A Dadthrough V1.0

This Dadthrough is a walkthrough of Dad Quest V1.01

It's chronological and mostly optimized for anyone to play through the game in a quick manner. It's nearly 100% in terms of skills, talents, and most chests.

Please contact me if you have any questions, suggestions, or additions. My email is [e-mail]. Thanks to the developers for all of their help!

Part 1

Dad Quest V1.01 – A Dadthrough V1.0

By: Ari Rejtman – [e-mail]

A. The Intro

I considered leaving this bit out, since most of it is self-explanatory and a special experience. Nevertheless, here we go!

You can save your game at the angelic child with a purple “heart”, representing a child’s ability to be used for both tranquil and passionate motives. You can head into the door by pressing E over it.

In this room, a lady will lament about her inability to complete the tutorial. Thus, she has been separated by her child indefinitely. Tragic, yet slightly silly. Notice her face, and remember her physique: It’s slightly important.

After showing the other guy your smelly Dad Hands, go to the keypad and enter your name. Proceed to the right where a man stands ready to…let you figure it out. As you approach the terrifying watery pit, he stops you and warns you of the perils of water. If you do fall in, don’t worry: You won’t lose any health, and you’ll just appear back on the ledge.

Moving forward past a moveable box that’s stuck in place, you’ll meet a scientist who will congratulate you on being adequate. Crouching down for a while will reward you with tragic humor. Onwards towards your first ladder!

At the top of the ladder, head to the next screen and save your sanity with another angelic child statue. Notice the drawings on the walls? They’re extremely important.

An abrupt duo of pedestals flank the drawing. You can choose a child! The only difference between them is cosmetic and “genderific”. Afterwards, head to the next screen and find a scientist next to a creature containment housing a spiny threat. The scientist exclaims that you’re officially a dad, and that your Dad Quest has begun!

Suddenly, your child is separated from you. Never fear! Summon him/her here! After doing so and killing all of the robo-ducks, head to the “child-lock” and insert the key to your heart into it. Save Point #3!

In the next room, a major test awaits: You must best a mighty pigeon in mortal combat. After doing so, the power will short-circuit, and you’ll fall down a pit. Save and head left. After the emergency announcement, proceed up the ladder and use the ledges on the left to climb up. Good thing you’re coordinated!

At the top, grab the access card, backtrack to the right, and open that door! A silly announcement recommends that you hang tight and wait for help, but you’re a dad! You’re defiant! You’re independent! You’re on an adventure! Head to the right!

In this room, an intelligent scientist deduces that you’re not the dad mentioned in the announcement. He allows you to learn how to use your child like a mace. Right-click to stick it to ‘em.

In the next room, head up the ladder and proceed to take out the robo-ducks. You can move the box to the left and create a shortcut down towards an epic door with two keycard slots. You can use your left access card to activate the left-most button. Proceed down and save. There’s your first health station! Head into the door on the right.

o Health Stations: Each health station can be used, free of charge, once. Each subsequent use of a health station will cost 100 gravel.

A daunting enemy appears. He was the guy in the containment tank! Now he’s ready to roll into you. Jump when he gets too close and throw your child at him AFTER he stops rolling. You can also melee him into a wall indefinitely. Afterwards, head into the next door.

The door seals shut behind you, and to your left are a bunch of incompetent dads and a scientist. To the right is a ladder that gifts you with tons of dialogue and insights into future enemies.

Moving on, a keypad asks you for a passcode. During early-access, this keypad was silly, and an obsolete NPC would recommend that you duck down and listen to other obsolete NPCs that would mention that a cool password would be “Petrichor”. Sadly, this password doesn’t work here, and I couldn’t find the code in version 1.01. I hope we didn’t miss something important! (When you freed him in early-access, he would exclaim that he’s free and laugh a bit).

EDIT: Thanks to 6o6p in the comments for revealing that the password is "LOVE", and the NPCs below you will reveal eventually reveal it (Perhaps this is part of the latest patch). This is another reminder that love is always the answer.

Save, heal, and get ready for a miniboss.

Part 2

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MINBOSS ALERT - CHEMSUIT CLARENCE

A man in a yellow chemical suit drops down. He will shield himself until he throws his shield at you. Time your jumps and throw your child at him when he’s vulnerable. His health will slowly deteriorate, and he will fail his mission.

- - - - -

After beating him, head to the left, grab the keycard, use it on the door, and head back to the large door. Use your “third” keycard and head inside the epic doorway to heaven.

You’ll appear outside. Save, head to the right, and you’ll meet a rather posh old man. He will claim to be the famous CEO. After his dialogue, head onto the fancy boat. The rest…is your destiny.

o Health Stations: Each health station can be used, free of charge, once. Each subsequent use of a health station will cost 100 gravel.

B. Chapter 1 – The Desert

After waking-up, carefully navigate to the right using your omnipresent coordination. Avoid the yellow egg-dropper and open a squirming chest. You’ve been reunited with your child! Congrats! Head to the right while persuading the egg-dropper to follow you. I recommend not killing him, since he can help you complete your first quest. As you move to the right, heal yourself with the health station, talk to the boy with a frying pan on his head, and save your game. If the egg-dropper is still following you, allow him to drop an egg on skillet boy. Quest complete!

o Item Stacking: Items don’t stack automatically. Instead, they can be manually stacked into one inventory slot. This is extremely useful when entering and leaving an area that has a vendor that sells specific key items, such as sandwiches.

Save once more and head to the right. You can head up the ladder, push the box down, and push the box to the left. Now you can jump up those ledges and get a prize!

Save, and move to the right. A large building has a locked door on it. Moving past it, you’ll come across someone inside a box. After understanding her plight, move to the right and destroy some boxes. You’ll get a keycard. Head to the next screen.

The Laboratory

Save, and use your keycard on the keypad. This next room will spawn a large egg-dropper and two babies. The babies won’t drop eggs, but they’ll hurt you if they touch you. After defeating them all, head up the ladder. Notice the gap above that's too tall to reach? Keep this area in mind for the near future.

Your first mortar enemy will attempt to best you, but your ability to hurl an indestructible weapon at him will leave him “speechless”. Melee the switch, head to the left, and get ready to save a person in a box.

After freeing the little lady, follow her into the Library. This will be your main “hub” that is centralized and connects you to the entire world.

The Library

You can read some enlightening books, talk to some enlightened people, and head up to the next floor. I recommend that you buy a delicious sandwich and stack it with your sandwich that you got as a reward from skillet boy. Notice the totem? You’ll be able to activate it later. Head to the door on the third floor.

Part 3

The Burbs

Outside, you’ll enjoy some scenes, and a Dad will recommend that you head to the Dadge Shrine on the left. Before doing so, let’s head to the right and explore! A quest board will be here, showing you the quests that you’ve completed in green text. Manage your quests with these, which are strategically scattered throughout towns. At the far-right door at the bottom, a man sells a valuable jar for 7k gravel. Save up and get ready to buy it after you complete the desert. You won’t be able to “redeem” it until a bit later, so you don’t need to grind for gravel yet.

Head to the left and speak with some of the locals. There’s a shop that sells some cosmetic items. “Protect your child with garments that keep sand out of their eyes and pants!” That’s what I would say if those garments gave you some perks. Also, send your child flying into the windows of the level-up house, giving you a charge ability!

Move to the left, leave the screen, and enjoy speaking with Ed Vantage. He has a unique perspective, eh? Afterwards, kill some baby egg-droppers and save/heal. Proceed left, take out more enemies, and push the box to the left (It doesn’t lead to any secrets). Head inside the door.

Head left, down, and into this cave-like door. Kill the blue fly-by with two charged throws and head to the right. Save, heal, and talk to the lady on the right. Proceed to the right and kill every enemy. One of them will drop the lady’s pet rock. Give it back to her and receive the key to her heart. Open the door at the far right and head inside.

Save and head to the left. Pushing this box has created a shortcut! Head up the ladder. To the right is some fun dialogue with Ed Vantage, and to the left is the East Tower. Keep a record of the chest that’s on a floating platform, and drop down on the left for a reachable chest. Head inside the tower.

