First and foremost, you need to know the basics very well to have a chance at this difficulty. Playing a few saves on normal or custom difficulty is a good idea to get a feel for the random generation and monster behaviors. There are small nuances that are hard to pick up consciously, but you will get a feel for if you play the game naturally.

Second is the gameplan. While in other difficulties, you can generally play in a more casual way, just exploring around the bunker, picking stuff up, Shellshocked requires a solid plan to complete. The specifics I will not lay out here but in general the things you want to do:

• Find fuses and other supplies, explore your possibilities while using as little fuel as possible
  
• Set up an expedition to your objectives (fuel storage | dynamite | detonator)
  
• Execute those expeditions

The specifics and the order of those objectives will change based on what supplies and tools you have access to as well as the location of rats.

In case you need it, here is a full map of the Bunker.

Before jumping into the deep end of the game, just wanted to dedicate a chapter to Large Bricks.

These things can be the most useful tools in your entire run. They can open doors, break locks and probably cure cancer. Be mindful that if you break a lock with it, the brick breaks with it, so if you have your eyes on a locked door, open that first, then go for the lock. Also be aware that once you break something, the monster is guaranteed to come out, so always have a plan to hide or defend yourself from it.

While carrying a brick, you are lot slower than normal but you can carry bricks trough loading zones. Bricks can even be worth it to run the generator to help you safely transport it.

Just be mindful not to drop it on a rat because then it will instantly break and kill the single rat, but the pack will stay there damaging you.

When going for an objective, you will need a fuse and a running generator, with the exception of retrieving the code of Stafford from Maintenance. At the start of the game you can check which areas have and don't have an active fuse box.


The fuse boxes are in pre determined locations in all 4 of the levels.

• Soldier Quarters: The fuse box is down the stairs to the right in front of the Clerk's Office.
  
• Prison: The fuse box is in the main hallway before Processing, down the stairs.
  
• Maintenance: The fuse box is in the Clerk's Office.
  
• Arsenal: The fuse box is after the long hallway to the right, next to the Clerk's Office in the small enclave with the boxes.

Use the map included above (or below) to help locate these fuse boxes.

If you have a fuse item, you need to open the box, place the item into the empty circular hole, and pull the lever inside the box. It should activate the fuse and enable power in that part of the Bunker.

If a part of the Bunker has no active fuse box, the game treats that part of the map as if your generator ran out of fuel there. You have a small grace period when entering, but once you enter deeper, the monster will start roaming regularly as if the generator wasn't active. If you plan to go into one of those areas, it can be a good idea to shut off the generator to conserve fuel since it won't help you there anyways.

If you decide to venture out into a dark area, you can use the emergency lights to your advantage. Even if there is no active fuse boxes in the area, the emergency lights will be on. These will behave the same way normal lights do. They will flicker if the monster is around. Thread carefully, try to use your ears and the flickering lights to locate the monster and avoid it at all costs. Hiding is an option only for delaying.

Once you enter an area without a fuse/active generator, the monster will usually not announce its departure (except in Prison and Arsenal before opening the warehouse part). It will just be chilling somewhere and the only warning you get are the flickering lights and the sound ques (heart beating, monster noises, often monster smashing things, it's hard to miss).

The game makes a big deal about your flashlight being loud and attracting the monster but in reality, it's not that loud. In terms of attracting the monster, your flashlight is on par with you running and running is usually not an issue. In fact, running with your flashlight can be a good way to quickly loot and check around an area.

Another reason you want to avoid going without a flashlight is traps. They are already easy to miss if you aren't vigilant, without a light you are almost guarantied to run into one, which will always make the monster come out. I will give more details on traps in their own chapter.

In hard mode and shellshocked, a full tank of the generator is good for 10 minutes, which is a pitiful amount of time but can be manageable by only using the generator when doing objectives.

To gain access to the Fuel Storage you need to find the dogtag of Sdt. Millard. Unfortunately for you, his location is entirely random. The better outcome is that it's somewhere in Maintenance, but worse RNG happened to me. There were times when he was literally laying next to the Fuel Storage, one time his dogtag was on the table of the Chapel, other times it was one of the many random corpses.

The two main things you want to look out for, is whether you can even get to the Fuel Storage in the first place and whether you have Sdt. Millard's code or not.

If you manage to get the code, taking damage from the rats can be a manageable risk to take for infinite fuel (granted you have bandages to stop the bleeding). On the way back you can burn the corpses with the help of a flare (which you will most likely find somewhere and you literally have no other use for it) and bottles filled with fuel giving you safe passage backwards. If you have a revolver or a large brick, you can also shoot out the lock at the downstairs part and unlock the shortcut.

