Gold Apocalypse Advice

I went insane getting an impossible challenge. If you want to torment yourself like I did to me, then, I recommend you take a moment to hear me out. I don't want you going through more than you have to...

Starting the Investigation

When you begin, you're going to want to first turn your Brightness up to max in your settings. It's the only thing you have going for you, so you might as well use it.

Take a good look at the Objectives THE MOMENT you enter. If it reads: Stop Hunt Via Crucifix, Encounter a Ghost Event, or Step in Salt... Leave the game immediately.

You see, the best knowledge you'll get about a ghost is the 3 room radius in which it's living. If you go into that 3 room radius, consider your teeny tiny crippled 50% speed legs DEAD! Respect this knowledge, and never go to the ghost. Let it come to you.

Don't worry about it's opening hunt. Odds are, you won't be in range since it has the entire Asylum to itself. Although, on that note, we'll move onto...

Hunting the Hunter

From the get-go, you're gonna be marked for death. The ghost will come at you with speeds you can't dream of defending yourself against. You have to know each hiding spot, expertly conceal yourself around corners if caught with your guard down, and keep a Smudge on hand at all times.

Because of this, you effectively have 1 Item Slot... It's best to go in with the Parabolic Microphone. This amazing thing is the saving grace of your experience.

When you enter the building, turn your Mic off and turn your Parabolic ON. Sweep from left to right to confirm the ghost isn't in your opening area. If you get a reading, get ready to duck into the classroom on your left behind the reception desk.

Odds are, though, you won't get a reading on that Parabolic. Don't hide, now, you have nothing to be afraid of. When it starts hunting, start scanning for it with that Parabolic! Yeah! You can hear it better than it can hear you!

The reading will be 7 - 15 decibels if the ghost is right outside your radius. It'll rise to 23 - 27 if it is middling distance from you. It'll increase further to 40 - 43 if it's getting close. At 50+ you're going to have to defend yourself, so you should back off if it gets too loud!

So let's recap what your gameplan is: Enter the Asylum, sweep the reception area, waiting room, and classrooms with a simple look left to right to make sure you're safe. If the ghost is in the hallway further out, odds are the Parabolic will nick them there, too.

If you get those readings, take cover in the classroom. Otherwise head to the central hallway. Your goal is to discern: Is the ghost in the left [male] wing, right [female] wing, or the middle [kitchen] area? The Parabolic Microphone will give you a huge heads up when the ghost is in that direction.

I'm afraid to tell you two things: There's a chance they'll tunnel out of a left or right wing and catch you off guard sometimes while listening to them- but worse off... If you don't get ANY readings, you best reset. It's hard enough to do this challenge with the ghost being near the start, let alone the basement...

Since this challenge isn't particularly skill based, rather almost entirely luck based... You'll be resetting a lot.

Making the Call

Now, say you've got it all figured out... You have a set of Side Objectives you deem achievable, the Ghost is in a place where you can reliably wait for it to approach one of your hiding spots, and you're ready to go... What happens now? You win?

Not... quite...

See, even if you pull all of this off, I give most players a 41% chance of success, and if they hit the 59% then they have a 7% chance to randomly be given a win. What are these odds based on? Identifying a Ghost with Zero Evidence, Zero Sanity, No Lights, and No opportunity to distinguish Unique Hunting Behaviors Specifically, the Phantom and Oni's flickering behaviors.

So, before you start completing side objectives, ask yourself... "Can I tell what this ghost is?"

Over time, you may learn what "Normal" 150% Speeds are. These ghosts, I call the Indistinguishable. They arc over the Spirit, Demon, Obake... so on, the list is LONG. They have no unique tells that you can identify at Zero Evidence, and I assure you it's not worth the trouble trying to Smudge a Spirit. That insinuates you can get close to its room, which I informed you- if you go into a 3 room radius of the Ghost's favorite spot, it will snap your neck faster than SCP-173 can.

The Ghosts you can identify (easily, by the challenge's standards) are as follows:
> The Raiju, if you honestly can stick a working electronic within an area that you can audibly hear its walking behavior change.
> The Mimic, if it mimics a Ghost with increased/decreased walk speed, then swaps to a different speed.
> The Myling, as it is virtually impossible to hear unless it's directly on top of you.
> The Thaye, as it has the fastest consistent speed that is slow enough to take photos of
> The Revenant, as its insanely slow speed is one of the most distinguishable Zero Evidence ghosts out there
> The Deogen... I'll explain about this one, ho boy this one gets its own section.