Vanquish the lone pigeon and buy some cookies from the shopkeeper. It’s a great healing item in the early-game, and you can head inside and outside the tower to respawn it. Stack it like a boss!

o Item Stacking: Items don’t stack automatically. Instead, they can be manually stacked into one inventory slot. This is extremely useful when entering and leaving an area that has a vendor that sells specific key items, such as sandwiches.

Save, heal, and head outside. Head left, kill the fiery egg-dropper, and talk to the scientist. Quickly kill the fiery egg-dropper before he hurts the scientist. After completing the quest, heal, save, and learn stun throw. Grab the chest above you, and head down the ladder. Grab that chest and head back up, noting the large locked door at the bottom-left. Jump up across to the West Tower on your left.

Inside, vanquish the large pigeons that attempt to rally their allies into a frenzy. They drop tons of gravel, so you can go in and out of the building to respawn them and farm gravel. Head up and avoid the door, leaving out the right. Save, heal, and head back inside. Head through the door, vanquish your foes, and heal. Take out the roly-poly and an egg-dropper, get a key from a chest, and head outside and down. Save once more and head down the ladder to the chest below to the large door that was locked.

Inside, head down and parkour to the save/heal point. On the other side of the door, the right path is blocked. Heading left yields growth-spurt! Your child will now walk to you when they’re not being carried by your strong hands.

As you continue walking, you come across a grand-dad-egg-dropper. He suddenly becomes consumed by a sinister purple aura and begins attacking you!

- - - - -

BIG BOSS ALERT – CORRUPTED EGG GRAND-DAD

He will shoot four corrupted egg-droppers, which will drop purple fire. Avoid the fire and kill the babies first: If you try to attack papa while his babies are alive, he’ll suck your child into his belly and spit him/her out, having shown your child an endless sea of ambiguity and boredom. After killing his babies, he will attempt to absorb them and become invincible once more. Hurt him as much as possible during this phase. Rinse and Repeat.

- - - - -

When his health bar drains, he sheds his papa-like skin and becomes a scary purple monster. He starts spewing out hundreds of babies. Before he’s allowed to flood the world with boredom, a powerful child is thrown at him. He’s been ultra-vanquished this time!

Part 4

The Desert Dadge Shrine

After some healthy dialogue with Desert Dad, head to the left. Save and head inside. A recording explains your main quest and goals. After hearing it, move to the left and through the door. A lady is there, acting slightly suspicious. Have you noticed her face and physique? She resembles the first NPC that you met during the dad tutorial! Is she the same woman that was separated by her child and forced to quit the dad quest?

After experiencing her dialogue, grab “Object Permanence” and use it on the totem. You’re back at the library! Buy a sandwich and head up. Outside, head up the ladder and save. Now you can open this door!

Once inside, read some books and head up the ladder. An old man named Height will initiate dialogue with you. Head to the top of the tower and learn how to double-jump! Congrats!

With this ability, you can go back to the laboratory, double-jump up, and grab onto those ledges. Carefully take out the mortar and “pedestal” (Sniper Joe) enemies. Head to the right and you can learn Mortar throw!

Now you can explore the path leading to Mountain City. To the right of the Burbs is a construction zone. Double-jump up to the right ledge and head to the right. Inside the cave, heal up and jump up to get a chest filled with riches galore. Head out to the right and begin your journey up a bunch of mountains!

C. Chapter 2 – The Mountains

Welcome to the mountain path! “Buy some clothes to keep your child toasty” is what I would say if those clothes gave your child an actual perk. Head down and skillfully throw your child up towards the level-up house. Now you can smash your opponents! Keep heading to the right and enjoy a tragic birthday party. Save and keep heading right.

A pig will jump to your location. Avoid his sly moves and do at least ten damage to his soul in order to rid him from existence. Continue along to the right, scaling this mountain. When you reach the ledge near a left-most ledge with a pig covered in snow, jump towards it. Once on that ledge, fall down and enjoy the contents of the chest to your left. Scale the mountain once more, heading right. Heal up and push the box to the right. After pushing more boxes, collect the torch from the chest (Save at least one charge of it for an important reason) and continue to the right. A “quad” rant of bats will attack you. They have five or less HP, so melee them for a quick kill.

At the next screen, defeat the bats and snowman. After heading through the door, a set of “handrails” will appear, and a man will recommend that you grab that credit card and climb up. I got stuck at this part for over ten minutes until I realized that you can climb up those “handrails”. Once reaching the man, he’ll admit that the credit card is yours! What a relief!

o Credit: Paying off all of your credit rewards you with cosmetic items. Before doing so, it’s important to save 7,000 gravel for the “heart-in-a-jar” that’s sold in the desert. This heart can be given to the “Might Aid” vendor for a health upgrade.

Head right and check inside the cave. You’ll need to grease-up the lever. Head back outside and to the right. The same man who gave you the credit card will give you a tour of his establishment. Note that your credit is beginning to increase.

The blizzard is mentally impassable, so head inside the shop and go deep into the bowls of advertising. Congratulations on being the ONE TRILLIONTH customer! This cutscene is especially special. After you get your sled keys, buy some grease from the chump near the entrance. Head to the “Yeti” cave. After greasing up the lever, deliver a detrimental amount of damage to the yeti. Notice the area to your right that’s half of your size, and can be navigated via some kind of “crouch” ability.

Moving upwards yields a pair of combatant yeti who wish to contest you in a state of ultimate combat. Best them and continue to the left. The hockey stick awarded from the chest is very strong, so save it until you can stack it via item stacking. Once through the door, save and acquire the sled sail. If you continue to the left, you’ll reach a chest and a path that leads towards an area that requires a “crouch-like” ability. Head to the right of the save-point.

You’re back at the station! Talk to the owner and enjoy a wholesome cutscene. Stand on the sled to help the owner (lol)! Head up and meet him as he miraculously teleports to the right of the shop. After enjoying his epic and “deja-vu-esk” cutscene, head to the right. Save, heal, and continue onwards.

Head up the mountain, defeating an owl that attempts to “get on your level” and attack you with a swift charge. When you reach the top, save, heal, and head to the right. The igloo can’t be entered, so continue towards the right. Defeat these enemies and head to the next screen.

Part 5

Mountain City Park

Welcome to Mountain City Park! Save and note the chest above you. Head to the right, killing pigeons and checking houses. The well will be an important place to return to later, once you can pass the “Fist of Triumph”. Continuing to the right, a chest on a cliff can be obtained. To the right of it is another save point accompanied by a health station. See the small grips on the wall? A set of double-jumps will lead you onto them and reward you with a chest of shuriken.

Heading back down, a brown-colored tent is being guarded by a lumberjack, and based on his energetic pace, he’s ok (I love Monty Python). Buy one of his stumps and restrain yourself from using it, since they’ll come in handy soon (I forgot to mention that the torches that you might have picked up will also be useful if conserved for a later reward). The right-most beige tent uses your limited field-of-view as a puzzle. Once inside, head to the right and enjoy the chest below. Run as fast as you can with those scissors in order to remain vigilant and “safe”.

Heading out and to the left, you’ll see a more obvious bunch of wall grips. Head up them, indulge the simple man living in his simple box, and check out the area to his upper-right. Remember that heart shape, and keep its location in mind for a lovely reward in the future. Head back down and move to the tent next to a fountain. Inside, a woman speaks of “The Gated”, which will prove to be both interesting and silly once we’re able to check it out.

At the fountain on the right, several children are skipping to their loo, my darling. The boy wearing a typical hat from Siberia can be spoken to, and he yearns for the return of Mountain Dad. Keep these kids in mind and continue onwards to the right.

Speak of the “angel”! A lovely cutscene will ensue, yielding a flamboyant and confident Dad of the Mountains. After speaking with him and learning that the elevator requires a certain amount of credit from its user, follow him as he tells the children that he’s got a fight lined up and can’t play with them today. He offers them an almost-equally rewarding compromise: You! Speak with the Siberian-esk child and initiate the greatest game of hide-and-go-“shriek”. Just kidding: The children are thrilled when you find them. As we progress through the town, I’ll help you find them. Back at the elevator, the hand-grips will lead you to a new throw ability, Shank.

Past the elevator lies a gravel-laden man and a tent with a dollar sign. Head inside and notice the rustling question mark. You’ve found your first child! Head out and continue to the right and up towards a cave…and your second child! Inside the cave is a small room with a tough set of frozen egg-droppers and snowmen. Don’t fret: Pace your jumps, defeat the egg-droppers first, and continue on to a chest of riches. Above is a chest that’s blocked by a narrow tunnel. Keep this chest in mind.

