As someone who tends to die a lot on harder difficulties or just...odd modes like this one, I struggle through but manage to complete them none the less. Kurayami, it's not Akumu...so don't worry. It's just everything is dark, no matter how high you turn the brightness the world is bathed in Silent Hill darkness. It adds to the creep factor...and can cause some tricky problems. Also note that even the daytime areas are pitch black so...you'll notice this in Chapter 3. Important lights and electronics will still shine through the dark but...yeah...flashlight and chemical lights, that's how you see.
Here's how I managed to survive, sort of section by section. First some general hints:
===CAN BE DONE ON NEW GAME+, JUST LIKE THE ASSIGNMENT===
- First and foremost, your flashlight and chemical lights won't tip off enemies. As far as I have seen..throwing a chemical light right in front of one's path doesn't do anything. I wouldn't recommend throwing one directly at an enemy, as it will piss them off and they'll run in the direction you threw it from (however this can help with distracting them if you have somewhere to hide nearby).
- Standing still will full heal Julie. Even if it has a "cutoff bar" like in the maingame, that bar goes all the way to the top of Julie's health as you stand still. Just an FYI.
- Green Lights/Chemical Lights (I'll call them Green Lights cause that's what they are unless you see different colors than I do) are unlimited. You have a pesky achievement at the start of Chapter 3 that limits their use but otherwise...THROW AWAY! You can have three out at a time and they're good for giving you "area light" in particularly sticky situations. Last DLC you only had your flashlight but now you can use both.
- Yes, the thing I didn't realize my first run. You can switch back to Chemical Lights. Hold the directional button UP (or Click in the right stick and use the direction button upwards) then hit X to switch between your sources of light. You can have your green lights out in the area then just switch to your Flashlight for a bit, alternate to give yourself a much greater benefit than in the Assignment! In addition your flashlight can stay on while you have your green lights out so you can see better when you throw but it's nice to switch back to the flashlight for focusing and better view.
- I also recommend using the lights to mark areas of interest (exists, maybe vents you can run to and hide).
- Speaking of vents, these are a godsend. Got spotted? Well screw the dumb enemies they're not gonna chase you inside (unless ya know it's one of the Cadavers, the exploding chewed up meat looking weirdos).
- If you have the opportunity to save something like an Axe, a bottle or even Ammo later on...take it. You don't always have to kill everything or distract everything, there's ways around that. Having an extra item that you wouldn't have had otherwise going into a dangerous situation is always beneficial.
CHAPTER 3
After Losing your Flashlight
After losing your flashlight and resorting to the chemical lights (that are thankfully infinite), there's 2 enemies to worry about after you "turn the power on". Grab the Axe in front of you but save it. As for the rest...to be honest? Screw stealth and throw your lights then run back to the area with the ladder. If something spots you? Find a vent, go in there and they give up after a few seconds. This can be utilized in many steps later on as well.
I always like having an extra axe going into the next area, means one more kill that I wouldn't possibly have otherwise.
First Encounter with Shade
Shade, the Searchlight lady with legs for miles. Now you have to avoid her in two areas before an elevator and thankfully, the elevator doesn't take as long this time as it did in the Assignment. What I did for both encounters was either reload checkpoint as soon as I got to each "waiting" room or end up killed, whatever the case you get a few more seconds to hit the handscan. That's your priority, first thing in both rooms. Figure out where they are and use them. The first room you can probably avoid even getting spotted but you'll always get noticed in the second.
Now the idea from here is to find a nice, long obstacle you can circle with her. If she spots you? Big deal, it's all about baiting and playing ring-around-the rosey until the door/elevator is ready. Thankfully the second room doesn't get "electrified" (as far as I know) but yes, a long enough obstacle that you can put distance between yourself and her and duck to get out of the stupidly annoying "red light" that slows you down. Second room will give you trouble, probably...as finding the perfect merry-go-round was difficult as she'd constantly catch me before I could get away from that dang red light. Definitely, definitely throw green lights in both these rooms to get your barings. Try to spread them out abit.
For safety, I'd recommend waiting until she's far enough away from you before booking it through the first room's door. Second one is fine, you'll be in an elevator but you have this stupid round room to deal with between these two areas so it's good to have a headstart without her noticing as you progress. Thankfully both rooms have their own checkpoints.
Cadavar Area
Lure and run. There's a long hallway with bloody sprinkler systems at work and if you get their attention, you'll be able to sprint back to the elevator and each will blow up as it chases you. Makes getting through here less of a hassle but if you WANNA stealth it...I suppose you could. BUT WHY?! If one chases you in the hallway after another explodes, I'd say wait until it is back in the main room before luring it...just to give yourself enough room. Tip: Throw a green light down near the sliding door so you know where the hallway is when you sprint back!