There are four other ghosts, however, I have not had any experience hunting them.
> The Moroi, as its Stronger at Lower Sanity should let it zip around faster than The Indistinguishable Ghosts
> The Wraith, as it should emit an EMF 2 and teleport beside you. And then kill you.
> The Twins, as they should have a 10% speed up/down difference... which might confuse them with a Mimic??
> And... The Hantu... Yeah... You'll know this one from the others. You'll hear their Hunting Voice, but not their Footsteps. This is because they're walking so fast, their feet don't touch the ground. (Actually, I'm pretty certain it's because they generate a new "Footstep Sound" before the preceding Footstep Sound can play)

You will not get a photo of the Hantu and live. And, unlike the Halloween Trophy, survival is not optional here. I would know.

To bring this full circle, make certain you can identify the ghost one way or the other BEFORE you do your Objectives, or else you'll have wasted a good deal of time, and potentially a death.

The odds, excluding Wraith, Twins, Hantu and Deogen, are actually 25% (assuming the Moroi is distinguishable from the Thaye and other Ghosts) that you'll get a ghost that you can identify and photograph... Giving you a 70.9% chance of automatic failure. Number's off? It's because of that one Ghost...

The Golden Ghost (De Ogen)

The Eyes. The ultimate Ghost of Apocalypse. If you're blessed to get this ghost in your run (a ~4.17% chance)... Do. Not. Waste. It.

This Ghost, despite what you'd imagine, is actually NOT as fast as the Hantu when approaching you- as a matter of fact, I mistook it for either an Indistinguishable or Thaye as best. However, I was lucky enough to get chased down by it well before I reached my hiding spot. You see, it slows down. It does. Even at 150% against your 50% speed, it will slow down enough to not kill you.

Now, do not be mistaken! This does not mean you get comfortable breathing room. This ghost will literally be breathing down your spine. Stub your toe on a single piece of Sunnyside Debris, and your best shot at winning this will be Over, Easy.

However... This does make for a very lax session of Photography, if you have the straightaway and dexterity to turn around and walk backwards while taking pictures of your newfound Okuri-Inu (to spare you from looking it up, it's a dog-monster that will keep you safe from other monsters as it walks beside you [because everything else is deathly afraid of it], and it will kill you if you stumble). Make sure the walkway is VERY clear before spinning around, and do not botch the key inputs for the spin (thus driving yourself straight into the ghost, and making you feel bad about yourself.)

In this way, it is close enough to Smudge (the area around the ghost, or while it's chasing someone), it can be guided through the Chapel (to blow out candles), it can be guided through a Motion Sensor, you can spin around and place Salt at your feet if you're insanely dexterous, and you kinda need to survive the hunt. Photos are also mandatory, so there's that objective, too.

What this miracle ghost won't net you unless you're insanely determined is an EMF, Parabolic Evidence, a Ghost Event, or the Crucifix stopping a hunt. Still probably best to reset your map if you get these objectives (although by normal standards, Parabolic Evidence is perfectly fine, since you can actually point it at a Hunting Ghost and get the evidence... it's just... against THIS guy... It'd be pretty stressful.)

Parting Notes

I think that just about covers all I can offer you. Though... as a final warning, do not do this if you're weak of heart. Be it patience, be it competence, this challenge will drive you insane. It is not fun. It was not designed to be entertaining. It was not designed to be fair.

You cannot defend yourself, the only ghosts you can identify will be even faster and more dangerous than the ghosts that you automatically lose the challenge against (because you can't identify them), and it takes over a full minute to just enter the building's main hallway (because of your walk speed).

Not to mention, your friends can't help you, it has to be on Single Player. You're alone. No one to share this experience with. No help. You have your single inventory slot (as the others are being consumed by the Smudge and Lighter), you move as slow as a Revenant without a target, and you don't even get to SEE ANYTHING, (Because your flashlights are broken, and so is the breaker switch!)

