Shibuya Beginner Guide: What to Do in Your First Session

Shibuya drops you into a Jujutsu Kaisen-inspired fighting game set 1,000 years after the original story: you climb sorcerer grades, earn cursed techniques through hard trials, contain curses instead of exorcising them, and fight in virtual Tube Simulations. It also has a hardcore streak — the stronger your character gets, the more a careless death can cost you — and it is an early-stage beta where systems can change. That combination makes the first hour worth planning, so here is a complete first-session route, from the character builder to your first rank-up objective, plus the early choices and dangers to know before you push further.

Quick answer

Roll your character, redeem the free-reroll codes, learn the combat keys, run a Soul Ignite mission to contain your first curse — then take the Grade Exam at the red phone booth. Reaching Grade 2 is the main requirement to unlock a Cursed Technique.

• The working codes reported in early November 2026 all granted free rerolls, and rerolls alter your Race, Clan and Cursed Technique
• Tap F right before a hit to parry, E to infuse attacks with cursed energy, and hold Q to lunge
• Early missions come from the glowing blue circle (Soul Ignite, rank 1 of 4) and from Agent Hoshino inside HQ
• Death costs scale with your strength, and pushing outward costs yen: a ¥5,000 gas mask and a ¥10,000 desert gate fee

Your first session at a glance

If you follow one thing from this guide, make it this route. Every stage is expanded in the sections below.

Roadmap

1. 1

   Create your character

   Lock in a starting build

   • Roll the RNG stats and race in the character builder
   • Run the tutorial if you want the walkthrough — one guide calls it optional
2. 2

   Redeem reroll codes

   Free rerolls before you commit

   • Use the code-entry spot on the character creation screen
   • Pick up the current working codes from our Shibuya codes page
3. 3

   Learn the combat keys

   Fight instead of flailing

   • Practice M1 chains, Q dash and lunge, and F parry timing
   • Use E to infuse attacks with cursed energy
4. 4

   Run your first mission

   Merit, loot and containment practice

   • Start a Soul Ignite mission at the glowing blue circle
   • Defeat and contain a field curse, then deliver the specimen to HQ Lab or Black Net
5. 5

   Take the Grade Exam

   Climb toward Grade 2

   • Open the Grade Exam panel at the red phone booth
   • Remember that Grade 2 is the main requirement to unlock a Cursed Technique

One caveat before you start: specifics here reflect Shibuya [Beta] as of November 2026, and the developer notes that the game is early-stage and subject to change.

Start in the character builder

Launching Shibuya in Roblox puts a new player straight into the character builder. That screen does more than pick a look: it rolls RNG stats and your race, which third-party guides describe as a shot at a head start over your server-wide peers. Two things are worth doing before you lock anything in:

• Redeem codes first. The character creation screen has its own code-entry spot (one guide places it in the upper-right corner), so you can bank free rerolls before committing to a race or clan.
• Look at what you rolled. Your race and clan change how the game plays, so check the breakdown in the reroll section below before accepting the roll.

The tutorial is a judgment call: one guide lists it as a standard step after character creation, while another says to finish the tutorials "if you prefer." Treat it as optional — run it if you want a guided tour, skip it if you would rather learn by fighting.

Redeem codes for free rerolls

Codes matter in Shibuya because they hand out rerolls, and rerolls alter your Race, Clan and Cursed Technique — the three rolls that define your character. Clan rerolls give you another try at a clan that suits the way you fight, and cursed technique rerolls let you chase stronger abilities as you progress.

Every working code reported in early November 2026 granted free rerolls. Because codes expire over time, we keep the live list on the Shibuya codes page rather than duplicating it here.

Redemption is flexible: use the code-entry spot on the character creation screen, the in-game menu on M (it has a dedicated Enter Code field), or the chat box with ! in front of the code. If a code fails to go through, double-check the letters — typing errors are the usual culprit.

The default controls worth learning first

Shibuya publishes a short official control list, and a handful of keys carry most early fights:

Data table

Key

L

What it does

Equip your weapon

Key

Tab

What it does

View the leaderboard

Key

Backspace

What it does

Drop an item

Key

J

What it does

Devour a contained curse

Key

M1

What it does

Attack

Key

M2 or R

What it does

Critical attack

Key

Q

What it does

Dash — hold to lunge

Key

F

What it does

Block — tap right before a hit to parry

Key

E

What it does

Infuse attacks with cursed energy

Key

X

What it does

Uppercut — press again for rushdown

Key

B

What it does

Grip NPCs or players

Key

V

What it does

Carry NPCs, players or objects

Key

P

What it does

Summon your vehicle

Data table

Key	What it does
L	Equip your weapon
Tab	View the leaderboard
Backspace	Drop an item
J	Devour a contained curse
M1	Attack
M2 or R	Critical attack
Q	Dash — hold to lunge
F	Block — tap right before a hit to parry
E	Infuse attacks with cursed energy
X	Uppercut — press again for rushdown
B	Grip NPCs or players
V	Carry NPCs, players or objects
P	Summon your vehicle

Five notes for your first fights:

• Parry before you block. F blocks, but tapping F right before a hit lands parries it instead — the timing is the whole skill. Our parry guide breaks it down further.
• Infuse with cursed energy. E infuses your attacks with cursed energy, the game's signature combat resource.
• Dash, then lunge. Q dashes, and holding Q turns it into a lunge for closing distance.
• Uppercut into rushdown. X uppercuts, and pressing X again follows with a rushdown.
• Devour needs containment first. J devours a contained curse — the containment step has to happen before devouring means anything.