Exit the cave and head down the wall grips. For now, pass the colorful tent (You’ll get some neat abilities that can help you win big at the shooting gallery later on). A lady with an umbrella stands silently. I haven’t been able to interact with her beyond a cold silence (Even after beating the game), so if anyone can figure her story out, please let me know. The tent to her left has a chest. The tent to her right houses a man who’s confused about credit. Don’t worry: I studied accounting…in an alternate lifetime.

Before we head out of town to the Dadge Shrine, let’s find the rest of those meddlesome kids. Remember that heart engraved in the wall to the upper-right of the man and his box? You’ll find the third child there. The fourth child is above the pigeon owner, netting you a “quadrant” of battle-ready children. The Siberian kid will reward you with an unappetizing heart container. Get the reference? You’ll be able to redeem this powerful body part soon. Head to the right and prepare for a tough journey to this region’s Dadge Shrine.

The music in this area is so soothing and epic, eh? Carefully navigate up and around the terrifying pool of water. Once you cross it, a cutscene will reveal a man who’s worried that a frozen blue-boy will steal his gravel. I guess his life isn’t in danger. A narrow hole currently impedes your progress, so head up and around the wall. A familiar-face will appear: Skillet boy’s twin brother! Their personalities are “polar”-opposites, but they both want the same thing: A lovely egg on their noggin. Luckily, a frozen egg-dropper is to our right. Allow him to drop his circular ball of goodness and be rewarded with a set of scarfs.

Below skillet-boy’s brother is a save point and health station. Below that is the banker and his arch-nemesis. Assist the “Gravel Man” and he’ll head back to his tent in town. Before heading back, you can go to the right (On a large turtle) and acquire a chest, speak with a Dad-son duo, and note the location of the Dadge Shrine entrance. Back at town, the banker will allow you to pay off 500 gravel-bucks worth of debt. Too bad he doesn’t have bigger pockets. Now you can use the elevator and enjoy the sights and sounds of Mountain City!

Part 6

Mountain City

Welcome to a city bustling with excitement and drama! After seeing the cutscene, save and head left (Going right is a dead-end, for now). Past the quest board, head up the wall-grips and go right to the “walk-through” outdoor movie extravaganza. The lady in a car will request your assistance and give you a heart-shaped locket. Remember that heart engraving in the wall near the man who lives in a box, in Mountain Park? We’ll head there soon to uncover an awesome area. To the right of the lady in a car is a chest filled with pies. These are one of the best healing items in the game, so stack them whenever you get them.

To your left is a huge mall. Inside are a few vendors and some key items: The four machines will give you random items, but the “Ultra-Rare” one is a silly scam that will reward you with an item that seems to be useless. Moving up to the second floor of the mall, a vendor sells silly items. The third floor sells the talent “Piercing Throw”, which does decent damage and is very useful against mobs of enemies. The grinder machine seems random, but can be useful if you want to “thin-out” your inventory.

Once you’ve finished shopping, head to the left of the mall and check out the Toy Smith. He can “repair” any toy that you’ve used a bit of. See the color-palette behind each of your toys? Green signifies new and unstacked toys, blue demonstrates a stacked toy with extra uses, yellow refers to used toys, and red means that a toy’s charges are nearly depleted. The “Dwarf” to his left sells matches. Continuing to the left and past the cheering fans, you'll see a chest filled with riches galore. Let’s jump down and explore the lower part of Mountain City.

Don’t head to “The Dad Zone” yet. The vendor to your right sells sandwiches! I was getting hungry! You can continuously buy these and stack them, but remember to keep saving at least 7k gravel for that heart-in-a-jar sold in the desert by the grave keeper. To the right of the shop is a bank, which mildly stinks of a trap. Admiral Akbar would be proud. Inside, you can get rewards for paying off “debt-milestones”. In order to progress, you’ll want to pay off the first tier of debt. Your reward is…a robber costume? The irony is oozing down my computer monitor. Speak with the bank manager and begin the next debt-quest, but don’t pay it off yet.

o Credit: Paying off all of your credit rewards you with cosmetic items. Before doing so, it’s important to save 7,000 gravel for the “heart-in-a-jar” that’s sold in the desert. This heart can be given to the “Might Aid” vendor in Mountain City for a health upgrade.

Heading outside and to the right, you’ll see a building called “Might Aid” (Skip the alley, for now). Your credit score is 115, which is high enough for you to enter this humble yet important shop. Inside, you can trade your “heart container” for an actual health upgrade! If you’ve played a Zelda game, the reference is quite charming. Outside, a dumpster in-between the bank and Might Aid reveals an alley. This is a decent place to get some gravel, and keep that locked door in mind. The second-to-last dumpster reveals a large rat named “The Trash King”. He’s just a talk-able NPC for now, but we’ll “activate” him soon. Let’s head back to the streets.

To your right is “The Gravel Pit”, an arena that tests your skills and forces you to complete certain parts of the main story in order to progress down to its depths. You won’t be able to get past half of it at the moment, so let’s head to the right-side of Mountain City.

The Gravel Pit is exciting. Here’s a quick description of each level:

Level 5: A health station.

Level 10: A vendor who sells random items.

Level 15: A healing machine that sells random healing items for seventy-five gravel.

Level 20: A level-up station for “Lunge”. “Roll” is required to proceed.

Level 25: A heart container in a chest.

Level 30: The silver suit for sale (700 gravel), costume dressing room, and a random healing toy machine (75g). “Fast Fall” is required to proceed.

Level 35: A level-up station for “Dash Attack”, arguably the best melee attack in the game.

Level 40: “Flex Fist” is required to proceed.

Level 45: A healing machine that sells random healing items for seventy-five gravel.

Level 50: A gold suit for sale (1200 gravel) and a costume dressing room.

Part 7

Once you reach the “paywall”, scan your credit card and assist a fellow Dad by reuniting him with his son. *sniff*. Head up the wall-grips before moving to the right. If you head left and drop down, you can grab the chest with toy cars. These are powerful items that can help you in future fights. Head back up and go right. An ornate door stands ominously. The chest near it reveals a silly secret: Notice how much gravel that chest dropped? It’s a sign of the “cheapness” of the contents within this ornate door. I don’t want to spoil it for ya’ll, so lets head left and down, back to the blue dad and son.

To the right is a pizza joint. The owner wishes that someone would respond to his “help-wanted” flyer outside. Keep in mind the soda token machine, which is a silly way of giving the player tons of carbonated health items. You can get soda tokens from the vendor on the second floor of the mall. If you haven’t gotten a soda from random item generators, get a token and get a soda. You’ll use this later.

Outside and to the right of the pizza joint is the help-wanted flyer. Grab a copy and head back inside. The owner will hire you and give you a “key-item” pizza (Not to be confused with a regular pizza, which is a healing item). Deliver it to the topmost floor of “Peak Living”, the building next-door. The recipient tips well! Head back to the pizza joint. He wants you to deliver this pizza to a tent in Mountain City Park. Aren’t there tons of tents there? Wasn’t there a dark one flanked by an “ok” lumber jack who sells stumps? Head back to that one and enjoy your hefty tip.

While we’re here, head up and to the right of the man and his box. Remember that heart-shaped engraving? Now we can interact with it using our heart-shaped pendant. Once inside, the ghost of Todd will admit that he’s unable to interact with the physical world, and can’t pick a Heart Flower for his girlfriend. Before interacting with that beautiful flower in the ground, prepare for battle! This enemy will spurt “lava” at you, so try staying behind him and throwing your adorable child into his rear. You got a “rare” Heart Flower! You can exit and enter this area for unlimited Heart Flowers, which supersede sandwiches in their usefulness. You’re invincible!

Let’s head back to the pizza joint first. He’ll put his trust in you and ask you to deliver his #1 Pizza to someone at the arena stands. We’ll head there after going back to Todd’s girlfriend and giving her one of your Heart Flowers. Once you’ve gotten your reward from her, head left to the Dad Zone.

The Dad Zone

There’s a door that leads to an animate mopping sign. Notice the color palette and scary tones? Does this area remind you of something? Perhaps…a dream? Anyhow, head back out and to the left, admiring the portraits of Dad-Child duos that have become champions of the arena. Notice that the last painting’s child’s name has been scratched out. I wonder why…?

