1Welcome to the Order
Capybaras are the secret custodians of history. From their mountain onsen, the Peaks of Yuzuyama, they slip through warm springs into the fragile moments of the past and quietly fix the flow of time. They never change history. They keep it warm enough to happen. There is a difference, and it is the whole job.
You are the newest Springkeeper. Serious Bara is a calm connect-the-flow puzzle game: on every board you draw warm-water channels that join matching spring stones. No lives, no timers, no ads, no penalties. Hints nudge and never answer. Nothing you can buy ever solves a puzzle for you.
2Your first minutes
- The intro film. The game opens on a short film. Tap anywhere to skip it. (Settings, Game: "Skip intro video" starts straight at the title.)
- Grandfather Kapi. The Elder tells you why capybaras are serious, what the Order of the Serious Bara does and what the creed means: stay calm, fix the flow, tell no one. Tap to advance a line; some lines offer a choice, tap the one you like.
- Arrival at the Peaks. The camera rides down into the valley and settles on the Pool of Time. From here you go everywhere.
- Dive. Tap the Pool of Time to open the River of Time, pick the first spring and dive into history. The host of that moment greets you, then you solve a short chain of pools. Done. You are a Springkeeper.
Everything else in this handbook is detail. Lovely, useful detail.
3The Peaks of Yuzuyama
Your home outside time: a bathhouse beside the river of history. The river rushes past, the bath stays warm. Every mission starts and ends here.
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- Title and wallet. Yuzu Seeds on the left, Golden Yuzu on the right. Only these two currencies exist.
- Menu. Audio settings, Game settings, Controls, Save and Cloud.
- The Pool of Time. Its gold outline follows the pond. Tap it to dive to the River of Time.
- The Sacred Yuzu Tree. Visit it every day: it drops a small gift for a keeper who says hello.
- A cast statue. Every resident stands somewhere in the valley with a floating emblem above. Tap the statue or the emblem to talk.
- Another resident. One spot is always selected and breathes a gold outline; the pool is selected first.
- The house side. Grandma Momo's Outfitters and Professor Liliane Llama's archives live by the house.
- The three circles. Your bara (character screen), the Springkeeper's Bag, and Places (a list of every spot, tap one to go there).
Moving around
- Turn the camera with a horizontal swipe (drag with the mouse on PC, right stick on a controller). It turns on the spot, a little to each side.
- Select, then open. The first tap on a statue or emblem selects it (gold outline), the second tap opens the conversation. Tapping the pool dives straight away.
- Places. The third circle lists every spot by name and takes you there. On a controller, the shoulder buttons step through the spots.
Talking to the village
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- The speaker's portrait. Their mood changes with the line.
- Who is talking.
- The line. Tap the box to advance. Long lines type themselves out (Settings, Game: "Disable typewriting" shows them at once).
- Choices. Each resident offers their own options first. "Can I see the video again?" replays that resident's introduction film.
- Never mind. Every conversation ends with a polite way out.
The first time you tap a resident after starting the game, their short introduction film plays (tap to skip). After that you go straight to the conversation. Settings, Game: "Skip cutscene videos" turns the films off entirely.
4The River of Time
The mission map. Every moment the baras tend rides one glowing ribbon through the ages, in campaign order from left to right.
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- Where you are and your wallet.
- The ribbon is year zero. Moments before Christ sink below it, moments after rise above it.
- A spring. One mission. A green check means done, a padlock means not yet reachable, dots show the difficulty.
- Place, date, title. The real place and year of the moment.
- Selected. The first tap selects a spring (gold halo). The second tap opens its briefing.
- The dive arrow points at the selected spring.
- The future is up, the past is down. Drag to scroll along the river, pinch to zoom.
- The door takes you home to the Peaks.
- Next jumps to your first unfinished mission. Tap it again to open it.
The briefing and the dive
Opening a spring shows its briefing card: place, date, the mission's emblem and element, its name, the true story of that moment, and how many maps it holds. "Dive to <year>" takes you through the warm-water tunnel; a tap skips the arrival card. The local host, always the real person of that moment as a bara, greets you on the other side.
Missions unlock in order along the river. A locked spring only wobbles when tapped. You cannot skip ahead, but you can always come back: solved missions can be replayed for the pure joy of the soak.
5The board: drawing channels
A mission is a short chain of pools, usually three to six, and the bar at the top reads "3 of 5". Each pool is a small landscape of cubes: meadow, rivers, fences, and pairs of glowing spring stones.
