If you're hurting for cash, try looking around the map for money, specifically where you haven't looked yet. There's secrets everywhere around every level, and there's valuables basically everywhere if you know how to listen for 'em!

Every pile of cash makes a faint shimmering noise when they're close by, with little sparkles to lead you to their location, kinda like key items. Try checking under tables or behind chairs. You may just find a secret pile of cash waiting for you to put your grubby little mitts on it!

If you want an easy way to get money, try replaying Chapter 4, but try to take every valuable item (preferably on Easy or Normal difficulty). Waltz won't miss 'em anyway, he's dead. Just try not to take anything cursed, otherwise you'll lose out on a hundred and fifty bucks!

...unless you're on Hard. The cursed item is actually worth five hundred dollars if you snag it on that difficulty!

Did 'ya get slammed on the head by a pipe wieldin' goon? Did some crook hit you with a hard-as-hell haymaker right in your jaw? Don't worry, just chow on a DELICIOUS BANANA!

...but seriously, if you need health really bad, try breaking trash cans. Every trash can has a chance to drop a banana, which recovers some of your health! It isn't a groundbreaking amount, but it just might be enough to get you back in the fight.

If there's any food you missed, try backtracking. You may have not eaten food before, so now's probably a good time to do so without letting it go to waste.

If you need some health during a fight, try doing a finisher! They recover a good amount of health, and the more you do them, the more they heal. They aren't always available, though.

If you're hurtin' for a heal, go ahead and visit the weapons vendor. Not only does he sell Painkillers for a dirt-cheap price (ten bucks), but Painkillers don't just grant health, they grant armor - to keep the bad guys from gettin' under your skin!

Getting the munchies? Eat some food! Coffee, milkshakes and cola will give you a temporary speed bonus, and all food is able to be stored in your pockets for later.

Need just a bit more protection against the bad guys? Are the constant blows of a lead pipe to 'yer forehead weighin' you down? Try downing some alcohol! Whiskey doesn't just function as a weapon, but it grants a good amount of armor, which prevents you from being hurt as much - and takes part of your damage for you!

Using your items at the right time is key to your survival, just like whiskey, but that's not all - for a solid price of just a hundred and fifty bucks you can get body armor, which gives you FULL PROTECTION for a cheap price!

Not just that, but as mentioned earlier, you can also take painkillers, which give you twenty armor per bottle. That may not seem like much, but it does help with damage resistance in the long run (and besides, you may just be taking multiple anyway).

The only storable, portable usages of protection you can have are Whiskey and Painkillers. Make sure to plan accordingly!

Guns are one of your main types of weapon. If you're goin' to the Weapon Vendor, you're definitely gonna get one, or at least some ammo for 'em! Unfortunately, ammo is hard to come by 'round Switchblade City... unless 'ya know where to look. The Weapon Vendor readily has ammo available for most guns (besides the Tommy Gun, which has one long mag).

The Tommy Gun can't replenish ammo from killed goons. As far as I know, that's the only weapon that doesn't use refillable ammo as of now. Otherwise, 'ya can find one or two rounds from killed gun goons - but if you manage to knock one out, you get a gun with full ammo for free! Doing that may just save 'ya in a pinch, so 'ya may want to save it for later.

If you're tryin' to reload a weapon, though, try stayin' in cover! The thing 'ya want the least is to run out of ammo in the middle of a fight, let alone gettin' killed mid-reload.

You can hit enemies with the butts of your guns, but it depletes their condition just like with a melee weapon. Weapons don't perform worse with less durability than before, so you can use them both ways - and as soon as they break, just chuck 'em at a goon!

You can throw a gun even when it has ammo, but if it breaks, all that ammo drops on the ground. Try not to make your gun the projectile, that's the bullets's job.

Melees are gonna be your go-to, whether you're tryin' to "pacify" a goon, or make his face into a pancake! Melees do a good amount of damage, and are incredibly reliable. They use durability rather than ammo, and after breaking, can be thrown at an enemy - but you can't use them again unless you have another!

Melee weapons have weight classes. Some are light-weight and can be swung pretty easily, but do a bit less damage with more durability, while some deal more damage but have less durability and swing slightly slower.

Bottles are the most readily available light weapons, and tend to do great damage against both singular enemies and crowds. If you drink some Whiskey, it'll become a bottle that you can use until it breaks! It'll even get stored in the Lunchbox's slot.

