Before you even enter the first floor, your character is extremely important, it might be the most important choice you make in your run, as certain characters play completely different to others (The assassin plays much more differently to the jock) but let me make something 100% clear

There will NEVER be a character that is outright useless compared to another

E.G: While the assassin is better at stealth then the thief, the thief can pickpocket keys and combinations to avoid battling, but the thief cant shop with shopkeepers and bartenders.
Your character choice at the end of the day comes down to personal preference, so experiment with each and every character until you find one you like the most (#ScientistSquad)

...BUT
there are some characters that may be better in the early game than the late game, so i'll run through them now

The Assassin
Great for early game quest completion as his one hit backstab when in camo can make neutralising people a breeze, however when people become more packed together such as uptown, it becomes harder to achieve everything by stealth

The Thief
In the beginning levels, you will find many other thieves, which you can buy items from, however they become far, FAR less common at later levels, meaning you wont have a decent money sink and will end up with a backlog of cash you cant spend

The Monky
so basically im monky The Monkey/Gorilla (i forgot sorry) is an absolute powerhouse in the early game, with him being unstoppable by most goons or other enemies, however as the game progresses your gonna find people with better equipment and ways to shoot you in the face and other parts.

The soldja boy
YOUUUUUUUU may think that due to his weaponry and defense that we would be excellent in taking out enemies and playing offensively and you'd be right....for the first 4 enemies he fights. Afterwards you will most likely be stuck with no defense and an empty gun cache, meaning that you will have to refill using money you earned, meaning no money for you to spend on other such goodies like cigarettes and cyanide pills.

DISCLAIMER
THis is most definitely NOT all of the characters who are good early game, i want to get to the MEAT of this guid quickly, so feel free to write in the comments your picks for early birds!

So you've chosen your fav character, that's great! If you chose zombie thats not so great now all you need to know is the floor, and without further ado, lets jump into it shall we?

So, your finally awake? You were caught trying to overthrown the mayor right? You and that thief over there...

Jokes aside, WELCOME to the slums! The easiest level of the game (no ♥♥♥♥). SO this guide is gonna assume you know the game decently well (the controls and abilities) but you still have some difficulty in the first few stages.

A whole new worldddd!

Starting from the number one thing you should do at the beginning of any level (with few exceptions), you should spend time mapping out the map and unlocking the teleport locations and locations of interest, that way you have many different places to tackle in a order that you choose, by the end of the scouting trip you should have found these things

Atleast one sell-o-matic
All of the quest arrows
A densely packed area of people
Shops and Bars

These next things aren't required but are still useful
Cloning machine
Doctors
A gang (red or blue)
Any empty houses with chests in them (Loot these obviously)
THE ALL-MIGHTY TRASH CANS

Alright, you've got them all marked, which means you can freely teleport between them for faster levels. Now its time for

Your first quest!

There are usually 3 different quests each floor, which means there will always be a quest that is easier for you to complete first, this is where character picks can be useful, as different characters are better for different quests, but there ARE quests that are easy for all characters.

The easiest quests

You may not think it, but SOME neutralising quests are actually quite easy, say for example neutralising one person in a house, its just one person, not that bad.
Prison escapes are also quite easy, as stealth is always an option, simply get to the computer and release all locked doors, then BOLT OUTTA THERE!
If someone's holding a quest item you need to get, there are loads of ways to do so, the easiest being to try and make friends with them through one way or another, you could also bribe them to get the item, or simply MURDER THEM.

The Not-So easy ones
Activate the buttons, easier said then done as their usually in building sectioned off by the red door of death, so your constantly in danger of the goons ganging up on you and kicking your behind, did i forget to mention that some of these quests are on a T I M E R once the first button is hit? yeah...not fun
Retrieving an item from a chest, sometimes good, sometimes stuck in a red door building, its really up to chance which you get, so base your method on that.
Neutralising some people sounds...well it doesn't sound easy, but if your target is someone like a bartender, who usually is with goons in his bar that WILL attack you if you just try to attack the bartender head on, so perhaps convincing them to hightail it out of the level might be easier.

Ok, i know that was a lot to take in and... it is to be frank, but its much easier to take in during actual gameplay, so get out there and decide for yourself i'm just some schmuck on the internet.

Items, who doesn't love em? From the simple yet useful health restoring items all the way to the highest damage weapons, i'm gonna run through items that should be high on your priority list, as they can affect your success alot!

Weapons!

In general, melee weapons are more of a useful thing in the moment then say, the refillable guns, sure they can help with attacking, but they have a non refillable durability, meaning they're finite in their use. Still, if you see one lying on the floor, no use not taking it! some of the best include the Axe, the Sledge hammer and the Sword

Guns are great! Guns are cool! Guns allow you to play more aggresively while also keeping your enemies away from you, so melee goons beware! they're also refillable albeit at a steepening price each floor, so use them wisely! The most common guns are the pistol and shotgun, and the rarer ones are the machine pistol and the rocket lawnchair

Health restoring items!

Ahh, the backbone of all runs, a simple tap of the f key and all your health is back! (atleast untill you run out!). These items can be found everywhere, but the best places are from trash cans, bartenders or shopkeepers. you should always keep your health atleast above half, but check your exp, as a level up means full health restoration! the best include Burgers, Medkits and whiskey (whiskey is very common)

Special items
Glittering gold...trinkets and baubels
These items don't really fall into a set category but can still be useful if you find them.