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- Mission plaque with place, year and "X of Y".
- A pair of spring stones. Same element, same colour, same rune. Join them.
- Open water. No channel can cross it.
- A bridge deck. One line may cross the water here, dead straight.
- Fences. A wooden fence blocks the edge it sits on. Stone walls never move.
- Elemental ground. Sheet ice, warm sand, molten rock: only the matching element may pass.
- Warm sand. More elemental ground: only Sand's line may pass.
- A plate fixture. Plates, markers, chutes and gates all explain themselves: tap one for its card.
- 2D / 3D. Switch between the flat overview and the cube view.
- Leave. Reset this map, return to the river, or go home.
- The bag. Momo's goodies, ready to use.
How to draw
- Start on a stone. Press a spring stone and drag; the channel carves itself into the ground under your finger. Reach the twin stone and warm water floods through.
- Continue a line. Grab the end of a channel and keep going. Grab it anywhere else and it shortens to that point.
- Undo by retracing. Drag back along your own line to un-draw it. Grab the stone again to start over.
- Lines never share a field. Drawing across another line cuts that line back to where you crossed. Channels move in straight steps, no diagonals.
- Done when every pair is connected. You do not have to fill every field, and open water may stay open.
2D or 3D
The board is a real landscape of cubes with terrain, water and props. The 2D view flattens it into a clean overview that many keepers prefer for thinking. Switch as often as you like; the puzzle is identical.
Finishing a pool
When the last pair connects, the board collapses, the camera pulls back to admire the finished network and a golden Claim Seal appears. Tap it to collect your Golden Yuzu and move on to the next pool. After the mission's last pool your host sends you off, and you choose: dive onward, back to the river, or home to the Peaks.
6What you meet on the board
Every fixture explains itself in the game the moment you tap it. Here they all are in one place, in the words of their own cards.
| Fixture | What it does |
|---|---|
| Spring stone | Join this stone to its twin with one warm channel. The line is that element's alone. Connected, the spring flows. |
| Channel | Your line. Grab its head to continue. Drawing another line across it cuts it there. |
| Open field (meadow, soil, stone, sand, snow, pavings, decking) | Solid, friendly ground. Any line can carve its channel through. |
| Elemental ground (soaked decking, molten rock, deep soil, wild meadow, raw rock, fresh snow, magma vein, shifting dunes, sheet ice, old paving, sun-warmed wood, dark rock) | Only the matching element can pass over this ground. Every other line must find a way around. |
| Spring water | Open water, no channel can cross it. A Bridge Kit spans it; a Lily Pad planks a single hole. |
| Bridge deck | One line may cross the water here, dead straight along the deck. No turning on the planks, and no second line may share it. |
| Lily planks | A water hole you planked yourself. Solid deck now, any line can cross. |
| Wooden fence | Sits on an edge between two fields; no line crosses it. The Fence Nibbler can chew one away. |
| Stone wall | Like a fence, but it never moves. Plan around it. |
| Wooded knoll | A cozy grove stands here. No channel may pass beneath the roots. |
| Spring marker | Only one element may enter this field. For every other line it stands solid as a wall. |
| Ward plate | The opposite: one element may not enter this field. Every other line passes freely. |
| One-way chute | Lines may travel only in the arrow's direction through this field. Never against the flow, so some lines must start from their other stone. |
| Pressure plate | Only one element may rest on this plate. While its line presses it down, the connected gates swing open; follow the glowing trail to see which. |
| Spring gate | Its doors open while the right line presses the connected plate. Closed right now? Press the plate first. |
| Treasure nook | Run the right line across it and the snacks (Yuzu Seeds) are yours: instantly, once, forever. It never blocks the way. |
7The Twelve Elements
Every spring stone belongs to one of twelve elements. The element is the stone's whole identity: its colour, its rune, and which special ground its line may cross. Matching stones connect; nothing else does. Every mission has a theme element that its lead pair wears.
| Element | Its own ground | Element | Its own ground |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water | soaked decking | Lightning | magma veins |
| Fire | molten rock | Sand | shifting dunes |
| Earth | deep soil | Ice | sheet ice |
| Nature | wild meadow | Metal | old paving |
| Stone | raw rock | Light | sun-warmed wood |
| Air | fresh snow | Shadow | dark rock |
Colour is only half the identity: stones and lines also differ in shape and in the way their water moves, so the twelve stay readable for everyone.
