How to play
You start on the ground floor of a 31-storey tower with a Glock, a machete and your fists. Every floor is full of armed men, and the stairs up are somewhere across it. There is no lift and no loading screen: you climb real stairs, and the floor below stays as you left it. You can walk back down.
You do not have to clear a floor to leave it. Fighting through every room and sprinting for the stairwell with men behind you are both fair ways up, and that choice is most of the game. The men on the next floor are already in place before you arrive, so you often hear the fight before you see it.
You have 100 health and two bandages. Go down and a click restarts the run from floor 1 with every man back. The building itself stays the same, so each climb teaches you the layout.
Tips and strategy
- Ammunition is short on purpose. You start with 34 Glock rounds and floor 1 has ten men. A body drops only part of a magazine, so plan to finish fights up close.
- Dodge and slide make you untouchable. Double-tap a movement key to dive that way; nothing hurts you for just over a second. A slide (Space while running) covers you for 1.3 seconds. Three slides empty the stamina bar and a dodge costs about a third of one.
- Get behind people. A blade, the axe or bare fists kill outright if the man has not seen you or you are behind him.
- Aim high. A bullet to the head does 2.8 times its damage, a leg shot 0.7. With a melee weapon, swinging while looking slightly up goes for the head.
- Fists combo. Punches chain right, left, then an elbow that does just over double damage, as long as you keep swinging within about a second.
- Use cover properly. Counters, lockers and shut doors stop bullets. A waist-high barrier only covers you crouched (Ctrl). Lean with Q and E, but leaning shows your head to whoever can now see you.
- Bandage out of sight. H heals 34 health over about two seconds, and being shot stops it partway.
- Open the glass cases. Every floor has four to seven, and the first two are always a fire axe and a flare gun. Shoot or swing to smash one, or walk up and take what is inside.
What's in it
Nine weapons: fists, machete, Louisville bat, fire axe, Glock 17 (17 rounds), AK-47 (30, automatic), Remington pump shotgun (five shells loaded one at a time, nine pellets), a fire extinguisher you swing, and a single-shot flare gun that nearly always kills and lights up the room it lands in.
Six kinds of enemy: guards, riflemen, men in suits, runners with knives and bats, heavies with 110 health and usually a shotgun, and unarmed brawlers. Most hold a position and lean out of cover to shoot; a few push. Floor 1 has ten men, each floor adds roughly one more up to 34, and higher floors bring more riflemen, heavies and brawlers.
The floors change as you climb: open-plan and cellular offices, trading floors, residential conversions, gutted floors and executive suites, with three landmarks - the plant floor on 12 and 24, the sky lobby on 16 and the penthouse on 31.
Questions
How do I pick things up?
Walk over them. Dropped items sit in a glowing ring, and the name and round count show as you get near. A new weapon goes straight into your hands; one you already have just adds its ammunition.
How do I get to the flare gun?
1 to 8 select fists through extinguisher. The flare gun is ninth, so use the mouse wheel. Dark slots on the weapon strip are ones you have not found.
Does it save my progress?
No. A run lasts until you go down, then starts again from the ground floor.
Can I play on a phone or with a controller?
No. It needs a keyboard and mouse.
What does right-click do?
A quick strike, as does F. With a gun out you hit with your fist and keep the gun, which is the answer to a man who gets inside your aim.