Welcome to Tick Town: The Heart of Duskfade
Tick Town is the central hub world of Duskfade and the first major area players explore after the game's opening sequence. Built inside a colossal mechanical clock, this vertical settlement functions much like Traverse Town in Kingdom Hearts — a place where Ava, the protagonist, gathers strength, meets key companions, and prepares for the journey into the fractured clock dimensions beyond. Developer David Figliola of Clock Tower Maker designed Tick Town as both a safety net for newcomers and a densely packed playground for completionists, which is why so many Duskfade Tick Town secrets remain hidden even after multiple playthroughs.
According to the XboxTavern developer interview, Tick Town was one of the earliest areas designed for the game, originally intended as a tutorial space before evolving into a full explorable city. Because it has been iterated on since the earliest prototypes, it now contains layered content that goes far beyond what most players notice on a casual run. If you want a 100% completion save file, understanding every hidden alcove, every out-of-the-way NPC, and every off-camera platform is essential.
This guide breaks down every meaningful secret we have confirmed inside Tick Town as of the August 2026 patch, drawing on the official Steam store page, the Xbox Wire preview, and community discoveries posted across the Duskfade subreddit. For general navigation help, you may also want to bookmark our Tick Town walkthrough, but the secrets below are organized so completionists can check them off in any order.
Why Tick Town Holds So Many Secrets
Tick Town is unusual among Duskfade's worlds because backtracking is fully supported. Unlike the linear paths inside the broken clock dimensions, the hub rewards revisiting old corners once you gain new movement abilities. A door you cannot enter at the start of the game becomes accessible after learning the Wall Climb enchantment, and several dialogue branches only unlock once Ava has completed side objectives in other worlds. The result is a layer cake of content where seasoned players routinely report 20+ secrets in Tick Town alone.
The most important thing to remember is that Tick Town is more than a hub — it is a lore-rich narrative space. Reading every sign, listening to every optional conversation, and inspecting every photo on the in-game bulletin board will reveal story beats that the main campaign never explicitly states. If you are the kind of player who enjoys piecing together mysteries, treat Tick Town less like a lobby and more like a museum.
All Hidden Cloudie Locations in Tick Town
Cloudies are the small floating spirit companions that grant passive perks when collected, and Tick Town contains more of them than almost any other world in the game. Based on the Tick Town Cloudies tracker, there are 14 confirmed Cloudies scattered across the town's multiple elevation layers, and at least three of them are considered hidden secrets by the broader community.
The table below maps every Cloudie we have personally verified inside Tick Town. Bold entries indicate Cloudies that require a specific ability or backtracking to reach.
| # | Cloudie Location | Layer | Ability Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Main Plaza Fountain | Ground | None | Visible on first arrival |
| 2 | Clock Tower Steps | Ground | None | Guides you toward the gears shop |
| 3 | Market Street Awning | Ground | None | Easiest miss — flick the camera up |
| 4 | Rooftop Trail Side Room | Elevated | Double Jump | Hidden room behind a fake wall |
| 5 | Workshop District Pipes | Elevated | None | Inside the steam vent maze |
| 6 | Bell Tower Balcony | High | Wall Climb | Reward for climbing the belltower |
| 7 | Above the Clock Face | Sky | Air Dash | The most-missed Cloudie |
| 8 | Bazaar Lanterns | Ground | None | Two Cloudies on hanging lanterns |
| 9 | Workshop Backroom | Ground | None | Behind a breakable crate |
| 10 | Train Station Attic | Upper | Triple Jump | Requires unlocking post-game |
| 11 | Clockmaker's Basement | Underground | None | Easy to overlook the staircase |
| 12 | Cafe Rooftop Garden | Elevated | Double Jump | Near the cat NPC |
| 13 | Above Main Street Signs | Sky | Air Dash + Wall Climb | Combo move needed |
| 14 | Music Shop Loft | Elevated | None | Reach by stacking crates |
Cloudies #4, #7, #10, and #13 are the four commonly cited Duskfade Tick Town secrets for collectors. If you are missing one, work through the movement sections below first — many players simply lack the upgrades to reach the platform.
