1 Getting Started

What Is Dandy's World?

Dandy's World is a cooperative horror extraction game where you control cartoon-like characters called Toons inside the Gardenview Center, an abandoned mall filled with hostile creatures known as Twisteds. Your goal is to power mysterious machines, collect a resource called Ichor, and ride an elevator to deeper and more dangerous floors, all while avoiding being caught.

Every run is a separate attempt. You start at a low floor, explore, complete machines, gather resources, and take the elevator to the next floor. When your entire team goes down or you choose to leave, the run ends, but you keep the long-term rewards you earned, such as Ichor, tapes, unlocks, and research progress.

Dandy's World is built around tension and risk. You are always balancing speed and greed against safety. The game rewards smart decision making more than mechanical skill, so even beginners can succeed if they understand the basics.

How the Game Works

Each run takes place across a series of floors inside Gardenview Center. A floor is one level of the building with its own layout, machines, items, and Twisteds. You start on a low floor, complete objectives, then find and use the elevator to move up to a higher floor.

On every floor you will be doing three things at once: searching for machines to power, looking for items and resources, and avoiding or dealing with Twisteds. You do not win by fighting. You win by surviving long enough to complete enough machines across many floors.

Your Toon has hearts that act as health, stamina that controls how long you can run, and a small inventory for items. You move through corridors and rooms, interact with machines through timed skill checks, and listen and look for signs of approaching Twisteds. Good awareness is more important than aggression.

Floors are semi-random. Machine locations, item spawns, and Twisted patrols can change, so you are encouraged to react to what the game gives you instead of memorizing exact paths. As you reach higher floors, machines become more demanding and Twisteds become more threatening.

The core loop is simple: enter floor, find machines, complete enough objectives, reach elevator, go up, repeat. Around this loop sit longer-term systems like Ichor, research, unlocks, and Dandy's shop which shape your progression outside each individual run.

Your First Run

On your first run your only goal is to learn how things feel. Do not worry about reaching a high floor or playing perfectly. Focus on moving, listening, and using machines without panicking.

When the run begins, take a moment before rushing off. Look at your Toon, your hearts, and your stamina bar. Move around a little to feel your walk and sprint speed. Notice how quickly stamina drains and how long it takes to recover when you stop running.

Next, approach your first machine when you find it. Interact to begin extraction. You will see a progress bar and encounter skill checks. Try to hit the correct timing but do not stress about mistakes. Missing a few checks is normal while you learn the rhythm. Stay on the machine until you feel comfortable with starting and stopping extraction.

Pay attention to sounds. Footsteps, distant roars, or sudden music changes can warn you that a Twisted is nearby. If you hear something and you are unsure what it is, stop extracting for a moment and look around. Getting into the habit of pausing and scanning your surroundings early will save many runs later.

You will find items scattered on the floor or on shelves. Pick them up and test them, especially basic healing and stamina items. This first run is a good time to learn what each icon means and how long animations take, rather than saving everything and never using it.

Unless things go very well, expect your first run to end on a low floor. That is fine. Pay attention to what caused the run to end. Did you run out of stamina while fleeing. Did you lose track of where the elevator was. Did a Twisted surprise you near a corner. Those observations are more useful than any amount of raw progress on the first day.

Main Objectives

Every floor has machines that need to be powered to contribute to your overall goal. Your main objective inside a run is to complete enough machine progress across floors and survive long enough to carry your rewards out.

On each floor your short term objectives are to locate machines, extract safely, gather items, and then reach the elevator. You do not usually need to complete every machine on a floor. Instead, you are managing risk, choosing which machines to commit to and when to leave.

Across the whole run your medium term objectives are to climb to higher floors, collect Ichor, fill research capsules, and gather tapes and other rewards. These are what drive your long term progression and unlock new Toons, trinkets, and systems.

Outside of the run your long term objectives are to strengthen your account. You will be unlocking stronger or more flexible Toons, better trinkets, extra options in Dandy's shop, and more efficient ways to gain research and Ichor. Each successful run nudges you toward having more tools and more strategies next time.

It helps to think of objectives in layers. In a given moment, your priority might be to escape a Twisted or complete a specific machine. In the floor as a whole, your priority might be to reach the elevator without losing hearts. In the whole run, your priority might be to earn enough Ichor to afford a key unlock. Keeping these layers in mind helps you decide when to take a risk and when to play safe.

Understanding Ichor

Ichor is the main long term resource tied directly to machines and extraction. When you successfully complete extraction and progress through your run, you earn Ichor. It represents the value you are pulling out of Gardenview Center and is used later in progression systems like Dandy's shop and unlocks.

Think of Ichor as the reward for doing machines correctly and surviving. In low floors you will not earn huge amounts per run, but consistent extractions add up quickly. As you gain experience, you will learn which strategies yield more Ichor per minute, such as focusing on machines in safer areas or leaving a floor at the right time instead of greedily staying.

You do not spend Ichor during the run itself. Inside a run, you are much more concerned with hearts, stamina, items, and time. Ichor only matters after you are back at the menu or hub, when you are making decisions about what to unlock or buy.

This creates a tension. When you are deep in a run, you might be tempted to keep pushing one more floor for more Ichor. However, every extra floor brings more danger. If you wipe, you lose the chance to collect even more future Ichor that would come from staying alive and doing additional runs. Learning when to stop is key to keeping a healthy Ichor income over time.