8Yuzu, seeds and the ceremony
Golden Yuzu
The precious one. Every pool you solve for the first time pays exactly one Golden Yuzu. Replays pay nothing but joy. Bring your yuzu to Sage Yuzula's table.
Yuzu Seeds
The everyday one. Seeds come from treasure nooks on the boards, from slicing yuzu with Yuzula, and from the Sacred Yuzu Tree's daily gift. Spend them at Grandma Momo's.
The yuzu ceremony
Tap Sage Yuzula, choose "Open a yuzu". One clean stroke, corner to corner: swipe across the fruit and it splits, spending one Golden Yuzu and paying between one and ten Yuzu Seeds. Four or more earns a "Nice!", eight or more a jackpot with confetti. The fruit decides. Slice another, or say goodbye.
9Momo's Outfitters
Grandma Momo's shop runs on Yuzu Seeds. Everything on her shelves clears a small annoyance so the thinking stays yours. Her one iron rule: nothing here ever solves a puzzle for you. Items are used up when they work; skills are learned once and stay.
| Item | Seeds | What it does, and how to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Pip's Peek | 30 | Routes one channel perfectly, then it is gone. You also get one free with every mission you complete. Fires the moment you tap it in the bag. |
| Twin Peek | 55 | Pip brings a friend: two channels routed perfectly in one go. One use. |
| Fence Nibbler | 35 | Chews one wooden fence off the board. Arm it, then tap the fence. The beavers ask no questions. |
| Beaver Brigade | 80 | The whole crew shows up: the three fences nearest your tap vanish at once. One use. |
| Lily Pad | 35 | Planks one water hole into walkable deck. Arm it, then tap the hole. Soft, green, load-bearing. |
| Lily Carpet | 90 | A whole three-by-three carpet of pads: every hole around your tap becomes deck. One use. |
| Bridge Kit | 60 | Tap a water hole and a wooden bridge appears, snapping to the land it attaches to. Flip its direction if you like, then tap the check to keep it. One channel may then cross the water, straight along the bridge. Chain several to span wide rivers. Hard floors that need a crossing pack free kits into your bag, and those are spent first. |
| Springkeeper's Glimpse | 50 | The finished flow shimmers as a ghost for a breath. Nothing gets laid; you just remember what you saw. |
| Shield Softener | 45 | Soaks one shield plate soft so its forbidden water may pass on this floor. Arm it, then tap the plate. |
| Pocket Tea Break | 20 | Kept for the Splash Race, a timed challenge that will come to the Peaks later: the race clock waits three whole seconds while you sip. |
| Elder's Blessing (skill) | 450 | Legend and postcard payouts plus a quarter. Grandfather Kapi knows the Current, and the Current is generous. |
| Gratitude Album (skill) | 600 | Your whole postcard stream ripples plus a half. Every framed memory earns harder. |
Using an item on the board
- Open the bag with the bag circle. Each row shows the item, how many you have, and a small "?" with its card.
- Peeks and the Glimpse work immediately. Aiming tools arm themselves and write a prompt into the status line, for example "LILY PAD: tap a breach hole".
- Tap the target. A bridge shows a ghost first, with buttons to flip it, keep it or cancel.
10The village
The Peaks are small, but every resident matters. Tap a statue or its floating emblem.
Has soaked in more centuries than he admits and forgotten none of them. He greets you, and if you ever feel lost, find Kapi. His tea is always exactly the right temperature; nobody has seen him check.
Speaks with the runes, the twelve spring stones you connect. Talk with her, or bring a Golden Yuzu and open it at her table for one to ten seeds.
Runs the Outfitters and keeps warm towels and warmer gossip. Browse the store, or ask for a little gossip.
Keeps the archives: how springkeeping works, who lives in Yuzuyama, the ages we visit and the twelve elements, every fact true. Her fireside tales read a real page of history, and every fifth tale hands you a Springkeeper's Glimpse.
A platypus who took a wrong turn at the Cretaceous and liked the water too much to leave. Cheers your every run. Two thumbs up. Always two thumbs up.
Older than the Order. The Pool of Time springs from beneath its roots. Say hello once a day and something small drops at your paws.
Each resident also has a short introduction film, shown the first time you meet them after starting the game. Ask "Can I see the video again?" in any conversation to watch it once more.
11Controls and settings
Touch (iPhone and iPad)
- Tap selects and confirms. A quick tap on a board field opens its card.
- Drag from a stone or a line to draw.
- Double-tap the board to snap the view back to fit.
