1 Supplies are a clock
You scavenge for food, supplies and weapons, and you return home to eat and recover. That is a survival structure, which means the resources you hold are also a measure of how much time you have before you must go out again.
The dangerous state is not being low, it is being low and having nowhere safe left to search. Keep a reserve large enough that a failed expedition is an inconvenience rather than a crisis.
2 Who to take in
Some characters can be recruited and offered safe harbour, and the store is explicit that the cast is unconventional and occasionally psychotic. In a horror game those two facts sitting next to each other are a warning.
| Consider | Why |
|---|---|
| What they cost | Another person in a small apartment is another person eating your supplies |
| What they add | Some will help in ways the game does not spell out in advance |
| What they are | This is a body horror game in which people become monsters. Not everyone should be let in |
Being wrong is part of the design rather than a failure, and it is one of the reasons different players end up with different runs.
3 Bosses reward preparation, not level
A dozen boss encounters across ten to twelve hours means roughly one an hour, which is a high density. In a game built on scavenged equipment rather than experience points, that makes each one a preparation problem.
If a boss is beating you, the answer is more likely a different item or a different range than more strength. Go back, gather, and return with a plan rather than repeating the same attempt.
4 Read the creature, then choose the range
Because combat accounts for the space between you and your foes, most encounters have a correct distance and being at the wrong one is how you lose.
Build the habit of asking a single question when something new appears: does this thing want me close or far away? Then do the opposite of what it wants. With over 150 creatures in the building, that one question will carry you further than memorising any of them.
5 Play the first run blind
The store describes the game as small, experimental and unwaveringly weird, and says it offers different experiences for every player on the way to several endings.
6 Reaching more than one ending
Several different endings exist. In a game of this length, a second run is a reasonable evening rather than a commitment, which is presumably why the design leans on it.
The efficient approach is to change the decisions you were most sure about the first time: recruit the person you refused, refuse the person you took in, and pursue the thread you ignored because it looked like a detour. Repeating the same choices with better combat produces the same ending.
7 Using the 152 achievements as a map
One hundred and fifty two entries on a short game is a catalogue rather than a challenge list. With more than 150 creatures, a dozen bosses and a cast of recruitable characters, most of them almost certainly mark things you met rather than feats you performed.
That makes the list an excellent guide for a second run and a bad idea before the first, since entry names in a game like this give away what exists. Open it after an ending, not before.
8 Mistakes that end runs
| Mistake | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Scavenging until empty | You arrive home with nothing to recover with and no margin for a bad trip |
| Attacking everything you meet | Some of those encounters were characters, allies or story |
| Carrying one weapon | Distance matters, so a single range leaves you helpless against half the roster |
| Retrying a boss unchanged | Preparation is the mechanic. Repetition is not |
| Skipping the apartment | Cooking, crafting and conversation are half the game and most of the writing |
Keep a supply reserve so a failed expedition is not a crisis, and think about the cost as well as the benefit before taking someone into your apartment. Beat bosses with preparation rather than repetition, and ask of every new creature whether it wants you close or far, then do the opposite. Play the first run blind, because curiosity is the product, then change your most confident decisions to reach a different ending and use the 152 achievements as a map afterwards.
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