If your first real loss in Timberline Studio’s cozy deckbuilder looks like a tiny puppet disaster, with your hero waving a beautiful dinner at a monster and somehow doing nothing, the problem is probably not courage. It is lunch math. You are not the sword; you are the chef who packs the sword's entire battle plan into a plate. If you are searching for exactly how to unlock Caretakers Beastro, the answer lies hidden in your recipe book, your map progression, and your understanding of flavor synergy.
Unlike traditional farming simulators where cooking is just a way to restore stamina, Beastro treats every meal as a deck of cards. The ingredients you forage and farm dictate the exact hand your Caretakers will take into the game's trick-taking puppet theater battles. To build a full roster capable of countering any ravenous monster outside the walls of Palo Pori, you must find, court, and recruit every Caretaker across the five flavor regions.
Here is the definitive, step-by-step guide to unlocking every Caretaker in Beastro, navigating the notorious Marshlands progression blocks, and building the ultimate culinary deck.
The Core Loop: Cooking, Deckbuilding, and Caretakers
Before you start hunting down map markers, you must understand what a Caretaker actually needs from you. As Panko, the young Caracal chef thrust into the role of head cook after his mentor's disappearance, your job is to manage the restaurant alongside Flambe, a magical fire spirit. But your most important patrons are the Caretakers—brave adventurers who venture into the wilds to fight back the darkness.
The game operates on five distinct flavor profiles, which act simultaneously as world biomes and combat card suits:
- Umami (Green): Defense-forward, high healing.
- Bitter (Purple): Encounter-specific disruption and stamina management.
- Sour (Yellow): Enhancement pairing (especially potent when mixed with Umami).
- Salty (Light Blue): Trick-taking control and board manipulation.
- Sweet (Pink): High-burst power and finishing moves.
(Note: While some early guides claim there are six flavors, this is incorrect. Spicy is an effect modifier applied to cards in later chapters, not a standalone sixth suit.)
Every Caretaker hails from a specific flavor region and possesses a palate that aligns with that suit. Feeding them their preferred flavor profile boosts their spirits, sharpens their skills, and unlocks stronger combat abilities.
The Basics: How to Unlock Caretakers Beastro Early On
Your introduction to the Caretaker system is highly scripted, designed to teach you the fundamentals of flavor matching without punishing you for bad lunch math.
Oyshi (The Umami Caretaker)
Oyshi is your starting Caretaker. A gentle, yeti-like guardian with a natural affinity for animals, his name is a clever nod to both umami-rich mushrooms (oyster, shiitake) and oishii, the Japanese word for delicious.
Because he is unlocked automatically through early story progression, you do not need to trigger a specific hidden quest to bring him into the fold. However, unlocking his true potential requires understanding his palate. Oyshi's combat style is heavily defense-forward. He relies on sustained healing to survive encounters even when the trick-taking doesn't go your way.
To maximize Oyshi's deck, feed him Umami-heavy meals with Sour ingredients mixed in. Sour actively enhances Umami in the game's synergy matrix. Conversely, avoid mixing Bitter ingredients into Oyshi's meals, as Bitter actively reduces Umami's peak output.
The Marshlands: How to Unlock Caretakers Beastro (Kalan's Quest)
This is where the training wheels come off. When researching how to unlock Caretakers Beastro, Kalan is the roadblock that leaves most players scouring Reddit and Steam forums for answers.
Kalan is the Bitter Caretaker. He is a single-minded protector who prefers his coffee black, loves leafy greens, and acts like he knows better than everyone else. When you first encounter him alone in the wilds of the Marshlands, he is actively resistant to your help and will flat-out reject your standard restaurant fare.
To unlock Kalan, you must complete a highly specific sequence of foraging and recipe development:
- Meet Kalan in the Wilds: Trigger his initial dialogue in the Marshlands. He will refuse to join Palo Pori, prompting a quest marker.
- Follow the Oyshi Quest Marker: Speak to Oyshi, who will give you a prompt to investigate a specific path. Head to the exclamation point (
!) located in the bitter area of the Marshlands. - Forage the Cabbogi: At this marker, you will find a unique bitter ingredient called the Cabbogi. You must pick this up to advance the trigger.
- Unlock the Bulb Bowl: Return to your kitchen and open your recipe book. With the Cabbogi in your inventory, a new offshoot recipe will appear branching from your first basic rice bowl. This is the Bulb Bowl. It costs 0 Chef Points to unlock.
- Serve Kalan: Cook the Bulb Bowl—ensuring you hit the perfect execution marks in the chopping and sizzling minigames to maximize card quality—and serve it to Kalan.
Once he eats his favorite dish, his stubbornness breaks, and he will officially move into town, granting you access to his Bitter-forward disruption deck.
Bug Warning: If you are playing on an older version of the game and Kalan's quest won't progress despite meeting the Umami spirit, ensure your game is updated to patch v1.0.5. A known bug previously prevented the Umami spirit from registering correctly if players had accidentally met the Salty spirit first.
The Crystalline Coast: Recruiting the Salty and Sour Heroes
Once you have mastered the Marshlands, your map expands toward the Crystalline Coast. This biome introduces the Salty and Sour mechanics, requiring you to rethink your farm's crop rotation to supply light blue and yellow ingredients.
