Quick Strategic Guide to Panoptic

[verblox]

I've noticed some people don't enjoy the game because they don't understand how to play. So to help people get into it more quickly, I thought I'd sketch some strategies I've figured out.

Goals: when you start, look for the [Target] sign. For the prisoner, it's a golden orb on the other side of the map you can see through the elevator. For the overseer, it's the prisoner heading down in the elevator (off to the right).

The overseer has to zap the prisoner by holding down right trigger. The overseer gets five KILLS, but an unlimited amount of shots (you can miss as many times as you want).

Strategies for overseer:
If you lose track of the prisoner, focus on areas with no cover, or no AI. An example of no cover is the ledge hallway up the first stairway. An area with no AI is a walkway up top. If you've completely lost track of the prisoner, switch to the next avaiable vulnerable location, otherwise you'll just end up waiting for the prisoner to win the game.

Strategies for the prisoner:
You are harder to hit than you think. If you are close to cover, you can take it. Sometimes all you have to do is keep walking; the overseer may have picked you up walking past a window, but it's unlikely the shot will be off before the next wall comes between you. This is especially true in areas without AI, where you've been given cover in order to survive. Some players also say they can dodge shots.

Use blind spots to confuse the overseer. Wait until another prisoner enters that blind spot and walk out with him. Now the prisoner can be one of two. Who does the overseer follow? The one that's making the straightest line for the exit of course, so for god's sake, don't make a break for it! Instead, stop, meander, stare in random directions -- copy the behavior of the prisoners around you, blend in. Eventually, you and your other suspect will drift apart, or enter blind spots with other prisoners, and the overseer will have too many suspects to keep track of. If you feel a hot laser on your neck, take cover as nonchalantly as you can and start over with the blind spot confusion strategy.

If you're out in the open, don't freak out if the eye is on you. Keep meandering and blending in -- it's the only real strategy. If you make a beeline for the exit, you'll be easy to spot and easy to kill. There's a chance you get hit while being part of the herd, but remember the Overseer only gets 5 kills, so every time another prisoner takes a laser dot for you, you're closer to winning.

Feel free to add more tips in the comments.

[Hyshinara]

Very nice, thank you for taking the time to write this! :)

[Major_Troubles]

With a good Overseer, you'll never make it past the open staircase. The problem is how to start the staircase. Before the staircase, there is no AI. The Overseer can see the end of the hallway and thus you have no way to blend in. If the AI moved a bit into the hallway, you could have a chance. But the way it currently is, you'll die unless the Overseer is really bad at aiming.

[Hyshinara]

As of Panoptic Demo v0.12, there are divider walls within the towers that link the stairways, which should make it a lot easier for the Challenger to mingle with the NPCs :)