1Choose Story Mode.
If this is your first time, choose Story Mode. Speedrun is an optional challenge for experienced players.
2Choose difficulty first.
Nothing is selected automatically. Pick the level you want before continuing.
3Choose how you want to read.
Full Story is selected by default. Easy Read uses shorter, simpler sentences.
4Choose and confirm your name.
Type the name you want the game to use, check the spelling, then confirm it. Your name is locked once that Story Mode run starts.
5Read, then choose.
The story appears in the middle of the screen. When buttons appear, choose the answer or action you want. There is no time limit in Story Mode.
6Walking is done with the large arrows.
Press the large direction arrow to move through the clinic. If a back arrow appears, you can go back.
7During a fight, use the coloured blocks.
Strike attacks. Guard protects you. Med Kit restores health and Mental State. Special opens stronger moves when they are ready.
8Need silence?
The SOUND button stays on every screen. Press it once to mute all Music and FX. Press it again to turn sound back on.
9Your game saves automatically.
You can also save manually in Story Mode. On the title screen, choose Load Game to continue an autosave or a manual save.
10Want more screen space?
If Install App appears on the title screen, tap it. The game can then open more like an app with much less browser clutter.
MORE DETAIL FOR GAMERS
Story Mode setup. Choose difficulty first, then reading mode, then confirm your name. Difficulty has no automatic selection, Full Story is the default reading mode, and your name is locked once the run starts. Manual saves and autosave are available.
Speedrun. Speedrun uses a unique username, fixed ranked rules, Legendary-level challenge, Easy Read, a fresh recorded session seed, no cheats and no manual ranked saves. Duplicate usernames are rejected.
Mental State, Health and Strength. These three values can change the risk or availability of some choices. Mental State tracks how steady you are, Health is your lasting physical condition, and Strength is your ability to keep going. Battle HP is the damage you can take in the current fight.
Alignment choices. Green choices lean toward 24/8. Red choices lean toward the Symbiote. Neutral choices are not alignment-coded. Hidden or conditional choices are not colour-revealed before they become available.
State consequences. When Mental State or Strength drops hard — or Health becomes low — battles begin to shake, distort and pulse with a faster heartbeat. At critically low Mental State, Be One With Symbiote can appear under Special. At 100 Mental State, hold it there long enough to build Focus and unlock 24/8 — LOCKED IN.
Full Mental State. While Mental State stays at 100, one Focus mark is earned for a battle victory or every six forward corridor steps. Three marks unlock 24/8 — LOCKED IN: three turns of higher critical-hit chance, reduced incoming damage, stronger 24/8 specials and one blocked negative state effect. Dropping below 100 before it is ready breaks the Focus build-up.
Battle commands. Strike opens normal attacks and weapons. Special opens character and companion abilities. Guard reduces risk for the turn. Med Kit restores health and Mental State while consuming a supply. Flee is only useful where the encounter permits it.
Cooldowns and ammunition. Stronger special moves need turns before they are ready again. Firearms and some rare weapons can run out of ammunition or wear out.
Konk. Konk's sax attacks use separate external MP3 files. His dedicated Friday Night Death recording is separate from his normal sax moves.
Loot and exploration. Locked cupboards may need a key or can sometimes be forced. Rare and shiny finds have stronger presentation and can affect later runs.
New Game+. Once unlocked, New Game+ can carry selected progress and gear into a harder return run.
Music and FX. Music has a separate ARCADE / SONGS selector. SOUND is the master mute and never changes your selected music mode. Easy Read can be switched on or off during play; Speedrun keeps Easy Read locked on.
Desktop layout. On a computer, status and tools sit on the left, the story stays in the centre, and choices sit on the right. Battles expand into a full-width combat view. On phones, the game returns to the compact touch layout.
If anything appears stuck. Use the ↻ recovery control. It is a safety control and does not change your story choices.