Generally, the more common weapons tend to be lighter weight - guns such as pistols, when whipping enemies with them, follow the light weight style, while the heavier guns (such as the Sawed Off, Shotgun, and Tommy Gun) tend to swing slower but have better damage. Pick which one fits the flow of the fight!

Melee weapons can hit multiple enemies at once with a sweep, dealing huge damage to crowds! Moving to the side while swinging does a sweeping attack, like with your fists. Use this when goons decide to gang up on you and you need something to get rid'a them quick!

The Power Drill is the only melee weapon that can saw into enemies, dealing continuous damage. Try using it on crowds of goons, it'll turn 'em all into fancy red paste faster than you think!

Melee weapons don't cause finishers as often as your fists do. Try using them sparingly, and when you see the chance to do a finishing blow, take it!

Your fists are probably your most reliable weapon. Always there for you, they're unable to break, and there's a whole lot of attacks to keep the goons on their toes!

Your uppercuts can deal loads of damage to foes, but are usually triggered when standing still or backtracking (which, let's be honest, you're not gonna stand still in a fight). Try going for hooks to hit more enemies!

Kicks can be done even when you aren't using your fists, but are excessively useful in fist-fights! Try kicking a goon in his family jewels - that tends to stun 'em, and a cheap shot ain't where they're protectin' most of the time if they're blocking.

If you don't have food on hand, or ammo in your pouch, you can use that empty slot to switch to the Fists! You can't unequip a weapon to use the Fists, however.

Try usin' your fists to break down doors, rather than your melee weapons. They do about the same damage to doors or vents as melee weapons, and you can kick to break down doors much faster than if you were hittin' 'em with a pipe!

Your fists function as extra melee weapons with much more variation and INFINITE durability. Try to use them if you want to save the durability of your weapons, or save ammo! They may seem weak, but they're a lot more reliable than you'd expect.

Your fists cause finishing blows way more often than melee weapons. If you need health in a pinch, use your fists and get finishing blows! They may just save your life.

Throwable weapons are essentially props. If you see something with a "pick up" prompt and you can't stuff it in your pockets, it's definitely a throwable weapon! Whether it's a piece of furniture like a stool or a pigeon freshly picked from a power line, you can throw 'em at goons for varying amounts 'a damage.

Normally, if a melee weapon or gun breaks, it becomes throwable. That way, you can get just a bit of extra damage out of them before you lose them. If you kill an enemy, however, their weapons will automatically break and become throwable!

Small throwable weapons don't deal as much damage as bigger ones. Bigger throwables are usually constituted as stuff like trash cans or barrels. If you wanna get good damage out of a throwable weapon, you wanna go big or go home! Here's some examples:



Generic Can, a small throwable, at a mid-range distance against an Unarmed Goon.



Trash Can, a big throwable, at a mid-range distance against an Unarmed Goon.

Try to use smaller throwable weapons (such as salt shakers or toys) as distractions. Slug a goon with one and he might just come runnin', and then you can get the drop on him!

Throwable weapons deal less damage the farther away you are. Because of this, only throw them from far away as a distraction if you're being stealthy, since them breaking makes noise! being mid-range is better for damage.

This is essentially all of the stats for all of the weapons, put into neat little tables! This excludes throwable props (i.e trash cans/rats/pigeons/goons) because there's too many to list.

As far as I know, there's only one true automatic weapon (the Tommy Gun.) Despite its name, the Automatic Pistol isn't automatic. Shocker.

Here's how the lists will go: Light weapons first, heavy weapons last. There are no in-between weight classes. Damage isn't listed, because I think it may be tied to weight class or weapon type. Notes are essentially just either things that make the weapon unique or goofy little comments. Ammo is specified for each gun.

Melee weapons will exclude gun butts. They will be covered in their own section rather than being here, even if they are treated as separate weapons.

You may notice that when you knock down a goon with a melee weapon, it doesn't immediately kill them. Instead, they get to have a nice nap!


The big question is... what's the difference between being asleep on the job and being a corpse? Well, I can tell you!

Asleep enemies can be woken up by other goons. They're noted as "Pacified" enemies on the Results screen at the end of a level, but cannot wake up by themselves. Therefore, if a goon is knocked down and asleep, unless there's other goons, he ain't getting back up. You can tell if a goon is asleep if they're snoring and Z's are coming out of their head.

All melee weapons, including gun butts, will knock enemies out rather than killing them. This includes your fists. If you want to be a pacifist, giving a goon a good ol' smack right in the back of the head should work!

Chopping is a melee move that can be performed on unaware enemies, and you can use this to knock them out rather than kill them instantly. Very useful for pacifist runs!

