocked, you can push through the whole sequence in one go.

Inside the Gearserkium, move straight ahead and you’ll run into a corridor full of presses slamming down from above. This is where I first started burning lives.

• Watch the timing of each press before you commit.
• Move up to the edge of a press’s shadow, wait for it to slam down, then dash or jump past as it rises.
• Resist the urge to sprint the whole corridor in one go – slow and steady is faster than getting flattened and respawning.

Past the presses, you’ll platform and wall run your way upward. Take your time lining up wall runs; aim your camera along the wall, jump parallel, and let the movement system do its job. Eventually, you’ll climb a long ladder into a maze-like room where the camera shifts to a top-down view.

From the maze entrance:

• Go right and keep following the path until you hit a dead end where the only way forward turns north.
• Head north until you reach a crossroad.
• At the crossroad, take the path that goes left.
• Keep following this route and you’ll soon see a platform with yellow paint on the ground.
• From here, simply keep following the yellow-painted path to reach the second gate.

Pass through that gate, exit back outside, and you’ll hit a rail section plus even more wall running and climbing. This all funnels you toward the third and final door. If you activated all three switches earlier, that door opens and you step straight into a small arena containing a special Gearserker.

This next step is where it’s easy to fail: the arena is cramped and full of hazards. Before you cross the threshold, drop a checkpoint flag nearby so you don’t have to redo the entire climb if things go wrong.

Step 6 – Beating the Cannon Gearserker (Poison Arena)

This Gearserker looks similar to the others you’ve seen, but it’s much nastier. Its arms have been replaced with cannons, and the arena is small with very little safe space. On top of that, it spits poison, turning chunks of the floor into danger zones.

My first instinct was to rush in and try to smack it around directly. That got me bounced into poison and off the platform more times than I’d like to admit. The fight only clicked when I focused on its main gimmick: the bombs.

The Gearserker’s key patterns:

• It fires bombs from its arm cannons.
• Some bombs explode on impact; others land and sit on the ground for a moment.
• It periodically spits poison, contaminating parts of the arena floor.

Your strategy:

• Stay mobile. Circle the arena and avoid standing in one spot, especially near the edges.
• Dodge the bombs first. Focus on not getting tagged. Once a bomb lands and doesn’t explode immediately, that’s your opportunity.
• Turn bombs against it. You can either pick up a dud bomb and throw it at the Gearserker or, more safely, line yourself up and use your Boost attack to smack the bomb into it from range.

When a bomb connects, the Gearserker staggers and its chest opens, revealing the gear inside. This is your big damage window:

• Rush in quickly while its chest is open.
• Use a Boost attack on the exposed core to deal “true” damage.
• Back off before the Gearserker recovers and starts spitting poison again.

You need to repeat this loop three times – bomb hit to stagger, Boost to core – to finish the fight. If you’re struggling, plant another checkpoint flag just outside the arena so failed attempts don’t cost you much time.

Once the Gearserker goes down, it drops a Golden Gear. Grab it, then follow the path ahead to an elevator. This lift takes you straight up to Tridentarius herself.

Step 7 – Tridentarius Boss Fight: All Three Phases

At the top, you’ll finally confront Tridentarius in a multi-phase boss fight built around movement and quick Boost usage. Losing here a few times is normal; once I learned what each phase wanted from me, it became much more manageable.

Phase 1 – Mecha Chase and Glass Tubes

Tridentarius charges at you in a mech, chasing you down a path while swinging and firing attacks. Your job here is simple on paper:

• Keep running forward and avoid getting hit.
• Watch the arena walls – periodically, glass tubes extend out of them.
• When a glass tube appears and you have a clear angle, use a Boost attack to smash it.

Destroy the tubes on both sides and Tridentarius’ mech begins to malfunction. She eventually bails out and starts running away on foot. Keep chasing her until she trips, then run up and Boost attack her head to end the phase.

Phase 2 – Flying Mech and Fire Attacks

In phase two, Tridentarius takes to the air. The mech hovers, spewing fire across the arena. It’s easy to get tunnel vision here and forget the real objective.

• Keep moving – sidestep or jump out of the way of incoming fire.
• Just like in phase one, glass tubes periodically emerge from the side walls.
• Wait for a safe opening, then Boost the tubes one by one until both are destroyed.

Once you’ve destroyed both tubes, the mech malfunctions again and Tridentarius tries to escape on foot. Chase her down, wait for her to trip, and land another Boost to the head to push the fight into its final stage.

Phase 3 – Platforming Under Rocket Fire

The last phase is the easiest if you’re comfortable with Demon Tides’ platforming. Tridentarius retreats to a distant platform and starts firing rockets while you navigate a series of platforms to reach her.

• Focus on the platforms first – only dodge rockets if they’re about to hit you.
• Watch the shadows of incoming rockets to judge where they’ll land.
• Use your full movement kit to make confident jumps rather than hesitating mid-air.

Once you get close enough, the game takes over and Beebz automatically finishes Tridentarius off. The reward: a very useful extra talisman slot for your build.

If any phase keeps giving you trouble, remember you can place a checkpoint flag near the elevator that leads to the boss so every attempt is just a quick run back instead of redoing earlier sections.

Step 8 – After Tridentarius: Pushing to 20 Golden Gears and Thuintir

With Tridentarius beaten and the extra talisman slot unlocked, you’re free to explore the rest of Shiverbeaks at your own pace. The main progression goal now is simple:

Collect a total of 20 Golden Gears across Lokitana and Shiverbeaks to unlock the next ocean, Thuintir.

A few tips from how I clean up this part efficiently:

• Use your new talisman slot for movement or survivability – anything that makes challenges safer and faster.
• Systematically clear each island’s main challenge levels and explore any obvious side paths for extra Gears.
• Now that fast travel is back, bounce between islands instead of slogging across long routes by foot.
• Drop checkpoint flags before long or punishing challenge segments so failed attempts don’t waste much time.

Once your total Golden Gear count hits 20, return to Runa’s Village, interact with the container in front of her again, and you’ll be able to select Thuintir as your next destination.

Shiverbeaks is a big early test of everything Demon Tides expects from you: precise movement, smart use of Boost, reading boss patterns, and planning your route around collectibles. If you’ve made it through Gearserker and Tridentarius, you’re more than ready for whatever the next ocean throws at you.