Alternatively, you can also bait out the monster, which will make the rats run away, but it's a lot riskier since the monster is a lot more unpredictable in Shellshocked.

If there are no rats on the way to the Fuel Storage, it can be a good idea to, even if you don't have the code, look around for supplies and take the free pillbox key. Be mindful that the monster is hard coded to come out and search the Chapel the first time you enter it on your save (this can be bypassed if the generator is not online). Be prepared to repeal it (with fire or gas, since both bullets and grenades will only stun him) or hide in the only viable hiding place, the confession booth. The monster is hard coded to check pretty much everywhere and even smash a few benches, so hiding behind the big table at the back is not viable, unfortunately.

The main gimmick of Shellshocked. You have to use a fuel to save. This makes it a lot more difficult of a balancing act between saving, running the generator and using fuel for other purposes. For this exact reason I don't recommend running the generator always. Unless you have a concrete plan and are going for an objective (for example, getting the Arsenal code from Communications straight up requires power for the radio), you can just not start the generator.

The Soldier Quarters is one of the better places to look for supplies and fuses. The first thin you wanna do is open the two side doors. Usually they aren't trapped, only in your first game, but in the off chance they are, it can be a good idea to have an escape plan.

You will probably have to explore the right room first. If you don't have a fuse or are not running the generator, the monster will patrol between the left bedroom and the Mess hall. This means that if the Communications key is in the left room, it can make your life difficult. There is a fair chance that it will be in the right room tough, so always check under the pillows there, before venturing on.

While searching, the left room can be managed without the generator, you will have to turn it on, or trigger the monster's hiding phase by damaging it with an explosion, gas or fire to venture deeper toward the Mess hall. Thankfully, the Soldiers' quarters have a tendency to be full of either. If you have a revolver, you can shoot the large gas canisters, but if you don't, you must rely on grenades, traps or other means of chasing it away. You will have to hurry if you want to unlock the last daisy chain to turn the radio on because the monster's hiding phase is very short in Shellshocked. You will also need a Large Brick, a revolver or an explosive. Either way, you will probably attract the monster's attention so have a plan to get out.

The Arsenal is probably the best place in the entire game. Not only you can cheese getting the dynamite without going trough the entire warehouse part, but it's small, often has a Large Brick in it, and you have a hidey hole the monster can never follow you to (it's the entrance to the tunnels).


If you have the arsenal code, you can speedrun getting the dynamite.
Once you open the door with the code, you can immediately obtain the dynamite by getting very close to the bars to your left and looking at the dynamite. You can actually pick it up.

I advise going a tiny bit into the warehouse for some supplies, but don't go too far as it's not worth it.

The Prison tough, is a tough nut to crack. It's a small, claustrophobic area, with a few rooms that are always locked. The way to the storage always has to be broken to gain access and even then it's usually very subpar when it comes to supplies. Not only are there few supplies, but entering that part without a fuse or running generator will make the monster start patrolling the area. If you have an escape plan and decide to go there anyways, check behind the crates at the end of the hallway. There is usually something there, usually grenades, but more or less anything can spawn there.

If you managed to get the monster to retreat, you can check around in the cells. They can contain anything from fuel up to pocket bags, so worth a check.

If you have the wrench, you can get the wire cutter. On Shellshocked I would advise against saving the prisoner. He is very loud and always attracts the monster even if his cell isn't open. You can't get the monster to retreat with bullets on this difficulty so unless you have a gas mask, it's more hassle to get it to retreat. The monster is also hard coded to come out and kill the prisoner when his cell is opened, unless the monster is in his retreat cooldown.

Gonna include the map here as well because it's important. In normal progression, every single locker you need a code for can be found in the Mission Storage not far from the Generator Room in the Central Bunker. In randomized lockers mode, there are a lot of lockers that are empty in mission storage and are scattered around the rest of the levels. These are in predetermined locations but there are so many of these locations that it's barely worth it to start listing them.

In shellshocked, the monster, called The Stalker, is not only set to its highest difficulty, meaning that it has low noise tolerance (a single rat hissing can trigger it to come out), but also bullets don't make it retreat, only stagger it and random behavior is on as well. This turns your weapons into utility tools more than defensive ones (shotgun -> door opening and crate destruction, revolver -> breaking locks, shooting explosive or gas barrels and rats). The monster is not immune to bullets mind you. 3 revolver or 2 shotgun shots will stun it for a short time, giving you time to run away in desperate situations.

