Surviving Unfriendly Difficulty
The Wilsonest WilsonJul 26, 2023 @ 8:57am1,63421
Walkthroughs
Overview
Currently this guide isn't going to have any images because after 1 attempt a night for 3 nights I am too sick of these damn puppets to take screenshots. Will update when I feel like it.
Also keep in mind that I am not going to walk you through the whole game, tell you the best routes to use to navigate the studio, or tell you where a majority of the collectibles are. You wanted to take on this challenge, ya gotta use your brain a little.
Anyway.
To start you off on your grand adventure through the studio, it is important that we discuss the many features of Unfriendly difficulty. Those being:
This difficulty REQUIRES that you abuse some of the game's mechanics, bugs, and aspects of its design to come out on top. You need to constantly be thinking about your next move, which routes you'll take through the studio, which puppets to kill and when, and at what moments to use your items. Items of which you only have 4 that you will grow reliant on:
Also keep in mind that I am not going to walk you through the whole game, tell you the best routes to use to navigate the studio, or tell you where a majority of the collectibles are. You wanted to take on this challenge, ya gotta use your brain a little.
Anyway.
To start you off on your grand adventure through the studio, it is important that we discuss the many features of Unfriendly difficulty. Those being:
- Puppets take way more hits
- You can only take 2 hits before death instead of 4
- A TON of collectibles and healing items are nonexistent.
This difficulty REQUIRES that you abuse some of the game's mechanics, bugs, and aspects of its design to come out on top. You need to constantly be thinking about your next move, which routes you'll take through the studio, which puppets to kill and when, and at what moments to use your items. Items of which you only have 4 that you will grow reliant on:
- Choco-zip
Increases your speed. - Health-O-Lax
mmm! Heal Drink. - Tokens
The most plentiful resource. Can be used on healing stations in safe rooms, or to buy more Choco-zip from the vending machine in the hotel lobby (Where you first met Ricky).
- Duct Tape
Stops a puppet from getting back up after killing it.
Weapons
Box your guns. You aren't going to use them. At least not on the puppets.
Another wonderful feature of this difficulty is that every single ammo pickup is gone. All of them. No magazines, no shells, no grenades, ZIP! The only ammo you are given is the 12 shots that the Rolodexer comes with and the ammo in the Tool Chest. You will be stripped down to your wrench for a majority of the playthrough.
While that might sound horrible, there is one thing to keep in mind. If you whack a wall, object, or any other piece of the environment, it never registers as a hit. It always registers as a miss... unless you hit a puppet. What this means is as long as there is a puppet within range of your wrench, you CAN hit them. It doesn't even matter if there's a wall in your way, you can still hit them reliably.
Using this technique, you can kill the Lenard and Norman that attack you in Studio's dressing room after obtaining the Rolodexer without climbing the stairs, successfully saving those 12 bullets for later use on the shooting gallery in the office's Rec room (Which nets you 2 Health-O-Lax bottles).
Another wonderful feature of this difficulty is that every single ammo pickup is gone. All of them. No magazines, no shells, no grenades, ZIP! The only ammo you are given is the 12 shots that the Rolodexer comes with and the ammo in the Tool Chest. You will be stripped down to your wrench for a majority of the playthrough.
While that might sound horrible, there is one thing to keep in mind. If you whack a wall, object, or any other piece of the environment, it never registers as a hit. It always registers as a miss... unless you hit a puppet. What this means is as long as there is a puppet within range of your wrench, you CAN hit them. It doesn't even matter if there's a wall in your way, you can still hit them reliably.
Using this technique, you can kill the Lenard and Norman that attack you in Studio's dressing room after obtaining the Rolodexer without climbing the stairs, successfully saving those 12 bullets for later use on the shooting gallery in the office's Rec room (Which nets you 2 Health-O-Lax bottles).
Enemy Behavior - General
Now we talk about the inhabitants of the Friendly Neighborhood that you will be ruthlessly beating the felt out of.
In most cases it is more beneficial to avoid direct combat altogether since you are stripped to melee, and that leaves you more susceptible to getting hugged. There will be a couple of instances in which you will be forced to kill a puppet or 2, like the 2 Georges that appear in the narrow corridors of the sewers that are literally impossible to get past.
In the event of a puppet blocking your path, what can you do?
- Play "Ring Around the Rosie"
Once a puppet sees you, it will begin to run towards you. Fortunately, (without sidestepping or backpedaling) you run faster than all of them. You can use this to your advantage by making the puppets chase you in a circle, making it so they are out of the way, and so you can go about your merry day. Just remember that the puppet will continue chasing you until you either kill it or go into a different area.
But alas, you are forced to physically interact with the puppet. What now?