At the next screen, deliver your #1 Pizza to the number one pizza-man and…surprise! That soda you got was also required! What a disorganized pizza joint owner, eh? Enjoy your reward and head farther left, choosing to witness the fight below (We’ll speak with the pizza joint owner later). After the epic cutscene ends, head out and to the right. The man near the door has changed positions and exclaims that someone ran past him and through the door. Head inside and laugh as the preventative measure has fallen. Stop laughing as you realize that a menacing cloud of hatred has begun floating above you. Take it out to reveal…a skull? This enemy seems scary, but a few throws and dodges should allow you to best it. Head into the door to the left.

Welcome to the Dad Barracks. After enjoying some cutscenes, head to the right and…wait in line. Thankfully, another silly cutscene ensues, and you can sign up almost immediately. Once you get your Dad Tag, head to the left and enjoy yet another cutscene. Afterwards, sign up with the lady on the left for your first fight against Pig Dad. Use the totem to her right to teleport to the arena. Once there, you can buy some epic gladiator armor for your child! Fantastic! The boy to your left will give you a delivery quest and open a shortcut from the arena to the alley where you met The Trash King.

Let’s help this kid out and do some more stuff on the east-side of Mountain City. Head out and back to the pizza joint. Enjoy your commission! To the right of Peak Living, you can get tons of cosmetic items from “Cold Cuts”, and my favorite costume, the “Dapper” set, is here! I feel stronger when my child wears it. To the right is a lassie in need of tools to inflate her hot air balloon. Remember that stump you got from the “ok” lumber jack? Do you have torches or matches? Now you’ve got a shortcut between Mountain City and the desert!

o Shortcut: Acquire “stumps” from the lumberjack at Mountain City Park and “matches” from the vendor near the Dad Zone and go the right-most screen in Mountain City. Give these items to the lassie with a deflated hot air balloon. Now you’ve got a shortcut between Mountain City & The Burbs.

Part 8

Before going back to the arena, let’s check the alley between Peak Living and Cold Cuts. A ghostly rat claims that he is the true Trash King, and that the other one that you met is an imposter. Accept his quest and continue left. This chef is the reluctant recipient of the package that the kid gave you. Head back to the alley between the bank and Might Aid. The “imposter” Trash King awaits you, and attempts to defend himself when you accuse him of being a fake. Merely jump over him as he ruins from one end of the screen to another. After beating him, the ghostly rat will reward you with tons of gravel…but at what cost? When you head back to the alley that you defeated the “imposter”, you’ll see a memorial for the fallen “hero”. You were deceived! At least you got a nice reward out of it. Let’s head back to the arena via the alleyway entrance.

The kid who gave you the package will give you tons of gravel as a reward for delivering it to the chef. Save your game, heal, head to the right, and prepare for an epic boss battle!

- - - - -

BIG BOSS ALERT – PIG DAD

You’ll have to face a few pigs before fighting Pig Dad. I recommend using Piercing Throw and taking multiple pigs out at once. You shouldn’t waste any toys on these critters. Beware the flying pigs: They shoot bombs, so take them out quick. After two rounds of this, Pig Dad emerges!

This impressive Dad will try to ram into you. Thankfully, he becomes vulnerable after he hits a wall. The main issue is the rocks and pigs falling from the ceiling. Avoid them, periodically take them out, and focus on jumping over Pig Dad when he charges you. You can use matches or more powerful toys to augment your child’s power. Watch your health and stay above two hearts to avoid a catastrophe. After a mosh-pit of excitement, you should be able to vanquish Pig Dad!

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After winning, the arena manager will request your aid. She assumes that Last Dad is a kitty-cat who is too scared to fight The Black Owl (Who disabled him and kidnapped Mountain Dad), so she wants you to become the champion of the arena and rescue Mountain Dad. Sounds epic!

Don’t use the heal station! You’ll be able to heal for free very soon. Before registering for your next fight, why not take a nap? Head back to the barracks using the teleportation totem. Head to the right and through the door labeled “Barracks”. Enjoy the contents of the chest to your left and head deeper within. The other contestants are sleeping, incentivizing you to do the same. Before doing so, you can speak to the little girl who’s having a hard time sleeping. Keep her in mind.

Some cutscenes ensure, and you’re woken by some startled dads. They find a severed Dad Hand, and the little girl has…grown into a muscular man? This could only mean one thing…a Bad Dad has arisen! What a crisis! Let’s become the champion and find this Bad Dad! Before you can sign up for another fight, you’ll have to improve your credit score. Head to the bank and complete the next debt quest. Remember to keep saving 7k gravel for that heart container in the desert! Head back to the arena, sign up for your next match against the menacing Roller Dad.

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BIG BOSS ALERT – ROLLER DAD

The first segment of the fight pits you against a blue and red roller. The blue one is typical, but the red one will jump over you when he nears your body. Don’t jump when he attacks, and simply wait for him to end his roll and become vulnerable. Stay on one side of the arena to “un-aggro” either of the rollers, and pelt them from afar with your magnificent and dapper child!

Phase two reveals a large roller that shoots its spikes out in a circular fashion. Take his little brother out first, and then “un-aggro” him by keeping your distance. After taking them out, Roller Dad emerges!

He will spawn tons of mini-rollers. Use piercing throw to take them all out in one swoop. Focus on Roller Dad, and watch for his “air-stomp”. Toys with area-of-effects such as scissors or explosive tags will help you defeat him and his brethren.

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Part 9

After defeating Roller Dad, you can sleep in the barracks and restore your health. After waking up, sign up for the final match against Last Dad. Ensure that your credit score is high enough and proceed to the arena.

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BIG BOSS ALERT – LAST DAD & FINAL CHILD

The first phase of the fight is extremely daunting: A lone pigeon erupts from the floor, bearing its fangs and haunting your dreams. After narrowly defeating it, the second phase begins.

Don’t bother jumping over the hyper and large pigeon: Try walking under it when it gets too close. Defeat his brethren first, and then take him out. Piercing Throw seems to work well against them.

Last Dad and Final Child are a menacing duo. Pigeons seem to be their theme. Final Child transforms into a powerful phoenix! Avoid his charge and focus on Last Dad, who jumps around a bit and attempts to best you. Explosive Tags work well against him, along with “damage-over-time (DoTs)” items. Moar DoTs!

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After defeating Last Dad, the Black Owl captures him. You can try and attack the Black Owl during this time, but it seems invincible and manages to fly away with his goal achieved. Open the large chest and head to the right. Save and head through the door. The arena manager speaks with you, and using her excellent intuition, she feels that you have embraced the Dad Spirit and can redeem the hearts and souls of silly dads such as the ones you’ve defeated. You can now head to the Dadge Shrine to the right of Mountain City Park.

Ice Palace

Head to the right of Mountain City Park, and traverse through the mountains once more. Once you reach the Dadge Shrine door, head inside. This seems to be some kind of abandoned laboratory called the Ice Palace. The two “White Scaler” enemies have tons of health and will eventually shoot “freeze-beams” at you in subsequent rooms. These two are here to show you how tough they are. NOTE: In the gravel pit, these enemies will impede your progress, but you don’t need to defeat them in order to progress. Thus, these enemies are considered “hazards”. Head through the doors and onwards to the next room. Avoid the White Scalers and head to the right.

Save and remember this area that you can crouch through. Head to the left, finding the wall-grips and moving up and right. You’ll encounter bats for your first time. They’re extremely weak, but they’ll home in on your location until they die. In the next room, stay below the platform the avoid the first White Scaler. Then, stay above it to avoid the second one. Head down and save. Prepare for a tough fight against a large bat. These guys shoot explosive sound-waves at you. Take out the smaller bats first, and focus on the large bat’s sound waves. After defeating them all, head right and heal. Head through the door above you.

This rooms shows us that White Scalers can choose how often they want to shoot their goo. Avoid their freeze beams, kill the bats, and head towards the door. Note the crouch-able area to your left: It leads back to the main room. After heading through the door, head left. Carefully take out the large bat, and slowly head down. A frozen mortar enemy awaits you, boasting more health and a higher rate-of-fire than his predecessor. Get the contents of chest below him and hop onto the sleeping turtle. He’ll wake up and move you to the right. Melee the bats as they approach. Head up and around the White Scaler. Heal and head to the left of the second White Scaler. You can now push that box and create a shortcut. Head up and save. Head up (Not right) and go left to get a tasty sandwich. Now head back to the save point and go right.

