Bring them home.
Three kids start together under a lit street hatch; the AI plays whichever ones no friend is playing. You can't climb back out, but the sunlight under a hatch is safe: he burns if he steps into it and reels back out. The street is where the children go. Below it, stacked on top of one another, are the storm drains (3 children), the deep sewer tunnel (3) and the mines , then the caves (4). Each child waits in a doorway behind a gate. Open it and they follow you at once; lead them into the light under a street hatch and they climb out on their own. Your flashlight burns the clown and halves his speed anywhere within two wall tiles. A worklight burns him and holds him to one-quarter speed within the same reach. If he touches a child, he drags them back to their cell. Win when all ten are home.
A / D or ← / →: walk. W or ↑: climb a ladder up, or go through a section door. S or ↓: climb down. Hold Up or Down as you walk past a ladder to climb when its prompt appears. Press the other key mid-climb to turn around. A black E marks what E will act on; on timed jobs its ring unwinds with the seconds left inside. Sections at the same depth are not all joined, so go up or down a level to get round a dead end.
Press E once and the job carries on by itself; walk away to stop (progress is kept). Search trash (2.5s), pry open a crate (5s), turn a gate's wheel (18s, or 12s with two of you on it; stop turning and it winds itself shut twice as fast) or free a captured friend (30s). Near a section door, E hits the red button and drops a security shutter : it blocks passage for up to 5 seconds; kids and monsters each take 5 seconds to force it open while locked. R: switch between nearby jobs. Tab or M: expand the map.
Noise draws him. Gate wheels grind, crates splinter, trash rustles: if it carries to him, he hears you from the moment you start and comes to that exact spot. Crates are worth it, though: they always hold something good. Every child you lead also lets him sense you one room further away. Noisy jobs pulse rings as wide as they carry: trash reaches him one room away, a crate two, a gate wheel anywhere. When he hears you, you hear him growl . Watch for his red flashlight, and for the screen reddening when he is close.
1–2 or mouse wheel: select one of two item slots. Space: use the selected item. Q: drop it. Traps are set at your feet and stun him for 4s, then slow him for 2s, even during Bloodlust. Sprung traps stay put; pick them up with E to use again. Each kid starts with one trap. Each trap catches him three times total: its first use and two reuses (the bar under it shows how many catches are left). Wood: press E at a shut rip to board it up (5s, and he hears the hammering anywhere); you can't board one he is inside. He can't get into a boarded rip, but he can still bash his way out of one from inside, which takes him 15s. Fire extinguisher: spray a one-tile white cloud ahead of you. It lasts 5s; the clown sees grey and moves at half speed for 5s as soon as you spray, or for 5s after entering the cloud. Tracker: tells you how many rooms away he is, three times. Run potion: run faster for 20s. Work potion: everything twice as fast for 30s. Ghost veil: unseen for 10s. Lockers: press E to hide inside; he can't see or sense you there, but you can't hide while leading children. Walk to step out.
His tricks. He sets music boxes before caged children: follow the tune and press E to smash one (10s, loud); each one left playing brings his Bloodlust sooner. He can rig trash, crates and cages: a jack-in-the-box stuns you (5s from trash, 10s from a crate) and tells him where you are, and a rigged cage is slower to open. A placed jack-in-the-box has a one-in-three chance to spring when you walk past; it slows you to one-quarter speed for 2s and he hears it. There is a utility room off each end of the deep sewer tunnel, and he can throw the switch in either. If the lights die , he has thrown the breaker in the west one: it stays dark until one of you turns the power back on there. If every shutter slams , he has thrown the lock switch in the east one: they stay down until one of you unlocks them there (force a shutter open over 5s to get through; it stays open for 2s, then quickly closes; monsters force it in 2.5s; a utility room's shutter opens from inside, so you can always walk out). The power starts on. While it is on, the monsters move 10% slower. Lead freed children to the lit street hatch.
Throwing: anyone can throw rocks (each rock takes its own inventory slot). Select a rock and press Space to throw at the closest monster in your hall; about one in five hits is a headshot. You can still drag backwards from anywhere in the scene and release to aim manually. A thrown rock stuns him for 1s (3s on a headshot), then slows him for 1s. With a slingshot it stuns for 2s (5s on a headshot), then slows for 1s (2s on a headshot). These hits work during Bloodlust. A thrown rock lands to be picked up again; its third throw turns it to dust.
Rats run back and forth through underground halls. One appears about every 20 seconds, with at most three loose at once. As the clown, get close and press E to eat one. After three rats, press V or tap VOMIT to leave a long mess on the floor a few steps ahead in the direction you face; you move at half speed while you vomit. Anyone it lands on is slowed at once, rescuers and the children following them alike. The mess lasts 10 seconds; stepping in it slows a kid while inside and for 3 seconds after leaving. Each use spends the charge: eat three more rats to charge it again. There is also an 8-second cooldown between uses.
The clown is 10% faster than you. Break his line of sight with ladders, doors, traps and noise. His Bloodlust comes round every two minutes, and every child you free (a caught friend included) brings it 30s sooner: for 60s he runs faster, hears everything, can jump out of any rip in the walls again and again, and every light turns red. The rest of the time he can only use a rip when his jumpscare is ready: he can go into any of them and come out of any, and each jump out takes 15s to recharge. A rip only opens, glowing and smoking , while he is inside it, and only then does running past it give you away. A red light searching out of a rip means he is inside, watching. When the screen says HIDE , hide. He can never step into the daylight under a hatch: he burns, and backs out. If he catches you , he holds you up, carries you into a dark alcove and your kid ends up locked in a cell in the caves, with everything you carried in his stash (✖ on the map once seen). You watch the others until a friend turns your cell's wheel; then you are back, right there. If you have steel-toed boots in any item slot, press Space while he carries you to kick free; the red prompt appears when you can use them. Watching a kid the AI is playing, press Space to take them over until you are freed. All three kids caught and the expedition is lost. Ladders are no escape: he can catch you mid-climb.
F: flashlight, which you need in the caves. M: expand the map. Sound starts on when you enter. The music starts, low, when he is a room away; it turns tense once he is in your hall and frantic as he closes in. The caves growl the whole time you are down there.
Tablet: use the stick to walk, tap ▲/▼ to climb ladders, and tap INTERACT to do nearby jobs, ↻ switches jobs, LIGHT toggles the flashlight, drag the scene to throw.
Voice chat: rescuers can press VOICE to allow the microphone, then hold T to talk. On touch screens, hold TALK. The clown does not hear this channel. Voice volume is in Settings. If the VOICE button shows REC, the server saves each player's voice.
KEEP YOUR LIGHT ON