- Be the Spy from Team Fortress 2
If you attack a puppet that hasn't seen you, you can lock them in a permanent stun, stunning them again and again with every wrench swing. This way, you can kill them without risk of non consensual hugging. This method is possible but not reliable given the fact that if a millisecond of their "spotting" animation plays before you get a hit on them, the permastun will not work because at that point they have technically seen you.
- The Ol' Stun 'n Run.
Alternatively, you could just stun the puppet and book it. While a puppet is stunned you can run right through them. You can also run right through them a couple seconds after taking damage, but with only 2 hits before death it is kind of a last resort.
Speaking of stunning... don't rely on it when facing a puppet head-on. It is horribly inconsistent and I have not found any way of doing it on purpose.
If you know for a fact that all previously listed methods are impossible, you can look to your good friend Choco-zip. A boost of speed can keep you out of the puppet's attack range more reliably. The more Choco-zips you eat, the faster you will go. Just don't overdo it, can't have you running headlong into a puppets extended arms.
Last thing I will mention before getting into specifics is that there is a benefit to killing puppets. If you kill a puppet and don't tape him, he will respawn in a different position within that same room. This could make it so you can put a puppet in a less bothersome position where you can possibly avoid him entirely, saving you a headache and tape.
In most cases it is more beneficial to avoid direct combat altogether since you are stripped to melee, and that leaves you more susceptible to getting hugged. There will be a couple of instances in which you will be forced to kill a puppet or 2, like the 2 Georges that appear in the narrow corridors of the sewers that are literally impossible to get past.
In the event of a puppet blocking your path, what can you do?
- Play "Ring Around the Rosie"
Once a puppet sees you, it will begin to run towards you. Fortunately, (without sidestepping or backpedaling) you run faster than all of them. You can use this to your advantage by making the puppets chase you in a circle, making it so they are out of the way, and so you can go about your merry day. Just remember that the puppet will continue chasing you until you either kill it or go into a different area.
But alas, you are forced to physically interact with the puppet. What now?
- Be the Spy from Team Fortress 2
If you attack a puppet that hasn't seen you, you can lock them in a permanent stun, stunning them again and again with every wrench swing. This way, you can kill them without risk of non consensual hugging. This method is possible but not reliable given the fact that if a millisecond of their "spotting" animation plays before you get a hit on them, the permastun will not work because at that point they have technically seen you.
- The Ol' Stun 'n Run.
Alternatively, you could just stun the puppet and book it. While a puppet is stunned you can run right through them. You can also run right through them a couple seconds after taking damage, but with only 2 hits before death it is kind of a last resort.
Speaking of stunning... don't rely on it when facing a puppet head-on. It is horribly inconsistent and I have not found any way of doing it on purpose.
If you know for a fact that all previously listed methods are impossible, you can look to your good friend Choco-zip. A boost of speed can keep you out of the puppet's attack range more reliably. The more Choco-zips you eat, the faster you will go. Just don't overdo it, can't have you running headlong into a puppets extended arms.
Last thing I will mention before getting into specifics is that there is a benefit to killing puppets. If you kill a puppet and don't tape him, he will respawn in a different position within that same room. This could make it so you can put a puppet in a less bothersome position where you can possibly avoid him entirely, saving you a headache and tape.
Enemy Behavior - Specific
Those were the general rules, but now let's get into some specifics.
Believe it or not, each individual puppet is different in some way. While these differences are small, they can be crucial when it comes to picking which puppets to tape. I will go in order from Least to most threatening.
- Lenard (Purple Guy)
Lenard's movement speed is very slow. So slow in fact that you can actually backpedal faster than him. None of the other puppets share his movement speed, which makes Lenard the easiest to deal with.
- Liliana (Orange Lady)
Nothing to really talk about here. She moves a little faster than Lenard and that's about it.
- The Dogs
I thought these pups would be an absolute nightmare... but it only takes 2 to 3 hits to stun them, giving you time to make your getaway. If you do not have a wall to hide behind, popping a Choco-zip will keep you out of their attack range. You can't tape the dogs either, so you just have to deal with them.
- Norman (The mascot of the game)
Norman has really weird attack range. It constantly feels like I am far enough away from Norman to not take damage... then I take damage anyway.
- Hand Puppets (The little ankle biters)
While these guys only take one hit to dispatch, it does not make them any less of a threat. If they are stuck to a wall it is much easier to get a solid whack on them, but if they are on the ground it requires precise timing. Don't bother taping them though, they spawn in threes.
- George (Taxi Cab Driver)
George is a bullet sponge. I am not sure if he has more health than the rest of the puppets, but it certainly feels like it with how many wrench smacks this dude takes.
- Junebug (Yellow Girl)
Good god, why are you so fast? Junebug has the highest movement speed of any puppet. If you going to fight a Junebug head-on, pop a Choco-zip beforehand or you WILL get hugged.
Believe it or not, each individual puppet is different in some way. While these differences are small, they can be crucial when it comes to picking which puppets to tape. I will go in order from Least to most threatening.