A cutscene between the Robber Baroness and Mountain Dad (Lawrence) ensues. She has the power to levitate and immobilize people! How intense! After experiencing all of that, Mountain Child gives you his blessing and allows you to have the Mountain Dadge. Now you can roll! There are tons of places that you can access now! Let’s continue to the right. Avoid the White Scalers and head up and to the right. Avoid more White Scalers and head up and to the left. A chest can be obtained by jumping to the left ledge, grabbing onto it, and rolling to the right. Jump after rolling to reach it and some power lines. Head left and up to the save point.

Note the chest above you and head to the right. Roll through the gap and climb the wall, timing your movement with the speedy White Scaler. Jump onto his platform and to the left to obtain some ghost masks from the chest. Head back to the save point, go right, and stay on the lower path where you can roll a bit. Head to the next screen. A large White “Sitter” is shooting his goo above. She’s called the Ice Queen, and she has an interesting key on her neck. Due to her sheltered upbringing, she thinks that keys are feathers. In order for you to get her key, she’ll want to trade it for an actual feather. You’ll find one soon! Head past her and obtain the Bird talent, which is fairly weak but very useful in the following areas. The cave to the right contains the purple chest that can be opened by that purple key around the Ice Queen’s neck. We’ll come back here later.

Head to the left, and this time, up and over the area that the Ice Queen resides. Your Bird ability won’t target the White Scalers since they’re considered living hazards and not actual mobs. Head to the right and to the next area, where we can see the blue goo being shot up into the stratosphere. Use the doors to traverse beyond the painful goo. Head up and save, moving to the next screen on your right. The owl in this area can be dispatched easily with Bird, and your child can protect you as you scale the wall with Bird. Head up and to the right. A turtle can ferry you across the dangerous water. As you continue to the right, a cutscene will show the Black Owl blocking our path with a large amount of purple goo. It seems like we should follow him up the mountain. Time to climb!

As you scale the mountain, use Bird to dispatch the owl to your left. There’s a path to the left of its nest, but it’s merely a shortcut that avoids another owl. If anything hits you while you climb, you’ll fall all the way down. If you climb to the right and use some scattered wall-grips, you’ll find a chest that can be obtained by jumping and double-jumping at the apex of your height. Jumping directly down from this perch will net you two more chests. Head back up the mountain and continue to the left. Take out the owl and continue up. Carefully jump up the narrow platforms and move to the right. When you reach the health station and save point, prepare for a tough battle against an agile foe.

Part 10

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BIG BOSS ALERT – THE BLACK OWL

This boss can be quick and tough. Bird can help you do a lot of damage to him and allow you to focus on dodging his purple goo. When he shoots his goo in the air, roll and jump AFTER they fly towards you. Using a DoT item such as those toy cars can help make this fight short and sweet. I only feel kind of bad for his babies in the tree…kind of…

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The Mountain Dadge Shrine

After defeating the Black Owl, obtain his feather and head back to the left (Jumping down the right side of the mountain yields…death). Now you can jump all the way down and to the right (Dads have such sturdy feet). Head into the shrine and notice the statue’s hand has been severed, symbolizing an angry dad who’s abandoned his child. This tragedy is insurmountable. The shrine lady will speak with you, congratulating you on being a great Dad and guiding you to the caves. Move to the right, save, and enjoy a cutscene with the Robber Baroness. She’ll reveal some interesting factoids about “Dad Magic” and how Dadges are created. Such brutality! Such intensity! She’ll knock you out and use the Mountain Dadge to open the door. Several more cutscenes ensue, followed by you waking up and following Mountain Dad through the door.

The Robber Baroness has broken the…urn? Apparently, this thing has been protecting our world…from theirs? Based on the color of the text, we can assume that Bad Dads live in an alternate-reality that is separate from ours…or is it? Grab another Object Permanence and head through the totem. You’re back at the library! Speak with Height and obtain his overdue book. He hints that the entrance to the caves is inside the library. I’ll guide you to it soon, but we have some quests to complete, so let’s head back to the mountainous area via the totem we just opened.

Preparations

Head to the left and back to the main room and save point. Notice that you have a third of a heart of health, so be careful and/or heal up using some food. I’ll guide you to a health station asap. Head outside and make your way to the left. Head back inside the Ice Palace and save. Head down and retrace your steps back to the Ice Queen. You can trade your feather for her “feather”. Head to the right and into the cave, and the purple chest inside contains…a costume! Now your child can be a true thief!

There are two ways of progressing from here: You can backtrack through the Ice Palace and head back to Mountain City Park, where you can go inside the cave and obtain some golf clubs with your new Roll ability. Another option is to head back to the library via the totem in the Mountain Dadge Shrine and use your new shortcut! If you “activated” the hot air balloon in Mountain City, the lady and her balloon will be perched at the top of the library. You can use her balloon and travel back to Mountain City Park to get the golf clubs in the cave. In Mountain City, you can now enter the ornate door that required a high-ish credit score to enter. Inside you’ll meet several “Kind and Generous Souls”.

We can go back to the Yeti Cave near the gas station and use our new moves to get a new talent. I’ll guide you through it. Take the elevator to Mountain City Park and left. Run all the way back to the gas station. The Yeti cave entrance is directly to the left of the gas station entrance.

Head up and use your new abilities against the foul Yeti. Sticky Bomb and courageous jumps combined with Fast Fall are excellent ideas. Once you pass their arena, you can roll into the area to your right and grab the chest. Head up, and once you go outside, go left. Go to the next screen and jump down. Head left and dodge the White Scalers. Keep going through a series of “puzzles” and you’ll eventually head inside a door. Now you can learn “Boomerang Melee”. There’s a chest on the left side of the water, and there’s a way to get to it that is possible right before you beat the game, but I haven’t found a way to get back up to the save point. The chest contains Meteorite, one of the most powerful toys. You can get it from the mall, since it’s a super rare toy.

Head back to Mountain City and prepare for your adventure through the caves. The mall’s toy grinder machine can yield some nice items and clean up your inventory. I hope you’ve been saving 7k gravel for that heart container in the desert! You’re gonna need all the health you can get for the next segment of our journey. You can get a good amount of gravel in The Gravel Pit, but you won’t be able to complete all fifty floors until you acquire a couple more Dad skillz. You can get the talent Lunge after the 20th floor, which is a melee piercing ability that can be useful. Get as many Heart Flowers as you want from Mountain City Park, and head to the library when you’re ready.

Head to the lowest floor of the library. On the left side is a large bookcase with an empty slot. Try placing the book in it, and the lady to your right will exclaim that she’s been waiting to read that book for a while. Now the entrance to the caves is open and ready for you to explore!

o Credit: Paying off all of your credit rewards you with cosmetic items. Before doing so, it’s important to save 7,000 gravel for the “heart-in-a-jar” that’s sold in the desert. This heart can be given to the “Might Aid” vendor in Mountain City for a health upgrade.
o Shortcut: Acquire “stumps” from the lumberjack at Mountain City Park and “matches” from the vendor near the Dad Zone and go the right-most screen in Mountain City. Give these items to the lassie with a deflated hot air balloon. Now you’ve got a shortcut between Mountain City & The Burbs.

Part 11

D. Chapter 3 – The Caves

Welcome to the Secret Library! Head to the left and roll through the hole. A huge rat will welcome you by spawning tons of smaller rats. Your Piercing throw and melee abilities will help you defeat them all. Head through the door and acquire one of the most powerful talents in the game: Sticky Throw! It does a huge amount of damage. Now you can head down the bookcase and dispatch the enemies below. Head left and down, then go right and get some explosive tags from the chest. Head left and roll through the gap. Go up, then down this bookcase, and dispatch the enemies. Some of the rat throwers will reward you with spears, so you can use spears without worrying about wasting them. Make your way towards the save point and health station.

