-I used primarily Cutter and mostly for the bosses, Beam. So everything you're going to read below are for that spefic loadout.

-Not a "Very Basics" type of guide. I expect you to be knowledgeable about the game, bar an Impossible run.

-Proof of my run can be found below. I streamed the whole thing and it's still up on my channel.

Without further ado,

If you are looking for this kind of guide, you probably at least finished the game once or perhaps a couple of times throughout the years (as I also stated above) so I'm gonna cut it short, skip the very basics and dive into some general tips.

so it definitely needs some tweaking on the Nvidia Control Panel or the AMD equivalent. To get rid of screen tearing and the 30 fps lock that comes along with it however, you need to disable V-Sync in-game and then enable it on your GPU control panel and while you are at it put an fps lock of 60 because anything higher than that is going to break the game's physics.

Another aspect this port utterly fails on is the weird aim accelaration/smoothing thing it has going on which can't be turned off. Once you get used to it, you'll be okay but it's still annoying. There are certain third party solutions out there to fix it but I don't trust any of them and got used to it over the years, and in my case lowering sensivity in options to the lowest and upping the DPI on my mouse to ungodly degrees helped a lot. Also there certainly is some kind of latency issue going on as well, many-a-times I bashed various buttons in desperation but that one Stasis shot or that one reload never registered. Don't know why, skill issue maybe.

so be mindful with your aim and try to use it when enemies are close to you. It's some sorta "mist" and when you aim and send it away it moves very slowly. However it's very important for this run so you need to use it very often. Enemies deal a humongous amount of damage to you, even the basic slashers so you need to stop them at their place and shoot their arms to quickly get rid of them which is a thing Stasis helps a major amount.

and that's why I chose that and the Beam (that specifically for the bosses). In Dead Space 2 the hardest difficulty gives you 3 per drop while you get 6 per drop here for comparisant, which makes it the most reliable weapon in my opinion so I heavily recommend you to stick with the Cutter except for the bosses.

so don't run around and always play the coward and leave any given room if you hear way too many enemies. It pays to be overly cautious in this game.

because that's the only consistent way to down Necromorphs (other than those top-heavy ones with armor plating on their legs, you encounter one very early on in the Medical Sector aka your first quarantine). Game works weird like that for some reason. And while I'm talking about that, here's how many hits it takes to tear up some enemy variants with the Plasma Cutter, at least the ones that matter (and yes enemies are thougher compared to Hard):

-> Enhanced Slashers: 4 shots to each arm, don't bother with the legs just Stasis and get to work.
-> Enhanced Leapers: 3 shots to each arm, probably the same for the tail. If you got one of the arms but don't have a clear shot of the second one, go for the tail and don't be afraid to Stasis them twice. They most likely will leap at you so it's best to wait for them to come at you unless they are stuck at the wall as they do sometimes, because you'll most likely time it wrong and miss the Stasis shot.
-> Lurkers and Enhanced Lurkers: Here's the thing, normal ones probably take two shots per tentacle and enhanced ones maybe three but it's just best to Stasis them especially early on because for some reason they are hard coded to jump on you and cause a QTE but you indeed can avoid them (including the first ever one tried and tested) if you time your Stasis or Plasma shots. And later on with the amount of enemies the game will throw at you, it's best to Stasis them and unload your entire magazine on them to deal with them as quick as possible.
-> Exploders: 2 shots to the sack, the only thing that doesn't change from Hard. Their AoE is incredibly wonky though, so never take a risk. Takes quite a lot of ammo to kill them if you can't risk exloding the sacks so be careful. Use that to your advantage however and explode them near other enemies after Stasis-ing them to save ammo.
-> "Pregnant"s: Still not sure but probably 3 shots to its arms and maybe 2 for the legs. I go for the arms with Stasis often and think that's the best strategy. NEVER and I mean NEVER, EVER explode their bellies, because if you get caught by the giblets, better known as "The Swarm" they can easily take you out. Always Stasis them. One note though, the ones in Chapter Eleven that you encounter while you try to move the Marker have Lurkers in them and they burst out no matter what you do, so be careful.
-> "The Swarm": Despite their awkward name, they are one of the most dangerous enemy types in the game. A single instance of them can take you out easily so always use Stasis and be mindful when you hear them. Don't let your guard down around them and listen to their signature noise, they like to hide in places because their path finding is all sorts of messed up.
-> Infectors: Never counted to be fair but just Stasis and unload your entire magazine anyways. But here's the more important rule: Every corpse you see lying around must be stomped to pieces so the Infectors can't turn them into Enhanced Leapers. If you are confident in your memory just stomp the ones in dangerous areas (Chapter 2, 6, 7 and 10 are the ones that have rooms that you definitely need to clean up) but if you aren't, it can't hurt to be careful.
-> Guardians: Rare but really hard to deal with enemies, probably 2 or 3 shots per tentacle and there are a bunch of them for each Guardian, I never counted that closely because I always panic around them. Stasis-ing them won't slow down the sacks they spit around so you always need to deal with at least one or two (except the one in Chapter 10, that room sucks) so watch where those land. And never ever get near them, they have a one shot way of killing you. Cool cutscene but a horrible way to go.
-> Dividers: They are tricky and they will make you wish you had your Flamethrower on you but just Stasis and shoot each limb and plus 2 more after each part fall apart. When you see loose parts of them (Chapters 4 or 5, 7 and 10 if my memory serves me right) same rule, two shots per pop.
-> Twitchers: Simply 2 shots per arm, shooting its legs is useless since they can charge at you as fast as if they still have their legs. Stasis is a must as they can deal immense damage in a very short while.
-> Spitters: They are a Slasher variant and there should be at least two of them throughout the game so they aren't the biggest threat (I remember the one in the Med. Sector during the first quarantine part for example) and you might not even remember you've ever encountered one if you dealt with them fast enough. They should take the same amount of hits as the normal Slashers if my memory serves me right.
-> Brutes and Enhanced Brutes: This ain't Dead Space 2 so don't Stasis and try to take them head on as they react to each of your shots and fast even in Stasis, making it harder to hit them on their weak spots so instead Stasis them and focus on the legs, unload your magazine until they react and never let them come out of Stasis while you're at it because after they loose their first leg, they spit explosive meatballs at you.
-> Regular Slashers and Leapers: Never really paid attention to them but probably 2 per limb. After a while you rarely encounter them on their own as they just get lost within the crowd of enemies so they aren't the most dangerous in my opinion. Whenever I deal with the arms I move on to the next enemy, as you should do.