For a comprehensive visual map and Cloudie-by-Cloudie guide, see our dedicated Tick Town Cloudies article, which is updated as new discoveries surface.
The Rooftop Trail Above Main Street
The Rooftop Trail is the most underrated area in Tick Town. Most players only glance at the rooftop signage during the Gear tutorial and never return, but there is a fully explorable loop of walkways that rings Main Street at the second-floor level. Inside this loop, a fake wall on the eastern end of the trail conceals a small side room containing Cloudie #4 and a chest with a rare cosmetic stamp. The fake wall is invisible unless you pan the camera slightly to the left, which is why so many runners miss it entirely on a first playthrough.
Behind the Workshop District
The Workshop District is the industrial quadrant of Tick Town, and it has its own self-contained map of secrets. If you follow the steam pipes upward, you will eventually find a vent grate that can be destroyed with a charged weapon swing. Inside the vent maze is Cloudie #5 plus two minor upgrade items. The maze also serves as a soft tutorial for the Bounce Pad mechanic, which becomes critical for farming later collectibles.
Gear Shards, Tokens, and Item Secrets
Tick Town is the primary economy hub for the entire game. Every vendor, crafter, and upgrade station resides here, and the items those vendors accept come almost exclusively from Tick Town's hidden rewards. To help you plan a completion route, here is a breakdown of every secret reward we have confirmed as of patch 1.04.
| Reward Type | How to Find | Use | Approx. Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gear Shard (Common) | Breakable crates, hidden chests | Vendor currency | 5 gold |
| Gear Shard (Rare) | Boss rematches, secret rooms | Vendor currency | 50 gold |
| Cogwheel Token | Complete NPC side quests | Unlocks vendor items | Varies |
| Music Disc | Hidden in record store attic | Cosmetic / lore | Collectible |
| Photo Fragment | Bulletin board puzzles | Lore progression | Collectible |
| Map Stamp | Reach rooftop corners | Cosmetic | Collectible |
| Cloudie Treat | Reward Cloudies | Permanent perk | Varies |
The two most consequential secret rewards are the Rare Gear Shards and the Cogwheel Tokens. Rare Gear Shards unlock the highest-tier crafting recipes at the Workshop vendor, while Cogwheel Tokens gate the post-game shop inventory. Both are missable, so always exhaust NPC dialogue in Tick Town before fast-traveling to another world.
Early Game Gear Shards Hidden in Plain Sight
Three Gear Shards sit in obvious locations yet go uncollected by a shocking percentage of new players:
- The Shard behind the Gear Vendor's counter — simply walk around the back of the stall during off-hours.
- The Shard on top of the fountain — requires you to look up rather than at Ava's feet.
- The Shard inside the Bakery's oven — only appears once you have completed the bakery side quest.
If you want a more thorough explanation of the town layout and vendor interactions, our Tick Town guide covers every stall in detail.
NPC Lore Secrets and Backstory Quests
Tick Town is home to more than twenty named NPCs, and almost every one of them carries a piece of the larger Duskfade mystery. The community has identified several standout lore conversations that most players skip because they are gated behind exploration milestones or specific in-game times. For a complete roster including affection rewards and dialogue triggers, see our Tick Town NPCs page, but the highlights below qualify as legitimate secrets.
The Clockmaker's Journal Quest
Arvo, the half-mad inventor standing next to the central clock face, gives you a multi-stage quest called The Clockmaker's Journal. On the surface, this is a standard fetch quest, but if you read each journal entry in order rather than skipping the cutscenes, you unlock a hidden conversation that hints at the identity of the final boss of Duskfade. This dialogue tree is missable: it disappears once you complete the third world in the campaign.
