Successfully beat the game on survival mode, here are some tips

[Starman]

=== How to use matches properly ===

Matches are a coup-de-grace for when you knock an enemy down and they are floundering (trying to smack you when you get near.)

They are NOT meant for you to burn completely dead bodies (except for new areas where sometimes they will rise but they are scripted to.)

Matches are best used for a group of 3-5 more enemies coming at you, you shotgun them and they fall in a pile.

THEN, you light them up with one match. Congrats. You killed 5 enemies with just one shotgun shell and one match as opposed to the alternative. Never use your matches unless you are full (which happens) or when you stealth kill or head shot.

=== Upgrade tips ===

Don't max out melee, there is no staggering pay off in doing so. Melee becomes obsolete late game, and it's close to a 40k experience point investment. Don't do it.

I suggest you doo not touch the maximum life bar upgrade. Unless you are at danger low levels of health and haven't encountered a healing kit or syringe in a while.

Why? Well, a lot of people don't know this, but if you increase your maximum life through upgrading, it AUTOMATICALLY replenishes your health. Your life bar gains are not huge per upgrade, so really it's like buying a gradually increasing health kit. So, you will have up to 5 full heals. Covet this.

Get your sprint up as soon as possible. it's vital during certain boss segments.

Pick a gun to upgrade and stick to it. bullets are scarce, but pistol bullets drop pretty regularly. beef up crit to at LEAST 20%, and bring your ammo capacity up, as well as how much bullets you can hold for handgun. so naturally, I suggest pistol for your first playthrough.


=== How to conserve ammo ===

Stealth kills rule in the early chapters. you can get through most of them (prior to chapter seven I believe) by just stabbing fools. use these very early chapters as your main stay of gathering ammo.

Do not shoot at a target that is on the ground. use your match instead. No matches? stomp him out.

Do not shoot at a target that is reacting to your previous shot. what I mean is you need and should wait for his animation to stop before firing another. why? if you shoot during his flailing about it's not doing as much damage. Also, their flailing also makes it harder to hit them.

Know when/where to use your weapons effectively. Shotguns are amazing for groups, obviously. They are even better if you have matches. Shoot into a pile of monsters. if they don't fall the first time, they will fall the second. then, use your match to kill all of them. for 2 shells and a match you saved yourself countless ammo.

Don't fire into the mask of masked enemies. it costs too much ammo. aim for the legs to cause them to fall, then match then. If you must shoot them in the head, wait till they are turned so the face mask isn't facing you. shoot the fleshy part obviously.

Fire bolts are your friend, but have a higher requirement. 5 trap pieces is signficant, but a fire bolt will kill everything if you aim it right.

Don't bother trying to stick a grenade. it's best to throw it right in front of them. the explosion radius is generious.


=== General Tips ===

You will never have full health again. be prepared to always be one hit from death. it's good training anyways for a later mode you unlock if you beat the game.

It's wise, that because of this, that you invest in much more life per syringe use through skill points. it pays dividends later. save your syringe for set pieces that don't allow you to use stealth. you will need the extra hits. also boss fights.

Don't shoot the safe head monster in the safe head, cause that ain't safe.

Sometimes, it's best not to disarm bombs for the trap pieces. use them to your advantage.

You can shoot barb wire mines.

Could be a placebo effect, but if you have to melee, switch to the pistol or the shotgun. the animation seems a few frames quicker than the barefisted haymaker.

If you are in a melee situation, bait the attack, smack ONCE, then get away from them while they are in their pain animation. hammering on them solves nothing and they will get a free shot at you. Hit, dodge, hit dodge. etc.

I will add more if I can think of more. Have fun guys.

[「 Over HEAVEN 」]

thank you, this is all needed and valuable information :D

[♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥]

Hey thanks for the info. Just started playing so let me as a few questions if thats ok. So when an enemy is down u can stomp them to a complete kill without burning them? Also your saying a dead body u come across, most of them wont rise? Also, head shots im assuming do alot more damage correct?

[hakuto]

Thanks for the info! I was wondering why some bodies disappeared on their own even though I didn't burn them ^^;

[Starman]

Originally posted by Panopticon:

Nice :toglove: maybe you should add this here http://steamcommunity.com/app/268050/guides/

I'll consider it. I have never wrote a guide before, although I guess I technically just did. haha.

Originally posted by 「 Scary Monsters! 」:

thank you, this is all needed and valuable information :D

You're welcome! I just don't want people to make the same mistakes I made and make the game much more harder for themselves.

Originally posted by ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥:

Hey thanks for the info. Just started playing so let me as a few questions if thats ok. So when an enemy is down u can stomp them to a complete kill without burning them? Also your saying a dead body u come across, most of them wont rise? Also, head shots im assuming do alot more damage correct?

Ask away! Yes you can, but be careful cause sometimes the enemy will pop back up to a stand if you spam stomp too much. I think it's a bug/glitch that causes them to do that, but stomp near their head. you want to crush their head. Generally, the only thing that permanently kills the enemy is a stealth kill or a head shot, and of course the matches. From my experience, most did not rise, however there is quite a large amount that do somewhere in the middle of the game, so a good rule of thumb is try to bust the heads of the enemies on the ground. From what I found, if they bust immediately, they probably were not going to spawn. If you just can not seem to bust the head of an enemy, it could possibly mean they will rise. Burn that one.

Of course, whether or not that is a hard rule or not of how the game treats really dead/fake dead scripted enemies regarding if you can bust their heads or not remains to be seen. But fire will burn them away for a 100% certainty. However, you kind of can "smell out" the traps later and figure out which one wil most likely jump you. Enter a new area and it seems quiet except for 3 bodies in the middle of the floor? and a lever you have to mash A repeatedly on? Burn those guys, they will come alive almost guaranteed.

Head shots not only do the most damage, they are the way to permanently kill enemies. some enemies have armored heads. for these guys, it's best to bring them to the ground and burn them.

[Starman]

Originally posted by seto!:

Thanks for the info! I was wondering why some bodies disappeared on their own even though I didn't burn them ^^;

I think this is a glitch. happened on mine too. Could also mean they arose and are walking around somewhere.

[Sean8102]

Thank you for all the tips. Im on chapter 6 right now, so I'll def put this advice to use!

[¿Albatrossing?]

You should really make this a guide.

[Starman]

I went ahead and made the guide. Thanks for the suggestions for making one guys. haha, it's my first one: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=326900216

[¿Albatrossing?]

Keep making tips, there are bound to be more that people should know.

[Criminal_Commander]

You already beat it? Do you have a life?! Thanks for the tips btw.

[Sugoi]

Some pretty good tips, but you didn't mention the god-tier power of bottles to grant you free "stealth" kills if you bonk an enemy in the head with them.

[Davien]

+1 pro tips.. thanks!