This is the route I use when I want a smooth Cursed start without relying on heavy luck. It gets you to the landlord’s apartment door by Day 2 before noon with a full party of Sam, Leigh, Ernest (recruited for the day), and Papineau, while keeping every avenue of content accessible afterward.
I’ll explain exactly what to pick up, what to skip, how to handle early threats, and why each choice matters. It’s not the only way to play, but it’s the most consistent balance of efficiency and practicality I’ve found.
What this guide assumes
- You’ve cleared at least an Explorer run (Survivor experience helps).
- You’re okay with one controlled RNG moment (Leigh’s recruitment via Impale on the Grinning Beast). It’s faster and, in practice, less punishing than waiting another day to recruit around it.
Target outcome by the end
- Time: Day 2, late morning.
- Party: Sam, Leigh, Ernest (day recruit), Papineau.
- Disks: Earth + Mars secured.
- Supplies: Six Cleanerex (after Day 2 shopping and haggles), Pool Cue, Cleaver, Mop, key early consumables.
- Door to landlord’s apartment available and safe to enter on your schedule.
Day 1: Stabilize, Power Spike, and Set the Run
Sam’s apartment
- Water and talk to your plant.
- Grab your money and the medkit.
- Interact with the bookshelf 4 times to learn Screamatorium.
- Play SuperJumplad twice to learn Jump Attack and hit Level 2.
Slightly personal note: I always grab Jump Attack on Day 1 because it hard-carries the Leering Husk fight. If a hallway merchant spawns immediately, don’t spend yet.
Head to Vincent’s place (apartment 37).
Vincent’s apartment (37): loot safely, avoid fights
Hug walls to ghost past enemies. You want:
- Carving Fork (living room)
- Shocky Bar
- Cleanerex (bathroom)
- Fridge
- Optional: Glasses (only if the path is safe; if you do grab them, unequip them before the Leigh recruitment fight, as they reduce crit chance)
Equip Carving Fork, then go to apartment 36.
Apartment 36: Wounded Neighbor → Leering Husk
Key mechanics you’re playing around:
- At the end of turn 3, Wounded Neighbor transforms into Leering Husk and sets its HP to 200 (all prior damage is wiped).
- Leering Husk guards and ripostes every 2 turns starting on turn 5 (eyes closed). Those are guard turns.
- Jump Attack appears to get a 2× modifier against his weakness and consistently hits for ~100; two well-timed Jump Attacks end the fight.
Use this exact turn plan:
- Turn 1: Guard
- Turn 2: Guard
- Turn 3: Guard (let the transform happen)
- Turn 4: Jump Attack
- Turn 5: Guard (riposte cycle)
- Turn 6: Jump Attack (kill)
Notes from runs:
- If a Jump Attack whiffs, just add one extra Guard and Jump again; you have enough HP cushion.
- If Sam panics during the Wounded phase (rare), you’ll need to reset because you need skill access.
- Ending at 1 HP from bleeding is survivable for the next steps; use a bandage if you want safety.
Loot the Kitchen Knife and Key.
Reaching the stairs without getting grabbed
Onlookers camp the stair door and the unlock animation gives them a second window to tag you. Lure them into the hallway one-by-one and walk the door cleanly. This is easier after a little practice.
Stairs → Ground floor → grab Pool Cue → Jeanne’s place
- On the ground floor, grab the Pool Cue.
- Return to 2F and loot Jeanne’s apartment for the Cleaver, Mop, and a Cleanerex (don’t skip the bathroom).
Shadow entities tip: if you hear them, step back and forth in the same room until the sound fades; you might need a few cycles.
Go home using the consistent path to dodge Onlookers: run straight down, then hard-left along the wall.
Secure the save
At home:
- Equip Pool Cue (Sam)
- Unequip Glasses if you took them earlier (they hurt crit chance on the upcoming Grinning Beast plan)
- Eat TV Dinner to top Stamina
- Save
If this chunk feels tight in your run, it’s okay to return home immediately after killing Leering Husk, save, then do Jeanne’s/Pool Cue before bed. If you go straight home at that earlier point, play one video game (Screamatorium or Madwheels) to reach Level 3, then eat TV Dinner to hit 24 STM and save.
Day 1, Part 2: Leigh, Disks, and Route Setup
Recruit Leigh via the Grinning Beast
This is the one controlled RNG step. Go to 2F, grab the apartment 21 key, fight the Grinning Beast, and use Impale twice. You’re fishing for either:
- An instant-kill (reasonably common over a handful of attempts), or
- A crit (5% base; if it happens, you can finish with a Tonic on turn 4 and Whiskey on turn 5 for a third Impale, or throw in a couple of table utensils to close)
If Sam is bleeding afterward, use a bandage. Now go left (not right) to recruit Leigh. If she asks $100 for the gun, let it go; cash is tight and you don’t need it here.
