The Echo of Ancients Festival turns Heartopia into an archaeology-themed collectathon built around the Wild Pulse theme. It adds limited fish, insects, birds, crops, flowers, and a full set of festival-only recipes, along with a slab mining activity and a rotating Festival Store. Most of it is time-limited, so the order you tackle things in matters if you want a complete collection log.
Quick answer: Reach D.G. Member Level 7, finish the Main Story quest “The Answer Lies Within,” then pick up a festival collectible to trigger the event. Once the festival menu opens, you can see quests, rewards, cooking challenges, collectibles, and the Festival Store.
How to unlock the Echo of Ancients Festival
Two conditions gate the entire event. You need to be at D.G. Member Level 7, and you need to have cleared the beginner Main Story quest “The Answer Lies Within.” After that, collecting a festival collectible starts the event and opens the festival menu, which is your hub for everything below.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Festival name | Echo of Ancients |
| Theme | Wild Pulse |
| Start | August 29, 2026, 6:00 AM Server Time |
| Main festival end | October 10, 2026, 5:59 AM Server Time |
| Unlock requirement | D.G. Member Level 7 + “The Answer Lies Within” |
Not every activity lasts the whole season. The limited Hoopoe birds become available on September 5, and the Festival Collector’s Challenge runs from September 12 through September 26. Time Limited Exhibition Passes earned during the event stay usable through October 17, 2026, at 5:59 AM Server Time, giving you a short buffer after the main festival closes.
Set up festival cooking with the Clay Stove
Cooking is the largest part of the festival, and it needs its own equipment. Festival recipes cannot be prepared on normal cooking stations. You have to use a Simple Clay Stove, which comes from the free Festival Pack.
The recipes cover drinks, grilled dishes, soups, and the final Primitive Feast Combo. You unlock the extra variations by cooking a base recipe and swapping the fruit, vegetable, or fish ingredient. Each valid swap registers as a new dish in the Gourmet Life collection.
Prickly Pear Juice variations
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Prickly Pear Fruit Juice | Prickly Pear, Milk, Fruit |
| Prickly Pear & Apple Juice | Prickly Pear, Milk, Apple x2 |
| Prickly Pear & Mandarin Juice | Prickly Pear, Milk, Mandarin x2 |
| Prickly Pear & Blueberry Juice | Prickly Pear, Milk, Blueberry x2 |
| Prickly Pear & Raspberry Juice | Prickly Pear, Milk, Raspberry x2 |
| Prickly Pear & Strawberry Juice | Prickly Pear, Milk, Strawberry x2 |
| Prickly Pear & Grape Juice | Prickly Pear, Milk, Grape x2 |
| Prickly Pear & Pineapple Juice | Prickly Pear, Milk, Pineapple x2 |
Grilled Meat variations
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Grilled Meat & Vegetables | Fruitwood Charcoal, Meat x2, Vegetables |
| Grilled Meat & Potatoes | Fruitwood Charcoal, Meat x2, Potatoes |
| Grilled Meat & Carrots | Fruitwood Charcoal, Meat x2, Carrots |
| Grilled Meat & Corn | Fruitwood Charcoal, Meat x2, Corn |
| Grilled Meat & Tomatoes | Fruitwood Charcoal, Meat x2, Tomatoes |
| Grilled Meat & Eggplants | Fruitwood Charcoal, Meat x2, Eggplants |
Prickly Pear Fish Soup variations
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Prickly Pear Fish Soup | Prickly Pear, Pots x2, Fish |
| Prickly Pear & Pale Gold Garfish Soup | Prickly Pear, Pots x2, Pale Gold Garfish |
| Prickly Pear & Brown Garfish Soup | Prickly Pear, Pots x2, Brown Garfish |
| Prickly Pear & Silver Garfish Soup | Prickly Pear, Pots x2, Silver Garfish |
| Prickly Pear & Black Garfish Soup | Prickly Pear, Pots x2, Black Garfish |
The Primitive Feast Combo is the final combination dish, made by mixing the juice, snack, and soup components you have already cooked. It feeds into the festival’s cooking collection and its star-based rewards. Note: once the festival ends these recipes can no longer be cooked, but any food you have already made can still be kept, eaten, or shared.
Grow Prickly Pear and Wynberg Conebush early
Two limited plants come from Blanc at the flower shop. Prickly Pear is the crop that most recipes rely on, and Wynberg Conebush is the new festival flower. Both go on sale starting August 29 at 6:00 AM Server Time and are worth planting early so they mature in time.