The Sub Burbs

Pass the boxes and head to the next screen, where a deactivated totem stands guard. Keep its location in mind for the future. Head down and through the door. Welcome to the Sub Burbs! As you progress forward, some children will mistake you for a ghost. Continue to the left and meet Carolyn, a.k.a. Cave Dad! She’s feminine, and she’s got fists of steel! She refuses to read the message from Mountain Dad, claiming that the Dad Quest will result in terrible outcomes. I wonder what her child thinks about all of this…

Head to the left and save. Have you noticed the bouncy shrooms? They’ll be useful soon. Head through the small cave door and go right. Before going inside the costume store, head a bit past it and a child in a skeleton outfit will attempt to scare you. I was petrified. When he leaves, pick up his survey and answer it in the best way you deem fit. Afterwards, head inside the costume shop and buy both costumes. They’re actually essential and useful! Put the white egg costume on your child first. Head back up to Cave Dad and she’ll give you a candy bag. Time to trick or treat!

Melee the doorbell to your left and enjoy the sweet sensation of sugary delights filling your sack. Head through the small cave door and ring the doorbells of the house to the right of the costume house and the one below it. The house to the far left is empty. How odd…

Don’t go to the next screen yet: If you trigger too many cutscenes, you’ll lose out on some essential munchies. Head back to the candy shop and dress into the pumpkin outfit. You can trick-or-treat at the same houses again! It’s as if these guys only pay attention to your child, and you’re just a background figurine. After getting candy twice from the same houses, you can get the Orbit talent from the level-up house and head to the next screen.

The green fly-guys are harmless, and they don’t give much gravel, so don’t bother killing them. The “two” horses and a dog are quite…natural. The scarecrow Dad and son duo are tragic. If only we could help them “touch” each other’s hearts and souls. Head up the wall-grips and get some candy from the two houses. Don’t go past them or leave by exploring to the right: Switch to your other child’s costume and get moar candy! Now you can speak with the skeleton boy again, who’s found to the left of the house on the middle level. He wants you to practice scaring stuff. We’re not quite able to do this yet, so let’s keep this in mind.

Head to the middle area and to the right. At the next screen, a bunch of “shady” green fly-guys will force you to pay your way through to the haunted house. Appease them and incentivize their young employee to set up tons of shops around the area. Don’t waste your candy on these items: Most of them are weak, and candy is a rare commodity. Head to the right and inside the haunted house. Keep in mind the area to the right of the haunted house: It will provide us with a shortcut soon.

The Haunted Mansion

Once inside, head to the right. Notice the two silly-looking statues? They’ll become important soon. Head past the health station and melee the lever. At the next screen, three scary “zombies” will emerge from the ground. One Sticky throw will take them out. Oddly enough, they fall to the ground and don’t award any gravel. “Boo”-hoo. Take out the rat thrower and head over the water and through the door. You’ll want to quickly jump to the left once you emerge at the top door. Head to the left, take out the second rat thrower, and head up the ladder. Avoid the “ghosties” and save/heal. Note this locked door and head to the left of it.

Enjoy a fun jumping puzzle and get the key from the chest above. Head back to the door and prepare for battle!

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MINBOSS ALERT – BOUNCY BEYOND-SAY

This guy’s a tough opponent. He’ll drop some boxes from one side of the screen to the other. The only way to avoid damage is to head to the opposite side and jump when the last and large box is about to fall. If you try and jump past the smaller ones, you’ll take damage. He’ll also spawn some large boxes on the sides and attempt to “box you in” with a box in the middle.

Don’t fall for his silly geometric tricks! You can use Bird to do damage to him and focus on avoiding his attacks, or you can simply use Power throw and hit him when he gets sleepy.

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Part 12

Once you’ve defeated “Beyond-Say” (I feel proud to have come up with that silly pun), head to the right and…! Your child will suddenly grow up! Now you can use right-click to stop them in place and “interact” with levers, chests, and other stuff! Independence is next! Use your new skill to switch that lever and head to the right. Head through the door and flip the switch above you. You can save and head down. Our new skill will help us open the path to the next miniboss.

Head back to the left and towards the main door. “Beyond-Say” will vanish, and we can head to our left. Flip the switch and continue to the left. Once you’re through the door, the left side has a chest with a chair. You can break the purple globes with a melee attack. Sweet candy galore! Head to the right and use a Sticky throw to one-shot the hyper pigeon. Avoid the zombies and take out the smaller bats before using a single Sticky throw to down the large bat. Continue to the right and don’t go through the door yet: A chest lies above. With an accurate throw and a right-click, you can position your child to open it. Remember: Your child will always run towards you when you don’t command him/her to stop.

In this room, the power of darkness will show itself. Avoid the ghostly guys and notice which one has a key inside of his soul. Flip the switch above and force the ghosts to become physical entities. Take them out and grab that key. Flip the switch again in order to turn the corporeal block off. Head back to the locked door while taking out the enemies that have respawned. Head inside and head down, healing and saving at your leisure. The second miniboss is ready to rumble!

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MINBOSS ALERT – HAROLD THE HANDYMAN

Making up these boss names took me a “handful” of seconds. This guy will try to grab you from the depths of hell. Avoid his hands (Which can’t be hurt) and wait for him to emerge. After you do some damage to him, he’ll appear at the top of the screen and spew some green fire onto the ground. This stuff doesn’t go away! Avoid it for the rest of the fight and hit him with some Power throws or Piercing throws. Sticky bombs seem to take too long to activate, and he’s quite agile.

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After sending Harold back to hell, head back up and to the left. Backtrack to the barricaded door and watch as Harold dissipates into nothingness. Head inside and flip the switch above. Now you can use the corporeal block to jump up and progress through this puzzle. Once you’re up, activate the switch again to deactivate the blocks. Get the globe of candy at the upper-right and head to the door on your left. Head up the ladder and save your game. To your left is a large locked door. Let’s head to our right and to the next screen.

Head to the right and launch your child onto the platform above. Guide your child to the left and activate the lever. Head to the right and use the corporeal block to meet your child above. Oddly enough, Dads can’t flip small levers. I guess their hands are too…large…? Activate it again and keep heading to the left. On this screen, head up the ladder and through the door. There’s nothing but emptiness to your right, so let’s head up and left. Once you’re through the door, head down and send your child through the “port-child”. Grab the key and head up and to the right. You can grab this corporeal block and roll above it, leading you back to the locked door and save point.

THE CANDY MOTHERLOAD IS EXCITING! I wish the music reflected my emotions. Grab it all and speak with the ghosty guy (Doesn’t he look a bit like the Gravel Pit guy? Hmm…). You’re back outside, and a large mole to your right seems to have made a wrong turn. Speak with him and enjoy your new shortcut to Mountain City! If you want, you can clean up your inventory at the mall and stock up on healing items. Paying off the rest of your debt is also fun, but only cosmetically useful.

When you’re ready, head back to the Sub Burbs and go to the left of the haunted mansion. If you have the pumpkin costume equipped, then you can complete the scare quest. If not, carefully head to the costume shop and DON’T walk past it. If you want a safer alternative, change your outfit in Mountain City. When you’re ready, head to the bottom-right of the pumpkin patch. Hide behind the bush and throw your child. When the interact icon appears, right-click and watch as a crow walks up and begins conversing with itself. When you’re ready, right-click again and allow your child to walk into the crow, thereby petrifying it and…killing it. Wow. Brutal overkill, but silly nonetheless. Head back to the kid in a skeleton costume at the left-middle of the screen and receive a new costume! I have regular nightmares when I picture it in my head.

Head to the next screen to your left and prepare for a cutscene! The children have snuck past the FLEX door! I capitalized the word FLEX because I’m dumb, and I didn’t realize that the name of this door alludes to the proper way of opening it, which I’ll explain later.

Anyhow, roll under the door and follow Cave Dad. For some reason, she seems to be anxious about venturing through these caves. Why do they scare her so much? See the irony? Take up the heroic mantle and continue to the left.

Part 13

The West Caverns

This cave contains a new environmental hazard that can’t be defeated: The Yellow Barricade. Before you can interact with it, Cave Dad warns you that she doesn’t want to lose another child. I smell an ominous and sad smell…the smell of expired blue cheese. Wait a second…all blue cheese is expired. Yuck.

Moving past my bad jokes, head to the left and hit the Yellow Barricade when you’re ready to dash under it. Keep moving past the second Yellow Barricade and head left, encountering a new enemy: A Hovering Spitter. One Sticky throw will take them out. Another new enemy appears: A Grounded Spitter. They have only ten health, so a single throw will take them out. They become vulnerable when they open their mouths and shoot mini-spits.