This odds-based, barely skill-based challenge (The only thing in your control is where you set up your last stand, and since the Ghost Flicker is RANDOM, even getting a photo is morbid random chance) is not your run of the mill Shiny Hunt. You don't just Reset every 50 to 200 seconds for loading screens, animations, or wild encounters. Since you walk so slow, have to LOCATE the ghost, furthermore have to wait in a hiding spot to identify the ghost, and then even take the chance with your side objectives and photography...? It'll take a half hour, each attempt, minimum. The only time you'll back out at 10-15 minutes is because you've I.D.'ed an Indistinguishable, or it's not coming up on the Parabolic and is likely in the basement.

I remember seething in anger. Asking "Did the developers even play test this? How many attempts did it take them? Did they have FUN!?!" ...so... yeah, this experience will not be a joyride.

Keep your head up, automatically reset if you see Salt, EMF, Crucifix, or Ghost Event, go in with the Parabolic and a Smudge/Lighter, scan the opening area, choose left or right, go to the door and listen, choose to go backwards to the other wing or to the kitchen area, scan the remaining sectors, identify your safe places, hide there and discern if the ghost is identifiable (if not, reset), decide what order you're going to do your potentially 4 tasks (including mandatory ghost photo), and good luck executing the maneuver properly, as failure to Smudge close enough to your hiding place will kill you and end your potentially promising run.

Don't get greedy. You have one hiding place. The ghost has infinite killing range. Wait for it to come to your safe spot. If you've (somehow) got a Wraith on ID from EMF you (somehow) got it to set off, keep a Crucifix under your feet or near your hiding spot so it doesn't spawn on you.

This is a game of pure random chance, not skill. If the ghost is Indistinguishable, you lose. If the Objectives are EMF/Crucifix/Event/Salt, you lose. If the ghost is a Hantu, you lose. (but it will be stellar) If you get stuck on something while retreating, you lose. If you smudge too far from your hiding place, you lose. If the ghost gets wind of your hiding place, you lose. If the ghost coincidentally is flickering in all 5 photos (go for 2 and hide, if you want to survive), then you lose. If you DO get a photo, and the ghost kills you, well, you lose. If you are killed, even will all win conditions, you lose. If the ghost spawned in the lobby, odds are you lose, automatically. If the ghost is in the basement, you might win but it'll be 3x longer than other attempts and all of the above apply.

If this sounds fatalistic, and deters you because of how unfun, daunting, and upsetting it looks, with the words you lose plastered everywhere, then I will have gotten the point through to you that this is not for recreational amusement. Go into this expecting to lose, set yourself a deadline when you're ready to put it down, and please... please... don't get as invested into it as I was...

That's all of my advice! Hope this helps you on your journey to hell. Happy hunting, and good luck.

It's the only thing that matters. That, and your ability to judge Smudge/Photos, deliver objectives (candle, parabolic) to hyper-dangerous locales, and overall navigate the Asylum without any light!

Bonus: Video of the Hantu that will end your run

Note that I got confused when she completely vanished after I lit the Smudge. This was not her just going full invisible and slowing down beside me. (That's what I thought happened, so I thought "Deogen?" No. They don't do that.) I hear an object clatter in the lobby- she TOOK OFF again, and you just can't hear her footsteps. You can use the Heartbeat to tell when her fully invisible supersonic behind is actually beside me.

[scooby jew]

This is definitely the best guide I’ve seen on this challenge, any other guides I’ve sought help from provided complex instructions for identifying the ghost and often resulted in the end of my run; this guide ended up being a significant help, an insight for what ghosts I should be specifically listening out for, where I should position myself before a hunt, and what I should do when it does hunt. Thank you very much.

[Emerald Viridian]

Anybody out there still trying to win this?

[Amethyst--Baron]

Fantastic advice and this definitely changes the way I play the game in general. Thank you very much.

[ID0ntLikeGh0sts]

The super sonic speed of the ghost teleporting onto you made me shit myself lol

[Funkgrunters]

This is the best guide I've seen so far. The closest I've come to finishing it was following this guide. However, after many attempts coming close to completing the challenge I no longer care to keep trying. Good luck to anyone else that attempts it because that's really all it comes down to.

[Emerald Viridian]

Yes, yes it is

[🎦HabadaTM]

is this 24.00x sething trophy?