The big thing here is that your day 1 is going to be tight, both time wise and resource wise. Don't stray too far outside of the lines of this guide. Even if I don't mention it, try to loot everything in each room.

First, we're going to rush the stairwell key. This is all pretty normal; follow the bloody trail and confront the eye boy. Grab his key, grab the bandages on the table, grab the knife off his body and then go to the stairwell at the far right side of the hallway. You will likely have to fight the 2 onlookers. At no point while fighting these onlookers or the first neighbor should you use a skill. We'll need to conserve our STM for later. Ideally we get through this fight without taking damage, but if you take a hit or two, no big deal.

When you get to the stairwell, go down the stairs all the way to B1. Grab the pool cue from the bloody mess, and equip it.

Now let's grab a buddy to be safe. Go back to floor 2, and go all the way down the hallway. Grab the apartment 21 key, and when the Grinning Beast comes to confront you, face it head on. Use "Impale" on it, the skill you get from equipping the pool cue. It should do a massive amount of damage, so much so that it will often one shot. If it doesn't, try to kill it with another attack, but if you end the fight with less than fifty health, go ahead and reset. Feel free to use some of the bandages from earlier if you're bleeding but otherwise healthy. If you're going quickly, you should only be about 4 minutes in at this point, so it's not a big time sink.



Now that the beast is slain, go back to the open door. In here, you'll find a girl eerily grinning at you. She'll offer to hang out; congrats, you have your first companion! Give her the knife you looted from the neighbors body, and let's get a few last things done before heading home.

Grab the pistol and ammo from the right end of the hall. Go into apartment twenty and walk back out. Go to apartment 21. Feel free to kiss Lyle, and go to the two doors on the left and walk out.

Finally go to the first neighbors room on floor 3 (the one with the eye in his stomach). Explore the room on the bottom right.

The reason we've explored these extra rooms is to pump up our danger meter; this should max it out. Don't forget to go back to Jeanne's place (apt 20) later to loot it! Go home and cook yourself some pizza rolls if you need the health.

This is the longest and riskiest section. We're going to go explore floor 1 and it's kind of a maze. First and foremost, if you ever run into the Rat King, try to run. If you take any damage, just reset, because it's going to hurt.

Go back to apartment 21. Go through the top left door. You'll see an eye-guy. Try to avoid him for now, and grab the anxiety meds. If you can't, feel free to burn some bullets with your newly acquired pistol. Go south 2 screens until you're on floor 1. You might run into 2 rats on the way; they should both go down in one hit.

Go right until you see a door below you. Go into that door, and go through the hall way. Go left again until you see another door to the south. Go in here. In the first room, you'll likely fight 3 rats. Again, they're all 1 shots. If they make you bleed, use the bandages from earlier. If they give you an infection, just reset. It's rare and not worth fixing. There's a chef knife in the lower right corner; take it and give it to Sam. Take the rolling pin and give it to Leigh. Loot the fridge, and go in the door next to it.


In this room, you'll likely fight a tail rat and 2 regular rats. Again, this is easily handled by just attacking. Take the key off the table; it is the child barrier key. Go back to the last room, and go all the way down. Use the key on the gate, and look at the crib.


No matter what you choose here, the rat baby will follow you. Go ahead and leave now. Go left, and go south at the next intersection. We're looking for a door with arrows pointing to it. In this room, we'll bump into Ernest. Ask him for help, and he'll be happy to! Leave, and go down 2 intersections, and to the right. Find a door to your south. You'll know you're in the right place if there's a medpack on the table. Grab everything, most importantly the Molotov. Leave, and go to the left one, and follow the meat tube (up one and to the right, to the upper door).

Now you must make the rat choice.


If you're worried that this will hurt your chances with Papa, don't. The rat doesn't count as a companion until he grows up. For my two cents...you're power gaming anyways. He's a really bad companion, and having two arms is great. You should consider letting him go. This may change in 2.0, hopefully it becomes mechanically a harder choice! But for now, feeding the baby to the wall is the way to go.

Grab the disc the wall hurls and go. Next, we'll go right, and south twice at the intersection. If the wall to your left is messed up, you're in the right place. Go left till you find a door with a hole to the right. Throw your disc into the hole, and go in.

At the top of the room, you'll run into a big rat monster. If you want to try to juke him, go ahead. Just attract his attention, and run away. The floor grating is arranged in a circle and he'll be stuck on one side of it. But frankly, we're strong enough to take him out now. If you want to take him out, equip Leigh with the rolling pin. Throw the Molotov turn one. On turn 2, use Smash with Leigh. That should be enough to take him out. Grab the disc and lets go! Don't forget to grab the disc you put in the door on your way out.

Go right, and go north two. You should see an exit sign on the right wall. Follow it, and go out the double doors. Now, go down one floor, to the Audrey GF. Insert the two discs and proceed. Go to the left bathroom, the one without the ♥♥♥♥ all over it and congrats! You got Papa!