Keep moving left until you reach the health station and save point. Roll through the gap and head up and left. Head down and go right first. Head through the small cave door and learn Shrapnel throw! This talent is quite useful for the shooting gallery in Mountain City Park. Head back through the door and go left. At the next screen, save/heal and proceed to the left. Brock is being “swarmed” by some flies and a massive Queen Flier. Take them all out and Brock will calm down. Continue to the left, grab the chest with boomerangs above you, and continue onwards.

Take out some familiar enemies and throw your child at the unfamiliar Red Grabber. These guys will stick to your kid and explode after a few seconds. You can throw your child and tell them to stay in place by right-clicking, rendering these creepy foes useless. Grab some health from the health station if you’re running low and continue up and to the left. Take out some more enemies and head through the large cave door.

The Beanlands

Welcome to the quaint Beanlands! Head to the right and save. You can see a vendor that sells a variant of the normal sandwich above, but you can’t reach him yet. Heading up yields a random house and those familiar green passive creatures. Head to the left and witness two of the children being silly. That green “cool-guy” is insightful, eh? Speak with the NPCs and grab the veggie burger from the chest. That’s what the vendor on the right sells! We’ll be able to accumulate them en-masse soon.

Head up and speak with Chemsuit Clod (Probably the brother of Chemsuit Clarence. What a pair). He wants you to swat some flies and get their bug juice. In the current version of this game, this quest is extremely buggy. When you swat the flies and kill them with a swatter, your screen will display a large and obtrusive inventory screen. Don’t worry: Just head to another screen and get rid of that “buggy” bug juice. Perhaps this bug is a purposeful joke? After checking the forums, this bug seemed to have slipped the developer’s radar, and it wasn’t on purpose. Such irony. Regardless, the main reason why you SHOULD do this quest is because it rewards you with a heart container! The bugs were all worth it!

o Buggy Bug Juice: When you swat a fly and get its bug juice, your screen will display a buggy version of your inventory. Never fear! You can dispose of extra juice by clicking on the “wallet” in the buggy inventory and moving it to your recycle bin on the right below your currently equipped item. Get five bug juice and give it to Chemsuit Clod for a heart container! If you still see the buggy inventory after giving Clod all of your juice, then go to another screen. The bug should be squashed!

After getting your third heart container, you have a couple of options: You can head back to Might Aid in Mountain City and redeem it, or you can proceed with it in your inventory and wait a bit until you can redeem it. The details behind this will spoil the next few scenes, so you’ll see why I mentioned this soon. Anyhow, head to the left and into the next portion of the caverns.

Part 14

???

Are you scared? I’m petrified. This zone is a mystery, and you’re about to enjoy one of the most emotional and epic moments…ever.

Continue to the left and past the Yellow Barricade. You’ll find a “dirty” area and a couple of moles milling about. You can dispatch of them easily by keeping your distance, but for experience’s sake, jump over them and watch as they shoot through the air. They’ll become very difficult to pass soon. Use the wall-grips to head up and head to the next screen on your left.

Save, heal, and notice the “tick-tick” sound. Jump down and become petrified as you realize that the little egg-child is bouncing on…the guy in your nightmares! The egg-child will flea as soon as this scary guy wakes up. He seems…evil. Without any other options open to us, attempt to throw or melee him with your beloved child. He/she will be sucked into his body, and you’ll take lethal damage. What a sudden change of pace and emotions.

You’ll wake up in that empty house in the Sub Burbs. Your child isn’t with you! You have no means of defending yourself! This is where the game’s difficulty increases dramatically. Head outside and the children you “saved” will chat a bit. Head to the right and notice that the farmlands has undergone a transformation!

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IMPORTANT: You can Fast-Fall onto healing stations to use them. Thanks to @Kethlak and @TheAngryLilGoblin for confirming this.

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The Farmlands Festival

The festival is ready to begin! Cave Dad isn’t there yet, so they’re waiting for her to arrive before they start digging into all the yummy veggies. Head to the upper-most right part of this screen, noticing the icy mist forming around you. Head inside the cave.

The Hot Springs

Cave Dad is here, and she reveals that she “saved” you from a Bad Dad. She recommends that you make a wish at the spring. After doing so, the right-side of the cave will open, and a third voice persuades you to inquire about its origins. Head right, save, and get ready for some epic dialogue.

A Grand-Dad named Fallen greets you. She claims to be much older than Height. She also reveals that Carolyn lost her child to a Bad Dad. That’s why she’s afraid of caves! Fallen opens a gap in the floor and recommends that you jump into it. Do so, save, and Fallen will teach you how to “fast” fall. This ability allows you to wield your feet as a weapon! Now you can use those mushrooms and jump very high, and your feet can do ten damage to enemies. You can defend yourself without your child now! It’s limited, but it’s something.

Let’s go save your child and show that Bad Dad that we love our children and will put ourselves in danger to help them. Head up using the mushrooms and head through some doors. Once you’re outside, head to the right of the Haunted Mansion and speak with our moley shortcut if you want to quickly redeem your heart container at Might Aid. When you’re ready, head back to the cavern entrance located at the left part of the town in front of the Flex Fist.

The hand has been released! Now we can’t roll through. Head into the small cave door and appear above. We can use the mushroom to your left to jump up and bypass the Flex Fist. We’re back in the caverns, and this area that we’ve already traversed has just become a whole new area that must be navigated with finesse and careful maneuvering.

Use the mushroom and jump to the platform above. You can avoid the lethal flies, or practice using Fast Fall and defeat them. Jump directly down and wait for the Yellow Barricade to fly close. When he’s in position, use the blue mushroom and jump over him. Continue to the left, using Fast Fall to kill the bats. If you try to run past them, they’ll follow you until the end of existence.

When you reach the save point and health station, you’ll notice something: You can’t use health stations! Only a melee from your child activates them! The horror! I hope you brought a ton of passive healing items, since you can’t even use regular healing items that require you to melee with your child. Heart Flowers, sandwiches, and veggie sandwiches are your only redemption from death.

Head to the left and quickly avoid the large bat. Use fast fall and kill the flies below, and continue to the left. Avoid the enemies, and notice that the red creepy child-grabber can’t be hurt by Fast Fall, and he won’t move from his spot. He only wants to grab children. I guess I should call him a Red Pedo-Grabber. Blech.

Head up and around the useless health station and avoid the large bat. Head through the large cave door and enjoy a bit of peace: You’re back at the Beanlands. You can now purchase as many veggie sandwiches as you can afford from the vendor on your right. When you’re ready, head to the left and traverse through the familiar caves once more.

Jump above the Yellow Barricade and wait for the Hovering Spitter to unleash his beasts before jumping past it. When you reach the moles, quickly roll and jump past them and quickly climb on the wall-grips. Without your child, they can do a lot of damage. They’ll also appear above the ledge. Once you reach the final screen, save, and prepare for one of the hardest bosses in the game.

Before that, the Robber Baroness will chat condescendingly with you. The Bad Dad appears, and the Baroness reveals that he never had a child of his own. That’s why he’s stealing them from Dads like you! Such thievery! Such drama! The fight begins!

Part 15

- - - - -

BIG BOSS ALERT – CAVE BAD

This guy is literally a nightmare, and without your child, you’ll have to Fast Fall onto him to damage him. Avoid his purple “walls” by jumping through them and rolling under them. When he starts spinning like a top, Fast Fall onto his stupid face. You can chain multiple Fast Falls in a row, but don’t get too carried away.

After you do a lot of damage to him, he’ll begin spawning clones of himself. Quickly Fast Fall onto them and finish him off!

- - - - -

After draining his health meter, he’ll begin powering up, just like he did in your nightmare. Before he gets a second wind, Carolyn arrives and punches him straight into a wall. He falls down, spurts a bit of goo, and…Your child pops out! Thank the Dads! After a few seconds, another child pops out. It’s Mia! Carolyn’s daughter is back! It’s a family reunion times two! Mia forgives Cave Dad for being afraid to save her, and Carolyn “ugly” cries. Heck, I’m ugly crying right now! *sniff*.

