Doors Beginner Guide: Surviving Your First Runs

What the game is

The first floor is The Hotel. It has 100 numbered doors, and your goal is to get through them. Other floors, such as The Mines, come later. You can start a run alone or with friends.

You have 100 health, and it does not refill by itself. Items such as Bandages heal you. Some entities only hurt you, and others, like Seek and Figure, kill you on contact.

What to do on your first runs

Do not try to beat the whole floor yet. Learn the warning signs and get a little further each time.

• Open drawers and containers as you go to find Gold and items.
• Note where the closets and beds are in each room before you need them.
• Keep a light source if you find one. It lowers the chance of Screech appearing, but does not stop it.
• Check the in-game Journal, which describes entities you have met.
• If you play with friends, stay together. Someone who falls behind in a dark room can miss a warning.

The entities you will meet first

Learn these early.

• Rush: the lights flicker and a loud rumble grows. Move next to a closet or bed, get in as the sound gets louder, and stay until it is quiet.
• Ambush: like Rush, but it comes back several times. Stay close to your hiding spot and hide again when the scream returns.
• Hide: this one punishes you for staying in a closet too long. It pushes you out and hurts you, so do not hide earlier than you need to.
• Eyes: looking at them hurts you. Point your view at the floor and walk past. They vanish when the next door opens.
• Screech: if you hear a "psst" in a dark room, turn around and look at it. It leaves if you look in time and bites if you do not.
• Dupe: some rooms have fake doors with wrong numbers. Check the number first, and listen for a quiet rumble near the fake one.
• Halt: you are pulled into a long, dark room. When TURN AROUND appears, change direction, and keep going until you reach the far end.
• Seek: this is a chase. Keep running, follow the glowing light that marks the path, and do not hide in closets. Eyes on the walls warn you it is coming.
• Figure: it is blind and hunts by sound, and you meet it at door 50 in The Library. Crouch to stay quiet, and avoid opening containers near it.

How progress works

There are two main currencies. Gold only lasts for one run. You find it in rooms and spend it at Jeff Shop, which sources list at Hotel doors 53 to 59. That location may change with updates.

Knobs stay with you between runs. You earn them by opening doors and finishing floors, and leftover Gold turns into Knobs when the run ends. You spend Knobs in the shop in the elevator before a run starts, and on item skins.

A Revive brings you back after you die, once per run. It does not work during a Seek chase or in some later areas. Revives can be earned as well as bought. Buying costs real money and is optional, so ask a parent or guardian first.

Common mistakes

• Leaving a closet the moment a sound stops. A sound can start and stop as a fake-out, so wait until it is really quiet.
• Forgetting your light after Rush passes. Rooms where it broke the lights count as dark, which can bring Screech.
• Using a Crucifix on Figure or Seek and expecting them to go away. It only stops them for a short time.

What to do next

Once you reach door 50 often, practise The Library. Figure walks a similar path each run, so you can learn its route. After that, aim for the Seek chases and then the final room at door 100, which leads to The Mines.