Understanding Machines

Machines are the central interactive objects on each floor. You use them to extract value from the environment and to progress your objectives. When you start a machine, a progress bar appears and advances over time while you remain on it. Periodically, skill checks appear that you must respond to with proper timing.

Each machine you complete contributes to the overall progress required for your run. Machines are not all equal. Some are in exposed areas, some are in safer corners, and some are closer to common Twisted paths. Choosing which machine to work on and when is a large part of playing well.

Staying on a machine makes noise and locks your attention to a small area of the screen, so it is dangerous to tunnel vision. Good players listen while they extract. If you hear or see signs of a Twisted approaching, it is usually better to abandon the machine temporarily and reposition than to cling to a few seconds of progress and get caught.

Skill checks are small tests that appear while extracting. Missing them usually causes a penalty, such as losing machine progress or making additional noise. As a beginner you will fail some, but your goal is to reach a point where you can hit the majority calmly. Different Toons and trinkets will eventually change how you interact with machines, but at the start you are learning a basic rhythm and reaction.

Machines are also social objects in multiplayer. Multiple players can work on the same machine to finish faster, or they can spread out to multiple machines to cover more ground with higher risk. Even when playing alone, it is useful to think about how machines pull Twisteds across the map since their noise and activity can change patrol behavior.

Elevator Progression

The elevator is your gateway between floors. After doing enough on the current floor or when you judge the risk too high, you locate the elevator and use it to move up. This advances the run, resets the floor layout, and usually increases difficulty.

Finding the elevator location is part of basic navigation. Early in a floor it is a good practice to at least briefly locate the elevator, even if you are not ready to leave yet. That way, if something goes wrong, you already know where to run.

Going up in the elevator feels like progress, and it is, but higher floors come with stronger or more numerous Twisteds and more demanding machines. This means elevator decisions are also risk management decisions. If you are low on hearts or items, it can sometimes be correct to leave earlier rather than chase a bit more value on the same floor.

In multiplayer, coordinating elevator use is critical. The run only continues if the team uses the elevator together. This requires communication about when everyone is ready. A teammate who is still looting far away while others wait at the elevator creates risk, because Twisteds can still appear and cause a wipe before you all leave.

Eventually, you will begin to set personal milestones around elevator progression. Reaching a specific floor range consistently is a sign that your awareness and mechanical skills have improved. Deep runs to very high floors are long term goals, but as a beginner, treat each elevator ride as a short victory and an opportunity to reset your nerves before the next challenge.

Beginner Tips

In your first hours, simple habits will matter more than any advanced trick. The most helpful habit is to slow down. Move carefully, check corners, and listen before sprinting down a long corridor. Most early deaths come from running blindly into a Twisted you could have noticed earlier.

Use your stamina only when you must. Sprinting everywhere feels faster, but drained stamina leaves you helpless when you suddenly need to run. Practice walking by default and saving sprints for short escapes or urgent relocations. This one habit alone dramatically increases your survival chances.

Get familiar with the feel of machines early. Seek them out, start extracting, and do not be afraid to fail a few skill checks while you learn. The sooner you are comfortable with the timing and penalties of mistakes, the calmer you will be when a Twisted might be nearby.

Use items instead of hoarding them forever. It is common for beginners to die with pockets full of healing or stamina items they were saving for a “better” moment. If an item can prevent a heart loss, use it. Surviving to reach a few more floors is almost always worth the cost of a single consumable.

In multiplayer, communicate even at a basic level. Simple short callouts such as where you saw a Twisted or where a machine is located are enough. Staying loosely grouped and aware of each other's position makes revives and rescues much easier.

Finally, treat every death as feedback. After a run ends, quickly replay the last 10 to 20 seconds in your mind. Ask what warning signs you missed or what safer choice you could have made. This reflection is how you quickly turn mistakes into progress.

Common Beginner Mistakes

New players tend to repeat a few specific errors that make the game feel harsher than it needs to be. One of the biggest is sprinting constantly. This drains stamina so that when a Twisted appears, you have nothing left to escape. Walking by default and sprinting only when needed fixes many early problems.

Another common mistake is tunnel vision on machines. Beginners often stare only at the skill check circle and ignore the environment. They continue extracting even when audio cues or shadows clearly signal a Twisted is close. You should regularly break your focus to look around while working on a machine, and be ready to leave it early.

Greed is also a frequent issue. Many players stay on a dangerous floor far too long just to finish one more machine. This is especially punishing when hearts are already low. Learning to say “this is enough” and heading to the elevator sooner protects your long term progression and Ichor gains.

Ignoring items is another pitfall. Some players run past useful supplies or refuse to use healing until they are nearly dead. Others clog their inventory with items they never actually need. Try to keep a small, focused set of tools and remember that an item used at the right time is far more valuable than one you lose on death.

In multiplayer, a big mistake is splitting up without a plan. Going off alone into unknown parts of the floor makes it hard for teammates to help if you get caught. New players also sometimes leave others behind when heading to the elevator, causing miscommunication and failed escapes.

Finally, many beginners underestimate how dangerous corners, doorways, and blind spots are. Running through doorways without checking or hugging corners too closely can lead to instant encounters with Twisteds. Slowing slightly and peeking around before committing your movement is a small habit that prevents many surprises.

Avoiding these common mistakes will make Dandy's World feel more fair and will let you enjoy the tension of the game instead of feeling overwhelmed by constant sudden deaths.