The Two Sisters Coffee Shop Conversation
The cafe on the west side of town is staffed by twin sisters who repeat the same dialogue in early play. After rescuing their brother in the second clock dimension, their dialogue completely changes. Most players assume this is just story progression, but their new monologue contains one of the most-cited references to the Kingdom Hearts-style "Hearts-like" comparisons called out in the Xbox Wire preview.
Bulletin Board Photo Puzzle
The bulletin board outside the train station is decorated with scattered photo fragments. Assembling them in the correct order unlocks a flashback cutscene that is not accessible anywhere else in the game. This is one of the longest-running Tick Town secrets and remains a rite of passage for completionists.
Movement Tech and Hidden Routing Options
The movement system is one of Duskfade's most praised features, and Tick Town is the ideal sandbox for experimenting with it. Players who master the following techniques can shave minutes off completion runs and reach every hidden cloudie listed above.
Wall Climb and Bounce Tech
Once you acquire the Wall Climb enchantment from the Workshop, you can chain it with Air Dash, Double Jump, and Bounce Pads to reach areas that look completely inaccessible. The fastest known routing glitch — informally called the "Tick Skip" by speedrunners — uses a Wall Climb + Air Dash combo to bypass the second half of Main Street entirely. This is a legitimate movement trick, not an exploit, and the developers have confirmed it is intentional. It is the only way to grab Cloudie #13 without backtracking from a later world.
Off-Camera Platform Routes
Tick Town includes several off-camera platforms that the developers added specifically as reward routes for experienced players. These platforms do not display on the in-game map and only become visible when you approach them directly. Once you know where they are, you can use them to bypass nearly every main street encounter, which is helpful for low-combat difficulty runs on Explorer mode.
Difficulty-Specific Secrets and Rewards
Duskfade features three selectable difficulties: Explorer, Adventurer, and Master Clockmaker. Each difficulty unlocks unique Tick Town secrets that cannot be found on the others.
| Difficulty | Exclusive Tick Town Reward | Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Explorer | Compass Charm (navigation aid) | Reach the Rooftop Trail |
| Adventurer | Hidden Vendor Stall | Complete all NPC quests |
| Master Clockmaker | Master Cogwheel Trophy | No-death run of Tick Town |
The Master Clockmaker difficulty is the most demanding but also the most rewarding. A no-death challenge through Tick Town unlocks a unique vendor stall in the basement that sells cosmetics otherwise locked behind paid DLC. Because the basement is technically off the main route, this vendor is classified as a secret Tick Town reward rather than a standard shop.
If you have tried everything above and still feel like you are missing content, return to Tick Town after completing the main story. The town changes slightly in the post-game state, including a new dialogue tree from Arvo, an additional shop inventory, and one final hidden cloudie above the train station. Many players only discover this set of bonuses by revisiting the town reflexively, which is by far the easiest way to find late-game Duskfade Tick Town secrets.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the easiest secret to miss in Duskfade Tick Town? The Market Street Awning Cloudie is the most commonly overlooked because players rarely think to look up during the opening tutorial. Pan the camera toward the rooftops as soon as you enter Main Street, and you will spot it immediately.
- How many hidden Cloudies are there in Tick Town? There are four hidden Cloudies that require upgraded movement abilities — numbers 4, 7, 10, and 13 in the chart above — plus ten more that are visible from the main path. Combined, you can collect 14 Cloudies in Tick Town alone.
- Do Tick Town secrets carry over to New Game Plus? All Cloudies, Gear Shards, vendor unlocks, and NPC affection levels carry over, but the Master Clockmaker no-death trophy must be re-earned each playthrough. Cosmetic items, however, are permanently account-wide.
- Where is the secret basement vendor? The basement is accessed through a hidden staircase behind the central clock face, and it only opens once you have unlocked Master Clockmaker difficulty and completed a flawless run of Tick Town.
- Can you 100% Tick Town before leaving for other worlds? Yes, but doing so requires the Air Dash and Wall Climb abilities, which are normally earned in the second clock dimension. Most players find it faster to do a partial sweep, then return to Tick Town after gaining movement upgrades.