- Lenard (Purple Guy)
Lenard's movement speed is very slow. So slow in fact that you can actually backpedal faster than him. None of the other puppets share his movement speed, which makes Lenard the easiest to deal with.
- Liliana (Orange Lady)
Nothing to really talk about here. She moves a little faster than Lenard and that's about it.
- The Dogs
I thought these pups would be an absolute nightmare... but it only takes 2 to 3 hits to stun them, giving you time to make your getaway. If you do not have a wall to hide behind, popping a Choco-zip will keep you out of their attack range. You can't tape the dogs either, so you just have to deal with them.
- Norman (The mascot of the game)
Norman has really weird attack range. It constantly feels like I am far enough away from Norman to not take damage... then I take damage anyway.
- Hand Puppets (The little ankle biters)
While these guys only take one hit to dispatch, it does not make them any less of a threat. If they are stuck to a wall it is much easier to get a solid whack on them, but if they are on the ground it requires precise timing. Don't bother taping them though, they spawn in threes.
- George (Taxi Cab Driver)
George is a bullet sponge. I am not sure if he has more health than the rest of the puppets, but it certainly feels like it with how many wrench smacks this dude takes.
- Junebug (Yellow Girl)
Good god, why are you so fast? Junebug has the highest movement speed of any puppet. If you going to fight a Junebug head-on, pop a Choco-zip beforehand or you WILL get hugged.
Bosses
Now let's briefly go over some of the bosses that you will meet. While most of them are not threatening, there is one in particular that deserves talking about.
- Pearl
I do not think Pearl can damage you unless you hit her... so don't hit her... jack@$$.
- Ray
Yes, you can hit Ray through his pipes. Just make sure you attack him from the side and not the front.
- Gobblette
On Unfriendly difficulty, Gobblette shows up in more rooms that she would regularly be able to and that's about it
Now for the big one.
- The Curtain
Hoo boy. This is the run killer right here. Remember when I mentioned the very limited supply of ammo that you get for the Rolodexer? This is what you use it for. In order to defeat the Curtain, you have to hit it in all of its eyeballs. You are capable of hitting every eyeball with your wrench, but it requires you to put the Curtain deep in your melee range... while the Curtain is constantly firing Normans at you and spawning hand puppets after taking enough damage.
For the Curtain fight:
- Pop a Choco-zip to help with dodging
- Use your terrain to your advantage (The Curtain cannot fire through pillars)
- Wrench all of the Curtain's lower eyes
- Use the Rolodexer to do some damage to the upper eyes. DO NOT MISS!
And for the final boss.
- The Amalgamation
With your only source of damage at this point being melee, I would just pull the nearby lever and wait it out. At this point you can pop all of your remaining Choco-zips to give you as much speed as possible.
- Pearl
I do not think Pearl can damage you unless you hit her... so don't hit her... jack@$$.
- Ray
Yes, you can hit Ray through his pipes. Just make sure you attack him from the side and not the front.
- Gobblette
On Unfriendly difficulty, Gobblette shows up in more rooms that she would regularly be able to and that's about it
Now for the big one.
- The Curtain
Hoo boy. This is the run killer right here. Remember when I mentioned the very limited supply of ammo that you get for the Rolodexer? This is what you use it for. In order to defeat the Curtain, you have to hit it in all of its eyeballs. You are capable of hitting every eyeball with your wrench, but it requires you to put the Curtain deep in your melee range... while the Curtain is constantly firing Normans at you and spawning hand puppets after taking enough damage.
For the Curtain fight:
- Pop a Choco-zip to help with dodging
- Use your terrain to your advantage (The Curtain cannot fire through pillars)
- Wrench all of the Curtain's lower eyes
- Use the Rolodexer to do some damage to the upper eyes. DO NOT MISS!
And for the final boss.
- The Amalgamation
With your only source of damage at this point being melee, I would just pull the nearby lever and wait it out. At this point you can pop all of your remaining Choco-zips to give you as much speed as possible.
The Conclusion
I will offhandedly mention... You can get the conclusion gun on this difficulty... fully loaded... even though I do not think you are supposed to be able to. This might get patched out but I'll leave it here anyway,
If you switch back to your wrench you lose it forever so if you want to breeze through the last bit of the game, you can officially dump your wrench.
But in any case, that is my piece of workplace gossip for the maintenance worker that wishes to earn his pay. I wish you luck in your future endeavors, drink Health-O-Lax responsibly, and I hope that the puppets don't hug you TOO much.
If you switch back to your wrench you lose it forever so if you want to breeze through the last bit of the game, you can officially dump your wrench.
But in any case, that is my piece of workplace gossip for the maintenance worker that wishes to earn his pay. I wish you luck in your future endeavors, drink Health-O-Lax responsibly, and I hope that the puppets don't hug you TOO much.