Equip for the rat corridor work ahead:
- Leigh: Cleaver
- Sam: Mop
Lyle’s apartment (optional but worth it)
Loot the safer rooms. Definitely:
- Smooch Lyle (the buff is solid for the time it takes)
- Bottom-left: Broom, Drain Cleaner
Avoid risky pulls; we’ll be back stronger later.
Rafta’s area and the pipe corridor
From the first floor, take the bottom exit. You’ll see rat packs; if you can avoid them, do so, because a merchant later (after you have the Rusted Crown) sells the Sewer Blade and it’s great to have that shop stocked. If you decide to clear, Leigh’s Cleave wipes most of a pack and Sam’s Mop finishes cleanly.
Rat Baby → Earth Disk → Mars Disk
Use this exact route to minimize danger and backtracking:
- From the corridor, go left and take the first bottom door that links to the umbilical room. Cross it.
- Go left again and take the first bottom door you see to reach the Rat Baby apartment.
- Clear rats with Leigh’s Cleave, mop the remainder with Sam, loot thoroughly, then pick up Rat Baby.
- Back in the hallway, go right → down → left. “Feed the wall a treat” to receive the Earth Disk.
- Return to the hallway, then left → up → right → up → left to the Rat Freak. Lure it off-side and grab the Mars Disk.
Important reminders:
- When you leave apartment 11, the clean path to the stairwell is right → up → up → right.
- Don’t forget to pick Earth Disk back up when you leave; everyone forgets once.
- Your danger meter will be high. If shadow audio cues start, step back and forth inside a room until they fade.
Head home. If you stayed close to the route, you’ll typically be back around 22:40. Save and sleep.
Day 2 Morning: Supplies, Ernest, Papineau, and Landlord Timing
Morning setup in Sam’s apartment
- Water and talk to the plant
- Take a shower (I do this whenever I can; it’s a small quality-of-life buffer)
- Craft a simple sandwich (e.g., bread + tomato can)
- Save
Eugene’s shop (2F): secure Cleanerex for the team
- The shop should now be open.
- Haggle three times to drop the 4× Cleanerex bundle below $80.
- Buy it; combined with yesterday’s, you now have six Cleanerex.
- You only get three haggles per day.
This stack is your early cleansing and sustain engine. It makes the next dungeon much safer.
Recruit Ernest for the day
From the staircase hub: left → left → up.
Give Ernest the sandwich. He’ll join for the day. This must be done before you explore the ground floor; he won’t join if you’ve already started poking around there.
Trigger landlord access and recruit Papineau
The landlord’s apartment opens four hours after the bus crashes. To align the timer while also recruiting Papineau and looting value areas:
- Go to the ground floor and head straight to the main lobby.
- Begin a full, safe sweep of the accessible rooms. Don’t burn herbicide yet unless you have a strong preference for which door to open first; you can hold it and commit later.
- When you reach the men’s bathroom, recruit Papineau.
- If you end your sweep near the laundry room, exiting into the hallway often shows the Hand Cursed event. If not, explore a couple more rooms; it will trigger shortly.
Once you’ve got Papineau, your Cleanerex stack, and the ground-floor trigger in motion, return home and save. You’re now perfectly positioned to hit the landlord’s apartment as soon as it opens, with a team that can actually survive it.
At This Point, the Early Cursed Spike Is Over
Where you stand
- Day 2, late morning.
- Party: Sam + Leigh + Papineau + Ernest (temporary).
- Disks: Earth, Mars.
- Supplies: six Cleanerex, reliable weapons (Pool Cue, Cleaver, Mop), plus bandages/tonics you didn’t need to burn earlier.
- Access: Landlord’s apartment will be available on schedule.
What’s realistically possible next
- Go straight landlord and begin the clear.
- Detour for optional goals now that you’re stable: Teeth apartment, Jeanne’s laundry, Frederic’s apartment, or Rat King.
- Push basement before Day 3 if you’re confident; the party can handle it if you keep tempo and avoid waste.
- Antoine Day 2 is technically possible with sharp item usage and some good fortune, but I treat it as an optimization challenge rather than the default plan this early.
Small, tested tips that help
- If you grabbed the Glasses on Day 1, unequip them for the Grinning Beast fight to avoid hurting your crit odds with Impale.
- If a shadow encounter starts singing in your ear on a return run, don’t risk it; step back and forth inside a safe room until it fades and then cross.
- If a Jump Attack whiffs on the Husk sequence, don’t panic. Guard once, jump again. The plan has plenty of slack.
- Don’t kill every rat in Rafta’s sector; that merchant later sells the Sewer Blade and it’s worth preserving that stock.
This route won’t remove all randomness — it’s Cursed Mode — but it funnels luck into one quick checkpoint (Leigh recruitment) and keeps everything else under your control. By the time you’re standing at the landlord’s door with four bodies and full utility, you’ve already done the hard part.