The same list lives on our controls page, and the combat guide goes deeper on fighting.

Your first missions: Soul Ignite and curse containment

Early objectives are landmarks, not menu tabs. A glowing blue circle out in the field opens the Soul Ignite mission panel — it shows a rank counter (RANK 1/4 in the session we checked) with Start and Cancel buttons — and starting it is a natural first objective.

The fight itself teaches Shibuya's core twist: here you contain curses rather than exorcise them. In that early session, defeating a field curse called Brute dropped loot with the message "You have received Brute Tooth x1," and holding the [E] CONTAIN prompt over the downed curse flipped it to CONTAINED. Beat the curse down, then contain it — that two-step rhythm is the loop the game is built around, and our curse containment guide covers it in detail.

Deliveries close the loop. Inside the HQ building, NPC Agent Hoshino offers dialogs like "I've got a specimen for you" and "I need ofuda," and the specimens you bring in have two destinations: the HQ Lab for +Merit or the Black Net for +Sin.

The red phone booth: your first rank-up

The red PHONE BOOTH is Shibuya's progression landmark. Using it opens the Grade Exam panel, which shows:

• your current grade on a ladder, with the next rung flagged NEXT ELIGIBLE (the panel we checked showed 準二 (02) as current and 準一 (01) next);
• two exam modes, FREE FOR ALL and GAUNTLET;
• the next eligible exam by name — "Semi-Grade 1 Exam" in that panel — together with its pass condition, TO PASS 1ST, and the examinee count, EXAMINEES 4;
• [E] to enter and [C] to close.

The panel reflects whoever is using it, so your ladder will show your own grade. The number that matters is Grade 2: reaching it is the main requirement to unlock a Cursed Technique, and techniques are exactly the kind of reward this game gates behind hard trials. That makes the phone booth your default answer to "what should I do next" for the first stretch of play. For the full ladder, see our sorcerer grades page, the cursed techniques guide, or the progression guide.

Clans, races and rerolls: your early choices

Two RNG rolls shape a new character, and your race is rolled in the same builder you start in; rerolls from codes alter your Race, Clan and Cursed Technique.

Clans grant perks and attributes that alter gameplay and fighting chance. The Legendary tier includes Kashimo — a 1% roll that stacks speed with every hit you land (up to 4 stacks, all lost when you get hit) and adds +50 HP on top.

Races roll in the same builder. At the far end sits Death Painting, the only Mythic race — the rarest to roll and the strongest option, with the most valuable passives and active skills in its set.

Decision guide

Choose for your situation

You rolled Mythic Death Painting, the rarest race

Keep it — the races tier material describes Death Painting as the strongest option, with the most valuable passives and active skills in its set

You rolled a Legendary clan such as Kashimo (a 1% roll)

Keep it — Kashimo stacks speed with every hit you land (up to 4 stacks, all lost when you get hit) and adds +50 HP

You rolled a low-rarity clan or race you dislike

Consider a free reroll from codes — clan rerolls give you another try at finding one that suits the way you fight

You are out of free rerolls and still unhappy with a roll

Rerolls can be bought with Robux, but the sources tracking them report no reliable free-to-play way to farm more — weigh a purchase carefully

The economy behind those choices is tight: besides code rerolls, rerolls can be purchased with Robux, and the sources tracking them report no reliable free-to-play method to farm more organically as you play. Treat the rerolls your codes give you as your early budget and spend them on the roll that actually bothers you. Our clans page, clan tier list, races page, race tier list and reroll guide cover each roll in depth.

Dangers to know before you push out

The official description is blunt about the stakes: Shibuya has hardcore elements, and the stronger you get, the more a careless death can cost you. Because death costs scale with your power, caution is a habit worth building from the very first session — our death penalties guide details what you stand to lose.

The map also gates itself behind requirements and cash soon after the starting area:

• The Subway. NPC Tomoe sells a Gas Mask for ¥5,000 with the warning "Wear it out there or don't come..." — her price and her tone both say the area beyond expects you equipped.
• The desert gate. NPC Jira charges ¥10,000 to open the gate ("¥10,000 once and I crank it open"), and the gear hotbar at that gate showed a Desert Gas Mask and a Collision antidote alongside the usual loadout.

The practical takeaway: do not walk toward the gates broke. Both checkpoints are paid in yen, and our yen guide covers how to earn it steadily.

That closes the loop of a first session: a rolled and coded character, the combat keys in your hands, a contained curse delivered for Merit or Sin, and a phone booth to grind toward Grade 2 — the gate to your first Cursed Technique.