The Cave Dadge Shrine

The Bad Dad runs away, and Carolyn runs after him with Mia. Follow them to the next screen, save, and speak to the statue recording. Afterwards, head through the door and save, heal, and learn how to hug your child! This melee ability is quite useful, and acts as an offensive shield. The power of love is so strong!

Head into the next door. A significant cutscene ensues, revealing a second Bad Dad under the control of the Robber Baroness! It’s Mountain Bad! Carolyn calls the robber Melanie, revealing her true name. She’ll give you the Cave Dadge, which allows you to…flex? After experiencing all the truth-revealing dialogue, head through the totem. You’re back at the Sub Library! Let’s head to Mountain City before the desert: You can now complete the Gravel Pit and get a few more things.

If you went out the library and back to The Burbs, the Dad who greeted you in the beginning of the game will ask you to help clear some enemies from the town. Desert Dad is nowhere to be found! We’ll go find him soon. After killing the enemies, speak with the Dad again and get a lot of gravel. Head to Mountain City when you’re ready, and we’ll prepare for the final part of our Dad Quest!

E. Final Preparations

The Well

Before going to the Gravel Pit, you can now access the well in Mountain City Park! It’s near the pigeon owner’s house, to the left of the elevator. Head down the well, watch as you’re trapped within, and prepare for some hilarious dialogue from The Pigeon Wizard.

- - - - -

MINIBOSS ALERT – THE PIGEON WIZARD

This large and angry pigeon will spawn multiple pigeons from his staff. You can use Bird (The irony is killing me) and watch as your child destroys every evil pigeon on the screen. If you’re having issues with this boss, then you might have some pigeon-related traumas.

- - - - -

After defeating this ultimate boss, head to the right and learn Gravity Well! This throw talent is extremely powerful, but the sound it creates is a bit too intense for me. I have sensitive ears! Before you leave out of the left entrance to Mountain City Park, you can grab the chest above you with your child’s mature abilities. A Frisbee is a flying disc?

The Shooting Gallery

If you haven’t already done so, you can get some sweet times at the Shooting Gallery in Mountain City Park. It’s inside the colorful tent. Shrapnel throw seems to be the best way to get a good time. I managed to get seven seconds by throwing and meeting my child mid-air and activating the shrapnel early. If your child lands on the ground, they’ll begin an extra “floaty” animation and then shoot shrapnel. Around three to four shrapnel activations seemed to be all I needed.

You can enter and exit the gallery in order to stack specific items that randomly become rewards. I managed to get a ton of pies, chicken, hockey sticks, and shuriken. I even got lucky and found a “FireCracker” as a reward (Yes, it’s spelled that way). It stuns all foes on the screen! Neato! Also, the balloons drop gravel, and it seems like you can make a profit if you play. Should I tell this naive pig that he’s losing money?

The Gravel Pit

The Gravel Pit is exciting, and you’ll get the following rewards per five levels:

Level 5: A health station.

Level 10: A vendor who sells random items.

Level 15: A healing machine that sells random healing items for seventy-five gravel.

Level 20: A level-up station for “Lunge”.

Level 25: A heart container in a chest.

Level 30: The silver suit for sale (700 gravel), costume dressing room, and a random healing toy machine (75g).

Level 35: A level-up station for “Dash Attack”, arguably the best melee attack in the game.

Level 40: A “Flex Fist” obstacle.

Level 45: A healing machine that sells random healing items for seventy-five gravel.

Level 50: A gold suit for sale (1200 gravel) and a costume dressing room.

F. The Desert: Revisited

When you’re ready, let’s head to the desert. As you head towards the East Tower, there’s a ledge above that you can throw you child on. He/she can open the chest, giving you some powerful meteorites. Continue to the left and go down and left through the large door if you want to talk to Sarah, who will give you a vague hint regarding the pathway in the West Tower. You’ll find a fist in the ground on the far left in the first room. Flex on the pedestal and go to the left of the fist.

Push the block down and continue left. Head back to the Desert Dadge Shrine.

Part 16

The Desert Dadge Shrine

Head past the broken statue and through the doors. Save and encounter Melanie and Desert Dad. They chat a bit, and Melanie releases Desert Bad from his urn. After witnessing some epic and dramatic cutscenes, Melanie escapes and manages to use the Bad Dads as a…manta ray boat? Fantastic.

After more cutscenes, you’ll be given the Desert Badge! You can run on water! Walking is too slow! Save up and run across the water to your left when you’re ready. As you run, you can jump for an added bonus effect.

Melanie crashes in on the CEO’s vacation. He claimed that she had Bad Blood, so he took her child away. Who’s the real “bad” guy? Melanie just wants everyone to have the chance to be a good dad! She’s still chosen to be bad and hurt innocent people, so we’ve got to stop her! Heal and save for the last time (Unless you want the chance to fight Melanie repeatedly, which I did in my second playthrough. Final bosses are fun!), and the final boss begins!

- - - - -

FINAL BOSS ALERT – THE GREAT ROBBER BARONESS, MELANIE

She has three “lives”, better known as health bars. You can play a slow but powerful match with Sticky Bomb, or you can use a combination of Bird and Dash Attack. Mortar is a solid choice as well.

When she spews out pink bubbles, you can bounce them back into her with your wonderful child. She will also surround herself with dark purple orbs. You can destroy these too. When she tries to shoot a beam across the map, just duck and throw your child into her angry face.

Dodge her attacks, pummel her often, and you’ll eventually wear her out and knock her down to the ground. Well-done!

- - - - -

After the fight, the CEO bestows upon you the title of Good Dad! It only took you three days to figure it all out!

- - - - -

Thanks for reading my Dadthrough. It was a joy to write, and it was a joy to play this fun/funny game twice. I hope there’s a sequel, and I’m hoping for arena matches and multiplayer!

Thanks to the developers for helping me make this walkthrough as complete as possible! This is version 1.0, and I’m very open to optimization, criticism, and updating this walkthrough.

My name is Ari Rejtman. You can contact me at [e-mail], and if you find any typos, grammar issues, or have recommendations, please share them with me. I’m very interested in collaborations involving writing, electronic music composition, and singing. Warm regards to everyone!

[6o6p]

Hi!
In Part 1 password to the door (behind which bearded dude is locked) is LOVE .
You can find it near the first access card: at the bottom, crouch and *listen*.

[BiwaChan]

A map would be great to help navigate the different areas and know where are the "wrap/transport" points between areas. Also, a confirmation of what parts of the walkthrough refer to an Official Quest as there are two I'm still kind-of missing..

[WelcomeToAccord]

Thanks @Waxlor! I really appreciate that. I'm still considering to make an updated guide for the latest patch. A map would be a great idea.

[Waxlor]

awesome and well written guide. If only someone could make a map too... ;)

[WelcomeToAccord]

@Papa Garbs Check near the end of part 9. If the game changed a lot since the updates, ask some of the guys who have posted comments. Many of them have played beyond this walkthrough's patch. The developers are also very nice and helpful, so contact them if you're stuck. They helped me with a tough puzzle when I asked them. Good luck!

[Malcolm in the Middle East]

How do you get to the Ice Queen? I've been looking for her for about an hour. I've found the room with the big blue line in the centre but there's no one here

[WelcomeToAccord]

@TheAngryLilGoblin I'll update the Walkthrough and credit you. The Dad Quest achievement is probably part of the new update, so I'll change the section and call-out the patch that it's part of. I don't recall seeing a lady in either alley in Mountain City. To write a record of all the achievements, I might have to play the game for my third time. Seems to be worth it, based on the amount of content available.

[TheAngryLilGoblin]

Any time @La Pan De Oruga !

[好耶]

@TheAngryLilGoblin thanks a lot！

[TheAngryLilGoblin]

Hey there y'all, just finished my first run through and figured I'd add some info. First off- I can confirm @Kethlak claim that fast falling on heart orbs does work in the childless section.

Also- I managed to get the Dad Quest the Game achievement. In the guide you actually say that the Ultra Rare slot is a scam that gives you a useless item. Said item is a collectible keychain. When you talk to the lady in the alley where the Trash King fight happens, and ask her if she found anything good- she says she found a copy of Dad Quest- which she will trade for an ultra rare keychain. Trade her the Keychain (which costs 5000 gravel from the vending machine) and she gives you the game- which in turn gets you the achievement.