Quick tips for beginners and advanced players

Time Survivors is quite challenging, but with these suggestions, you will definitely be able to beat the game.
It's just a WIP, please contribute with your suggestions!

TL;DR: Your First Steps

• Collect all XP gems dropped by killed enemies
  
• Search for and destroy vases
  
• Kill the white giant rats for loot and Gold
  
• Kill Cerberus (~min 9 of the first stage), get his heart and buy the 4th weapon+item slot

Basic Tips

• Don't just run away from monsters; collect XP gems
  
• Vases are highly beneficial. They drop useful pick-up items
  
• Enemies try to anticipate your path, so use their different steering speeds to your advantage
  
• Weapon + Item Slots: each character starts with 3. Buy a 4th and 5th slot with 1 Guardian Heart (dropped by mid-level bosses like Cerberus). Unlock the 5th slot by reaching minute 5:55 in the Ice Age stage
  
• Character Upgrades: there are 3 areas to upgrade shown as small square tabs under the character description in the meta-progression screen:
  - Base stats: Boost defining traits, like speed for Anita or strength for Nero, plus others
  - Starting weapon: Purchase "Legendary Evolution" that activates at level 9 during a run (only for the starting weapon)
  - Character Ability: Enhance each character's unique ability

Deeper Truths

• Chrono Forge: Use this to exchange Gold for Damascus Steel, Guardian Hearts, and Time Crystals in the meta-progression screen above Claire's node
  
• Player Stats: Pause the game to view current player stats
  
• Sandbox: Use the Codex (click on any of the slots) to read about weapons, items, and enemies, including their stats and invulnerabilities
  
• Relic Slots: Note that some characters have 3 Relic Slots instead of 2

[Pure Function]

Anita is good for gathering money.

[Pok]

Action button is Space bar on keyboard or just A on controllers and it triggers the character native ability. You can see the ability status in the HUD on the left (middle-upper area)

[Unseen]

What is the action button, they tell me summon cleos cat thing and say hit the action button, but there's no prompt or indication what the action button is. And no controller/keyboard config.