~BLACKOUTS
Blackouts are the major RNG mechanic of this game.
The first blackout occurs early on and must be triggered in order to access the Upstairs segment. The second blackout occurs sometime after the first and must be triggered in order to access the Underground segment.
In speedruns, the first blackout will occur after doing a total of three things in any order:
- Examine the puddle.
- Clear the dark fog in the stockroom.
- Witness at least one spooky event.
The second blackout will occur after doing a total of two things in either order:
- Take a certain amount of damage.
- Find a certain number of intuitions.
~SPOOKY EVENTS
These are not random - they are perfectly consistent.
Spooky events happen once every 160 seconds. There is literally no random number generation involved!
The 160s timer PAUSES while your cursor is not a "default" dot, an "examine" eye, or a "pick-up" hand. If your cursor is one of those three icons, the timer is counting down. Otherwise, the timer is not counting down. Thus, the timer does not count down while in the main menu, while in your inventory, or while scrolling through items with the scroll wheel, even though you have complete control over your character while doing so. It also does not count down during scripted events that turn the cursor into a clock symbol.
The 160s timer RESETS back to zero each time you launch the game. Thus, it's recommended to close and re-open the game in between runs. It's also recommended that you disable the Kalypso launcher (see the "Misc Instructions" guide on speedrun.com). The timer also resets to zero after each spooky event.
There appears to be some sort of system that reduces the time between spooky events as you take damage. However, that is not relevant to any speedrun.
Spooky events do not trigger outside. If the event would trigger while the player is outside, nothing happens, and the timer resets like normal.
Before each run, you should restart the game, and load up a save file, and just sit still for a couple of minutes. Personally, I wait in the workshop for about 140 seconds, then exit to main menu, and click "New Game" to start the speedrun. The game has good music, so I don't mind. The exact amount of time you wait should depend on how you play the game, though. I tend to leave almost zero gaps in between my menus, so the global timer goes down very slowly for me. If you leave bigger gaps, you should wait less time pre-run. The goal is to get a spooky event to trigger sometime around when you start the leaves puzzle. You want either the Old Saw event (spooky white ghost that chases you) or the knocking on the Stockroom door event. The place you are looking when the event triggers appears to be the most important factor in determining which event happens.
~WOODEN STATUE
Certain spooky events can damage you. Looking directly at the wandering wooden statue is the only other way to take damage.
She only begins moving around after you go upstairs for the first time. Before then, she is stuck in the storeroom, and cannot move or deal damage to you. You can still grab her ring, though.
Once she starts moving, she cannot appear outside, in the main downstairs area, or underground area. She can only appear in the downstairs workshop, downstairs temple, upstairs attic, or upstairs living area.
She can deal multiple instances of damage to you if you wiggle the camera back and forth while looking at her. This is the main way to deal damage to yourself for the second Blackout.
Keep in mind that her orientation is completely random, so be sure to check for her crouched on the floor, too. She's also guaranteed to appear in the downstairs temple, on the left by the switch the first time you enter that area. Otherwise, she moves around randomly while you aren't looking.