The cube of Lampey has ten uses, and each lamp destroyed can have a number of diffrent things inside such as money or...b..beer???
The friend phone instantly summons 2 followers that you can command, useful for evening out a battle or if you suffer from seperation anxiety!
The four leaf clover is probably the best item in the game, as it improves gold dropped and increases luck with pretty much everything as long as its in your inventory, but its rare as ♥♥♥♥ so don't fret if you don't get this.

But wait...i think im forgetting something...something really important, an item even more important than all of these combined... WAIT! OF COURSE!

<--- REQUIRED VIEWING
<--- REQUIRED VIEWING
<--- REQUIRED VIEWING
<--- REQUIRED VIEWING
<--- REQUIRED VIEWING
<--- REQUIRED VIEWING
<--- REQUIRED VIEWING
<--- REQUIRED VIEWING
<--- REQUIRED VIEWING

Aight fockas, back 2 bizniz, moni imporant innit? and if ya bloody forget it you'll be one helluva tosspot ya hear?
Currency can be dropped by any hockney or daft bloke you wallop, and can be used for a 'effin boatload of thangs! The best blips to cheese ya cheddah at are usually those shopkeepin blokes, they 'ave the gander o geese in their, look of fer gunz and perhaps even sum o dat lovely jubilee 'ealth restorin goodness! if yer on good terms with the shoppie they might even give ya a discount, but if you jolly well piss 'em off they wont even gives you the crack 'o day! But oh nah mate, money dont just get ye some o that, ya can also hire out some cheeky lads like those bloomin gangs or slum dwellers to eliminate or distract respectively.

The best ways to earn some o dat green? Ohh mate its as easy as crossin tha channel on a speedboat! Ya get money from, like i said, punchin bloke's lights out, but also completin quests, and remember that ol sell machine ya discovered? Well any useless junk ya found bowlin about can be turned into that sweet sweet nectar baby!

This section's gonna be smaller then those overs across the pond, because its really quite simple and if ye don't get it your one right braindead tosser!

After 2 floors of mild murder and mayhem on your part, the game decides to resist for a bit, by sending to a challenge of its own malicious intent. There are several events that can happen, and i'll gladly run through them all!

Police Lockdown

A simple premise, but be warned, you will constantly be at the mercy of any police officer that you make eye contract with, or them. Running away can work, but may draw the eye of a large group and soon, it would be an absolute nightmare to fight. You also cant enter building as they all have their doors shut, but you can bash the wooden doors in to get to safety...i doubt the owner will be very happy however.

RIOT!

Everyone's drank the crazy juice and most people will be hostile to you, except for police, who will not be hostile unless provoked. The best idea is frankly NOT to get involved in the bloodbath, but simply act as the cleanup crew. When everyone's dead or low health, sweep in and grab the spoils of a war well watched!

WARZONE!

Appearing from holes in the ground, groups of soldiers and cannibals fight it out in a never-ending war of attrition, don't bother getting involved unless you need to defend yourself, after the first few spawns they don't drop anything besides a corpse. The soldiers are naturally peaceful to you, but the cannibals...the cannibals just want your head! Use this to hide in soldier groups when attacked!

Dropping bombs!
Arrows? Ropes? Bombs? It's yours my friend, aslong as you have enough rupees! But for real, this can be quite a nuisance when you want to fight, as whenever a bomb is about to drop, npc's run out of the way, including people your fighting. the missiles always leave a shadow when dropping, even when in a building by some manner of dark magic.

Toxic shocks
Every 20 seconds, a blast of poison affects all the outside, dealing about 20 damage per shock, unlike police lockdown all buildings are open, but nobody is around the streets, meaning they are the safest place to be when its not being toxic blasted. Use the toxic blasts for good though! punch people outside and it'll do much more damage to them then it does to you!

Zombie apocalypse
Somewhere in the map, zombies will spawn, you might think you can contain them but trust me, YOU, CANT, CONTAIN, THEM! if they kill someone that person comes back as a zombo, meaning a downhill battle for you and the rest of the npc's. The best idea is to avoid massive zombie groups and try to complete the levels as fast as possible before they get too out of hand

Random status effects
There is 100% no real strategy to this as it is all luck as to what status affect you and your enemies get, but remember that you can get positive and negative effects and the same goes for your enemies. WARNING! watch out for gigantic enemies and you shrinking, as if someone steps on your its an instant death.

THANOS GOOP THANOS GOOP THANOS GOOP THANOS GOOP THANOS GOOP

Starting from the entrance of the level, THANOS GOOP will slowly grow, spreaing to nearby tiles and dealing damage per second stood on it, as it grows it increases in speed, eventually it WILL cover the entire level. The THANOS GOOP will not spread inside of buildings however, so use them as a safe haven

There's no better way to get good in games like this then to practice, i couldn't teach you everything, and i wasn't taught everything, you learn from experience and practice, so take everything here as secondary information to learning it yourself.


I'd like to thank my friends who convinced me to make a guide about this, it was a blast!
I'd like to thank Matt Dabrowski for making such a great and interesting game!
I'd like to thank Yung Venuz AKA Y.V AKA Gun God for being verified #VerifyVenuz