Beginner's guide
The fastest way to understand this game is to understand one number: 96.6% of all players have killed a customer. That is the most common achievement in the game. It is not a badge of skill — it is the game documenting a mistake almost everyone makes.
Last verified 28 July 2026 · game version: launch build (22 July 2026)
The three things nobody tells you
1. The ID scanner reports on documents, not on danger
Your ID verification computer tells you whether a document is authentic. That is its entire function. It does not tell you whether the holder intends to hurt you, and treating it as a threat detector is the single most expensive misunderstanding available.
The game proves this to you twice, from opposite directions. Norbert arrives on Night 2 with a fake ID and is completely harmless. The Dentist is eight feet tall, lethal, and does not appear on the computer at all.
2. Not everything can be fought
Reaching for a weapon is a reflex the game builds and then punishes. There is an entity in this game against which no weapon, trap or barricade is effective. Against the Dentist, running is not the cowardly option — it is the only option that exists.
3. The store keeps running
Horror is not a pause button here. You still have a quota, shelves still empty, and customers still arrive while something is loose in the building. Players who treat every scare as a reason to abandon the counter fail the shift on numbers rather than on death.
- Night 1 — learn the counter. Serve people, scan IDs, watch what a normal interaction looks like. You cannot spot an anomaly until you know the baseline.
- Night 2 — meet Norbert. He will scan as fake. Do not kill him. This is the lesson.
- Night 3 — buy a weapon. Have it equipped before a hunt starts, not during one.
What the achievement curve tells you to expect
The first four achievements are held by 75–97% of players, and they arrive on their own if you keep playing: killing a customer, surviving a hunt, killing a Shrieking Doll, killing a Demented. Do not chase them.
The cliff is at Relentless (40.1%) and Last Performance (35.1%). Those need you to know something in advance. Everything below them needs deliberate effort. See the full list.
Money
You will want to spend everything on restocking, because the quota is immediate and the arsenal is not. Resist a little. Locked And Loaded — purchasing every melee weapon — sits at 20.6%, and the reason it is that low is that people spend their earnings shift-to-shift and never bank. See the weapons guide.
If you are playing with friends
Check the crossplay page before anyone buys. Steam players cannot play with Game Pass players. This catches groups out constantly.