I recommend reading up on the guide below. It contains the basic workings of the monster, what counts as low noise and high noise and other information.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2986005498

The main thing I will focus on is the unpredictability. This option makes the monster's behavior more random (shocker I know) so it's hard to pinpoint its exact inner workings without actively testing it, but my observations are the following:

• The monster has a habit of faking its return to the tunnels to lure you out. Sometimes it will return to a tunnel (doing its signature noise with it) and then immediately come back out to surprise you. Try to make sure that the monster is really gone before entering risky areas.
  
• Most of the time the monster will linger in the tunnel it moves into after finishing his patrol, so try not to make much noise around that tunnel entrance.
  
• The monster seems to hang around for a random ammount of time. After coming out to patrol, it will sometimes return quickly to the tunnels, other times it will take ages for it to return. Waiting it out can be a gamble sometimes because of the heavily nerfed generator time.
  
• The monster will also look around in common hiding spots, breaking tables you can hide under (and sometimes scaring itself by making barrels explode). Only hide around the monster if there is no other option because you risk being found randomly by it otherwise.
  
• If you move trough an area loading with the monster patrolling, there is a high chance that he will be teleported to the next area, instead of still being behind you. Be mindful when going trough loading areas.

Most of these are only relevant if you have a generator running. If you don't:

• Once the monster comes out, it will patrol until you leave the area. It usually does the same route a few times, smashing stuff, but if it can't find you, it will change up the area it patrols. If it's out and you have no way to scare it away, just leave.
  
• The monster is about as blind as you are and seems to be a bit more deaf funnily enough in the dark. You can often wait for the monster to patrol away from you and just book it out of that area and be fine.
  
• The monster seems to have a bias to "camping". If you stay in an area for a long time, its patrol will focus around your location until it will randomly stumble upon you.
  
• The monster, despite being half deaf and basically blind without a running generator, has a very keen ear for stepping on debris. Try to clear the way of debris because stepping on them will alert the monster.

Some other general tips:

• Sounds are very important. If you can see the monster, chances are, it can see you too.
  
• The chase music that plays when the monster spots you actually start playing when it "starts" to notice you. If you hear it, take it as a "it's time for plan B" sign, more than an "I'm dead" sign.
  
• Always have a Line of sight blocker between you and the monster if possible or use designated hiding spots. As I mentioned, the monster can be laughably blind to the player, but if you are sitting in a random corner in the dark and it has a line of sight on you, it will notice you. Always. Use walls, doors and other objects to hide behind, closets to hide inside and beds and tables to hide under. Be mindful that tables can be broken by the monster and it can pull you out from under beds and out from closets.
  
• In Shellshocked, your safe space is heavily limited. The save area only has wooden doors the monster can break trough and only the generator room itself has a steel door. If you plan on running back to your safe spot, add that to your calculations.
  
• Make use of explosive objects in the world. Explosive barrels are the best objects to block tunnels with. If it comes out it will immediately explode and make it retreat. You can also set up a small barricade in the direction your plan on running, as the monster will always destroy whatever is in its path. Again, if it's an explosive barrel, it will make it retreat.

I wanted to mention the shotgunner for a short section. The shotgunner is the guy singing in the roman tunnels with the shotgun (duh). In Shellshocked, his damage is set to very high, meaning he will one shot you, so you need to be very careful when dealing with him. Thankfully, not only is he blind, but incredibly stupid. In two of my saves he randomly shot an explosive barrel and killed himself while I was lurking around. You can also easily lure him into convenient spots by throwing stuff around for an easy kill. The main difficulty comes from finding him in the fog among all the ghosts. You will need to shoot him twice with your revolver to kill him (or do a single headshot). Alternatively, the room to the detonator is open, so you can try to sneak to it and open it without killing him. Because of the reshuffled/randomised lockers, you might already have access to the shotgun and you can't pick it up again or get any ammo from the shotgunner.

Make sure to get the bunny plush if you are there, because it's the single best way to make the monster retreat.

The final confrontation with The Stalker is a tricky bit for sure. Not only is it really smart but is also fast. Best bet is to do the bad ending, by throwing the bunny plush to it. That gives you enough time to quickly push two boxes to the fence and climb out.

That's about it. I hope any of these tips helped you overcome Shellshocked. Unfortunately I can't provide exact steps to do in order to beat it because of the random nature of the game. Also a large part of this difficulty is based around making you brave the darkness and risk bumping into the monster, so you must be brave.

Also I haven't seen everything in the game yet, as I have only ~30 hours in the game, so I will update the guide as I keep playing the game.

Update on 2023.12.28: I have played more of this difficulty and updated the guide accordingly. I have deleted the part on dealing with rats, since it's part of "Knowing your basics" and removed the whole spiel about fuses and using the generator like you normally would. You straight up don't need the generator for anything, other than the water pump and the radio. Essentially I rewrote most of the guide, and heavily expanded the part about the monster itself.