As one certain angry video game nerd once put it:


Once you finish the game on any difficulty (preferably on Hard because it's good training dang it) just right after you save once the credits roll, immidiately start an Impossible run with a new game. Because:
Heard me right.



With this, you'll have to do a lot less backtracking to get the spare ammo and health and will have more Stasis shots by default.

Elitists, kindly get bent. And if you are one, simply avoid doing that by closing out of the game once you are done with your previous playthrough, you're welcome.

Anyways, here's:

REMINDER: I don't think I need to explain how you need to focus on The Hunter alone during Chapters 5 and 10, how to deal with each quarantine section, what to do in the elevator parts during Chapter 7, how to deal with the final boss effectively and faster (the answer for that being CONTACT BEAM), how to save up, why you don't drop ammo for other weapons (we're sellin' 'em baby!) or how upgrading Health or Stasis while you are low on them will fill them up, etc. since I already presume that you've beaten the game at least once and honestly, if you haven't, do that. The stuff I discuss below are purely the parts I used to struggle and how I tried to make them easier. Consider yourself warned.

after you get this capsule:


just RUN. After dealing with the Swarm the only thing you need to do is stick to the right side and Stasis whatever thing that comes your way (there should be two Pregnants and The Hunter in that room but I never stick around too much).




was one of the biggest "Skill-Check" rooms for me until I just ran to this spot:


and just waited there, kept checking my surroundings and had a great time. Obviously make sure you have a couple Stasis Packs with you.



remember this Oxygen Recharge Station:


and don't panic, don't run, use Stasis and come back to it if need be. Made my life a lot easier used to always panic in this segment.




you can trap it and can deal with the rest of the Necromorphs in the upcoming room. Can do it every once in a while but also often fail to do so. As far as I know, it needs to be trapped in the middle portion of the bunk beds, not the very beginning as he'll use the vents to get to you. Check a playthrough or try to experiment.




alert the enemies and stay up here right where the bench is located at. And always run back to this place each time new enemies spawn. So you can deal with enemies easier with Stasis as they will come out one by one from this vent:


Lurkers and Pregnants won't use vents but they will approach you and you can take them while staying on the elevator:





just run to here (near the item boxes) for the remainder of the quarantine and don't forget about the second wave of enemies (especially Exploders):


but don't forget to check behind you as one of the Lurkers managed to snuck behind me and umm... gave me some "backshots"...




I tried to cheese it with the Marker, got horribly squeezed:


Somehow managed to live and all the tentacles were already alerted:


Even with the fact that they take a sh*tload of ammo to take down, I skipped at least two waves of enemies by my failed cheese attempt because once you place the marker and activate this:


All the enemies die after a couple of seconds and you won't get more. You can do better than I did in this segment, try to experiment.

Well, I think this is all.

The Whole 10+ hours run with all the fails and glory:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2259954997

So maybe give it a watch and study, maybe watch other and better players or speedrunners, do your thing but try not to go in blind. And maybe drop a follow if you're kind, who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

So thanks for reading this guide and best of luck with your Impossible Run. It doesn't unlock any different rewards than any other difficulties by the way. All you get is bragging rights. Be prepared.