- Two fingers: pinch to zoom, twist to turn (3D view), drag to pan.
- Swipe sideways on the Peaks to turn the camera. Drag along the river to scroll, pinch to zoom.
Mouse and keyboard (PC)
| Left button | Click to select and confirm; press and hold to draw; a quick click on a field opens its card |
| Right drag | Pan the board |
| Middle drag | Rotate the board |
| Wheel | Zoom |
| W A S D | Glide the view |
| Q E | Turn |
| Z X | Zoom in and out |
| V | 2D / 3D |
| B C M H | Bag, character, menu, places |
| Enter Space | Confirm |
| Esc | Back or close |
| Arrows | Step through spots and options |
Controller (PC, Steam Deck, or a pad paired to your iPhone or iPad)
On Steam the game talks to your pad through the Steam Input API, so Xbox, PlayStation, Switch Pro and the Steam Deck's own controls all show their true buttons; you can remap everything in Steam's controller settings. Whichever device you used last is active; a small note in the corner tells you which. There is no cursor: a gold frame marks the active cube, a gold ring walks the buttons.
| Bottom face button | Confirm. On a spring stone: start drawing; hold and steer to extend, release to end |
| Right face button | Back, close |
| Left face button | Bag |
| Top face button | Character |
| Menu / Options / + | The menu |
| Left stick | Step: the board cursor, menus, the river selection |
| Right stick | Turn |
| Triggers | Zoom |
| Shoulder buttons | Step through the spots on the Peaks |
| Right stick click | 2D / 3D |
| Left stick click | Places |
| D-pad on the board | Left 2D/3D, Up leave map, Right bag. While aiming an item: Up place, Down cancel, Left flip |
| D-pad on the river | Left door, Right next |
Button pictures follow your pad: Xbox letters, PlayStation shapes or the Switch layout, detected automatically and changeable in Settings, Controls.
Settings
- Audio: Sound effects, Music, Atmosphere and Voices. Voices at the middle is the natural level; slide right to boost.
- Game: language, Skip cutscene videos, Skip intro video, Disable typewriting.
- Controls: the active input, controller button hints on or off, vibration, controller layout (Auto, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch), and the full button map.
- Save and Cloud: your local save, your cloud state, Sync now, and Reset progress.
12Saving, cloud and resets
- Saving is automatic. Every change is written to the device at once. There is nothing to press.
- Cloud. When iCloud is available, the same save is mirrored there. Open the game on another device and it adopts the newer save, settings included. Settings, Save and Cloud shows both states ("in sync", "newer", "behind" or "not available on this device") and offers Sync now.
- Reset a map. On the board, the leave circle, then Reset map: the current pool starts fresh. Bridges, planks and nibbled fences from that attempt reset with it.
- Reset progress. Settings, Save and Cloud, Reset progress, then tap again to confirm. This wipes all progress and cannot be undone. Your settings survive on purpose.
- Offline. The whole game works without a connection. Boards are the same for every player, always. The cloud is only a mirror for your save.
13Questions keepers ask
I drew a wrong line. Now what?
Nothing happened, that is what. Drag back along the line to un-draw it, grab the stone to start over, or simply draw across it. No penalty, no clock, no counter.
I am stuck on a board.
Tap fields you are unsure about; their cards tell you the rule. Switch to 2D for a calmer overview. Look for the pair with the fewest options and draw that one first. If you want a nudge, a Springkeeper's Glimpse shows the finished flow for a breath, and a Pip's Peek lays one channel for you. Neither is ever required: every board can be solved with nothing but your finger.
Is there a time limit, lives or a fail screen?
No, no and no.
Can I replay a mission?
Yes. Solved springs stay on the river. Replays pay no Golden Yuzu, only the soak.
What can I buy with real money?
The game. Once. Every mission, every map and every story is included. Yuzu Seeds and Golden Yuzu are earned by playing and cannot be bought.
Is it suitable for children?
Serious Bara is wholesome and family-friendly by design: no violence, no menace, no dark themes, no ads, no loot boxes and no energy timers. The history is real and told gently.
Which platforms?
iPhone and iPad now, in portrait and landscape on every size. PC on Steam is the second platform, with mouse, keyboard and controller support through the Steam Input API, so every pad shows its own buttons. Steam Deck is supported too, touch screen included.
Something is wrong.
Write to hello@seriousbara.com. A real capybara reads every message. Well. A person. But in the spirit of a capybara.