Now, how about killing enemies?



As it turns out, if you hit someone enough with a lead pipe, they'll die! Who knew? The main difference between a goon dying versus a goon sleeping is that they're not gonna get back up (they can still be carried, however). They'll also leave a pool of blood - both unconscious and dead goons can bleed, but Goons that are only asleep don't leave behind blood.

Goons that have been killed (by you) are listed on the Results screen as Hostiles Killed.

Guns, when used to fire at goons, will kill them. Obviously. Some guns can even gib goons right where they stand! (or stood, whatever)

When an enemy is knocked down on the ground, you can hit them with a melee weapon, which will usually kill them in one to two hits. If you really need an enemy dead, it'd be best just to smack 'em around with your fists a bunch while they're down.

If an oil barrel breaks, try lighting the oil on fire! You may just burn a goon or two to a crisp...

Fighting on a ledge? Try knocking an enemy off. More often than not, they'll die from the fall damage!

Out of ammo, but your gun still has durability? Just let it become a melee weapon! More often than not, you'll be able to turn your guns into melee weapons - just like you picked up a bottle off the ground!

Try to see what you can and can't hold. If your inventory is full, the game will let you know!

If your inventory's full, you can always use a throwable weapon. Throwable weapons never take up space in your pockets, so you can use them as long as you can find them!

Waste not, want not! If you eat an Apple, you can throw it at the goons to use as a distraction. The same goes for bananas - if you eat one, you can make 'em slip on the peel!

Set 'em up, knock 'em down! If an enemy gets knocked down by one of your melee strikes, don't hesitate to stomp them! Unless you're going for a pacifist run--in which, don't! Let the enemy get back up before you keep hitting them again, if you only want to knock them down.

Heavy and Light weapons differ in swing speed, but not damage. Most firearms are constituted as Light weapons, and have high amounts of durability - still, make sure to use up their ammo first before bashing goons upside the head with them!

If you're ever needing to get to a certain height, you can always stack objects on top of each other! Notably, barrels and trashcans work the best for this. If you do this enough times, you can create some...



...interesting results.

This can be used to skip certain sections of levels, or get to places that you weren't intended to go! Be warned, skipping sections of levels may have unintended consequences - use them if you know where you're going and know how to get your bearings if you feel stuck!

Dodgeboosting is a trick in which you use your skills of sidestepping and evasion to boost yourself in the right direction! This can be used to get yourself out of sticky situations and traverse past very long distances!

How do you do it, you ask? Well, here's a tutorial on how to perform it (don't worry, I'll summarize it for you if you don't want to watch the full thing):

Basically, you can Dodgeboost by turning in a 90° angle, then hold A or D depending on where you want to go. Then, press Dodge/Sprint (it is SHIFT by default - you can change this in the Settings menu). Keep holding the dodge key as you turn into the direction you want to go, and then you can release A/D and start holding W. With that, you've performed a Dodgeboost!

You can use this technique to launch yourself across big distances. It's best to use this when you know you can't jump a certain gap!

This helps immensely with getting across maps. The speed boost may even be necessary for getting yourself out of sticky situations!

Sometimes, there's certain areas where you have a bit of space that you can walk on, kind of like a trapeze walking on a thread! This will allow you to reach certain areas you otherwise couldn't, or skip parts of levels.

These can be performed by hugging certain walls that can usually only be gotten to by jumping. If you're still standing on one and aren't falling - congratulations, you're pixel walking! To walk on a pixel, it's better if you stare diagonally at the wall rather than straight forward, because this will let you walk into the wall, reducing the risk of falling.

These usually happen because walls will either overlap OR have a small gap between both levels of a wall. Therefore, they have a pixel that is considered part of the ground (or walkable area) that you can stand on and run around on too.

Be careful, though! You can't do this everywhere. It can only be performed in certain spots.

So, uhh, that's basically everything I wanted to cover in this guide! Expect updates (when any major updates for the game get released, that is). I wanted to make a good guide that people could rely on for essentially anything gameplay related, so that even if you're new you can get used to the game's mechanics or at least become familiar with them with a simple read.

Obviously this guide doesn't cover everything, but I wanted to make a basic rundown of everything you might wanna read through if you're struggling or new, but even if you know this game like the back of your hand I want you to at least enjoy reading it or learn something!

If I helped you at any point, or you at least learned something new, that's great and it means my time spent on this guide was worth it! I hope you can get as much enjoyment out of this game as I have, it's a lot of fun to play through even just as a casual.