Harvesting mature Prickly Pear yields regular and higher-tier fruit, both usable in cooking. Buy extra seed if you intend to cook the full juice and soup lists, since each dish consumes Prickly Pear.
Wynberg Conebush comes in Red, Yellow, and White base seeds. Planting these one-star bases in a criss-cross layout lets you crossbreed higher-rarity colors. The Gardening Catalog tracks the chain, moving from two-star Orange and Pink, to three-star Black and Peach, to four-star Purple and Blue, and finally five-star Sunglow.
Catch all four festival Garfish at Forest Lake
The four limited Garfish variants all share a single spot. Head to Forest Lake and fish there, since none of them are tied to a specific time or weather condition. That makes them the easiest festival collectibles to complete in one sitting.
| Fish | Location | Time & weather |
|---|---|---|
| Pale Gold Garfish | Forest Lake | Any time, any weather |
| Brown Garfish | Forest Lake | Any time, any weather |
| Silver Garfish | Forest Lake | Any time, any weather |
| Black Garfish | Forest Lake | Any time, any weather |
Where to find the festival insects
Four insects join the collection. The three fireflies each sit in a different flower field, while the Brown Rhinoceros Beetle spawns around the ruins. All of them appear in Sunny, Rainy, or Rainbow weather.
| Insect | Location | Weather |
|---|---|---|
| Purple-Horned Firefly | Flower Field, Whale Mountain | Sunny, Rainy, Rainbow |
| Grey-Horned Firefly | Windmill Flower Field | Sunny, Rainy, Rainbow |
| Pink-Horned Firefly | Flower Field, Amethyst Beach | Sunny, Rainy, Rainbow |
| Brown Rhinoceros Beetle | Onsen Mountain Ruins (near the Capybara statues) | Sunny, Rainy, Rainbow |
For the beetle, travel to the Onsen Mountain Ruins and search the area around the Capybara statues, which is the most reliable patch.
Hoopoe birds arrive September 5
The festival adds several Hoopoe birds you photograph as part of the collection activities, supported by dedicated Birdwatching events where they can spawn. These birds are not available at launch. They become available on September 5 at 6:00 AM Server Time, so plan to return then to track down exact spots.
| Bird | Availability |
|---|---|
| Orange Hoopoe | From September 5 |
| Blue Hoopoe | From September 5 |
| Green Hoopoe | From September 5 |
| Red Hoopoe | From September 5 |
| Colorful Hoopoe | From September 5 |
Slab mining and where to dig
Slab mining is the core exploration activity. The Developer’s Guild has placed minable slabs in the Onsen Mountain Ruins and the Spirit Oak Pine Forest. Digging these gives pieces for the Oak Slab and Capybara Slab, plus entries in the Slabtime Gacha.
Pieces from the same slab series can be placed together, and once you gather every required piece you can combine them into a complete slab. Visit both dig sites regularly and keep enough storage free for the pieces you collect.
Festival rewards and the Store
Echo of Ancients is organized around a festival catalog where challenges and Daily Requests award Festival Points. Festival Tokens are the currency for the Festival Store. The free catalog hands out rewards such as the Unpolished Nest furniture set blueprint, Horn Totem Material Packs, Festival Tokens, and Wishing Stars.
Completing the exclusive collection quest can reward 18 Time Limited Exhibition Passes, Material Packs, Wishing Stars, and access to limited Hobby collections. Azure, the Fashion Ambassador, runs the Festival Store. You can reach it through the Echo of Ancients Catalog or by speaking to her directly.
Tokens buy limited cosmetics and decor, including Solo Action, the Bone Model Ornament, the Calf Pet Sofa, the Dodo Plushie Ornament, the Primitive Jumpsuit, clothing, hairstyles, pet furniture, and decorative slabs. The stock is limited-time, so check the shop regularly and buy what you want before the festival ends. A new Ocarina instrument is also available from Annie’s Music Store during the event.
What expires and what you keep
Anything tied to the festival’s limited species, recipes, and store stock stops being obtainable once Echo of Ancients closes. You confirm a collectible has registered by checking the relevant Collection tab, such as Gourmet Life for recipes or the Gardening Catalog for flowers, where each completed entry fills in.
Food you have already cooked stays in your inventory to eat or share after the event. Time Limited Exhibition Passes remain usable through October 17. Because the birds, the Collector’s Challenge, and the store rotate on their own timers, the safest approach is to catch fish and insects early, plant Prickly Pear and Wynberg Conebush at the start, and come back on September 5 for the Hoopoe collection.