The Salty and Sour Caretakers
Unlocking the coastal Caretakers requires keen map awareness. Unlike Kalan, who blocks your main story path, the Salty Caretaker is found by exploring the tide pools near the Crystalline Coast camp.
You are looking for a very specific map marker: a question mark with an exclamation point above it (? with a !). Approaching this marker triggers the dialogue sequence required to invite the Salty Caretaker back to Palo Pori. Successfully recruiting them unlocks the "A Salty Tide" achievement (worth 15 Gamerscore / Silver Trophy).
Shortly after, in the exact same coastal area, a second ? with a ! marker will appear. This leads you to the Sour Caretaker. Because Sour cards are the ultimate enhancement suite for your early-game Umami decks, prioritizing this unlock drastically improves your performance against mid-game bosses like the Mogave Desert Miniboss.
The Endgame Roster: The Sweet Caretaker and the Full House
The final piece of the puzzle is the Sweet Caretaker. Sweet (Pink) ingredients offer massive burst power, allowing you to close out puppet-theater fights before your Caretaker's stamina is milled away. The Sweet Caretaker is unlocked organically through late-game story progression once you have successfully integrated the other four flavors into your restaurant's daily menu.
Bringing the Sweet Caretaker into town triggers the "A Sweet Treat" achievement. More importantly, having all five flavor Caretakers officially moved into the village unlocks the highly coveted "Full House" achievement (30 Gamerscore), proving you have mastered the diplomatic side of Palo Pori's culinary scene.
Quick Reference: Caretaker Unlock Table
| Caretaker | Flavor Suit | Region | Unlock Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oyshi | Umami (Green) | Starting Area | Automatic (Early Game) |
| Kalan | Bitter (Purple) | Marshlands | Forage Cabbogi & Cook the Bulb Bowl |
| Salty Hero | Salty (Light Blue) | Crystalline Coast | Find the ? with ! map marker at the tide pools |
| Sour Hero | Sour (Yellow) | Crystalline Coast | Complete Salty questline & find the next marker |
| Sweet Hero | Sweet (Pink) | Endgame Area | Complete late-game story progression |
Maximizing Caretaker Friendship and Combat Power
Unlocking a Caretaker is only the first step; keeping them alive in the wilds is the real game. Every night, you end your day at the tea house, watching the Caretakers' expeditions play out as a paper puppet show. You influence these turn-based, trick-taking battles by playing the cards generated by the meal you cooked that afternoon.
If you consistently feed a Caretaker meals that align with their preferred flavor profile, their friendship level increases. Reaching Level 5 Friendship with every Venture Caretaker unlocks the "Craving Friendship" achievement (75 Gamerscore). High friendship isn't just for show—it directly increases the base numbers on their combat cards.
To build the perfect deck, you must pay attention to the passive effects unique to each Caretaker:
- Kalan's Stamina Engine: Following patch v1.0.5, Kalan's passive effect has a 50% chance of restoring stamina whenever a card is discarded. This makes him incredibly resilient against late-game bosses that try to mill your deck.
- The Conedor Spiky Effect: If you apply the Spiky effect to a Caretaker, it will damage the monster and apply the status regardless of whether you win or lose the trick.
- The Bubblizard Shield: Similarly, shield effects activate independently of trick outcomes, making defensive Umami/Salty hybrid meals incredibly safe for blind progression runs.
Do not overload a meal with just one flavor. A monolithic Umami deck feels strong until a boss demands a specific flavor answer your hand cannot provide. Always build around a Caretaker's main preferred flavor, add its natural enhancement (like Sour to Umami), and keep a third balancing flavor in the dish to deal with unexpected monster tricks.
FAQ: How to Unlock Caretakers Beastro
Why won't Kalan accept the food I cook for him? Kalan will reject standard restaurant meals. You must progress his specific questline by foraging the Cabbogi in the Marshlands and unlocking the "Bulb Bowl" recipe (which costs 0 Chef Points). Serve him the Bulb Bowl to unlock him.
Where is the Cabbogi located?
Follow the quest marker provided by Oyshi. The Cabbogi is found at the exclamation point (!) located deep within the bitter area of the Marshlands biome.
How do I find the Sour Caretaker?
Players often miss the Sour Caretaker because they leave the Crystalline Coast too quickly. After unlocking the Salty Caretaker, stay in the same coastal area and look for a new ? with a ! marker above it to trigger the Sour Caretaker's introduction.
Does Spicy count as a Caretaker flavor? No. While Beastro features Spicy ingredients, Spicy is an effect modifier that applies damage-over-time and unique status conditions to existing cards. It is not a standalone sixth suit, and there is no dedicated "Spicy Caretaker."
How do I get the Full House achievement? You must successfully recruit all five main flavor Caretakers (Umami, Bitter, Salty, Sour, and Sweet) and have them officially move into the village of Palo Pori.
Sources
- Timberline Studio Patch Notes (v1.0.5, June 2026)
- Beastro Official Achievement List (Xbox / Steam)
- Community routing and flavor synergy matrices from the Beastro subreddit and Steam community hubs.