Temple Island · Tips without spoilers
Point the flashlight first. Shoot second.
Your flashlight beats more demons than your gun does. Imps scatter from a steady beam inside 20 m, and acolytes blink out after half a second in it. Ammo is for whatever is left.
In this guide
Light is your best weapon, and your worst habit
Imps are 38 HP of bad attitude, but they hate light. Keep the beam on one within 20 m and it runs. They only leap at you from the dark, from 2.4 to 5.5 m, for 15 damage. So the rule is simple: never stand still in the dark near an imp.
Acolytes are the robed ones. Half a second in your beam and they vanish in smoke, then turn up again a few seconds later somewhere dark, 6 to 11 m away. That buys you time, not a kill.
The catch: acolytes notice you from 40% farther away when your light is on (about 22 m instead of 16). On a quiet path with nothing around, switching the light off and walking is a real tactic, not a dare.
Batteries: run them down
One battery is 300 seconds of light-on time. Light off costs nothing. Under 20% the beam flickers and dims, which is your cue to press B. The game will not let you swap above 92% anyway, so there is no point being careful early. Burn each battery down to the flicker.
Batteries stack four to a slot, which matters more than it sounds in an eight-slot inventory.
Noise wakes things up
Running footsteps alert demons within 9 m. A handgun shot alerts everything within 40 m, and the shotgun reaches 55 m. Walk past anything that is not awake yet. If you have to shoot, expect company.
Run speed is 5.0 m/s, walking 2.4, and aiming drops you to 1.25. Reloading slows you to 70%. Reload before you round a corner, not after.
Healing math
| Item | Heals | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Green Herb | 40 HP | Max health is 100. You cannot heal at full health. |
| Mixed Herbs (two herbs combined) | 85 HP | Use COMBINE in the inventory. Saves a slot and gives 5 extra HP. |
| First Aid Spray | Full heal | Keep it for the late game. |
The tall one
Late in the run a 3.7 m stalker joins in. It has no kill state. Light does not stop it; it only slows it to 45% speed. What works: every 140 damage you deal staggers it for 1.6 seconds, and 420 total sends it off for a while.
You are faster than it (5.0 against 4.4 m/s), and underground it moves at 80% speed. Shoot to stagger, then run. Headshots do 2.4x damage on the stalker and the acolytes, so aim high. Imps have no head zone, so just hit them.
Weapons and ammo
| Weapon | Damage | Magazine | Reload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Handgun (start) | 26, headshots x2.4 | 8 | 1.3 s |
| Shotgun | 8 pellets x 15, knockback | 4 | 2.0 s |
| Magnum (unlock) | 95, headshots x2.4 | 6 | 2.0 s |
Shots stop at furniture, doors and low walls, so check your line. Killed demons drop something 45% of the time: usually five handgun rounds, otherwise a battery or three shells.
Saving costs rank, so save on purpose
There are three typewriters. Each save counts against your rank at the end: zero to two saves keeps the full bonus, three to five keeps half. Typewriter rooms play calm music when nothing is near you, which doubles as an all-clear.
Read every note you find. They carry the puzzle hints, and there are eight collectible ones on the end screen.
Ranks, New Game+ and the magnum
Your rank adds up three things: time (under 15, 25 or 40 minutes), saves, and damage taken (under 100 or 250). S needs six of seven points, which in practice means under 15 minutes, two saves or fewer and less than 100 damage.
Your first clear unlocks New Game+: the surface demons swap places and four hounds join in. An S rank unlocks the magnum for every later run, with extra .44 rounds placed on the island.
Difficulty matters too. Assisted takes 60% damage and gives 1.5x ammo. Nightmare takes 158% damage, makes demons about a third tougher and cuts ammo pickups to 60%.