Rooftops in the Dark
It'll be pitch black during this otherwise daytime segment. Just watch your step and remember that as you reach the catwalk/scaffold...walkway (whatever you call those things) the one with the fork, the right breaks off and falls so always take the left. You'll be able to push enemies off for this section, so wait until they're at ledges to do so (the first one is automatically there, the second one is inside a building and walks to it...but the third walks back and forth from the ledge and a walkway). For the third guy, I recommend throwing a chemical light to where he is so you can see when he'll be heading back your way or towards the edge of his doom. Once he's heading back, go and send him to oblivion.
Bonus Note: There's an axe near the second guy in case you don't have one, I'd recommend having it for later. You have to crawl under a spot to get to it.
When you get inside the building and have to grab two pieces of the star, there is a lady who bursts through a door in the next area near some cubicles. Throw out a few green lights in the area to give yourself some space to see and head to the far left cubicle from where you enter to find the starpiece (I'm reminded of Paper Mario all of the sudden...) on the desk. You can throw a greenlight at her from across the room and if it connects, run to the otherside of a cubicle as she'll head to where you threw it. After you get the star you can honestly just run out and through the hole. Alternatively to the stealthy approach you could just...run and grab the star-piece, spin around and go through the door and hole. MAYBE not get hit...that's up to you.
Gondola/Lift of Death
TOPTIP: REMEMBER TO HOLD STILL IF YOU GET INJURED SO ALL OF HER HEALTH WILL RETURN! Too bad Seb couldn't do that.
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Remember this section in the main game? Or worse yet, Akumu? Well, Julie has her own fair share of problems here. As soon as you arrive in the location a dillweed with a machine gun is riding it back and forth. You have to grab that handgun in the nearby room and take him out. Just shoot the red barrel he is standing next to. Throw some green lights in front of you on this path so you can see what's incoming. Stay in the room and wait for the first three guys to be next to the red barrel immediately to your right, so you can light them all up. They seem to stop and walk as they get next to it so that should help (can't guarantee they'll do that, could be random).
Head to the room they burst out of and grab the ammo (if any of the three you killed had ammo make sure to get that first) then pull the switch. Head to the door and try to catch the first 2 guys with the barrel (great if you can get all three), finish off the remainding enemy with a headshot or otherwise. Take whatever ammo you can find and move out. Two more guys will come from across and another from the left, you can make use of a barrel ON THIS SIDE or line up headshots. Save the barrel in the other side. For...nothing. What??? Okay I'm writing this as I play but I swore there were more enemies in Survival. I ran across the lift to the other side, even went to the ammo...nobody else showed up so you should be in the clear for this section! Just make sure you're full on ammo (for...reasons?) and continue onward.
Fight with Shade
Take this opportunity as soon as the fight begins to get a shot off on her light. I'd say wait until she's done spazzing out her warcry then take the shot but go into cover after you connected. Honestly I just went to the left cabinet and hid there. She'll go to the center of the room, have no light and look around. Stand up and aim for the light and fire, then hide again. Chances are she'll walk forward so just dip to the left and behind the column so when the light comes on again one final shot and she'll be dead.
If you lose or have to checkpoint, just use the columns/cabinets to fire at her when the light is on. Three shots to victory, classical THREE HITS AND THE BOSS IS DEAD LOGIC! Whatever, nobody liked her and I'm glad you get to kill her after the crap she put you through. Stomp on her (head?) and spout your one liner in victory, move on. Grab ammo if you...want. Not much point since she loses the gun start of Chapter 4. As for the running segment just ya know...take your appropriate turns and avoid obstacles, it's relatively short compared to Chapter 2's conclusion.
Chapter 4
Stealth, Paintings, Etc.
Could not think of anything creative for this one. Granted the others aren't exactly booming but ah well..
The first area to worry about has the 2nd painting you will burn (after the initial where Julie figures this crap out). There are two guys wandering around in here and a painting you have to reach, once it's burned they vanish so there's that little bit of benefit. Honestly what I did was throw a green light passed the table on the left and waited for the guy to move beyond it. I then threw an axe into the back of his head and replaced it with the nearby one stuck in a second table. From here, I kept an eye on the guy near the painting and slowly made my way there (throw a green light if you need to). There's a bottle on the table to utilize so I got to the other end of the table and threw it into the far end of the room, forcing this fellow to run off. Burned the painting and boom, section's over. Find a replacement bottle if you wish on the floor in the room.
Next area is with the Cadavers. Similar to the previous section in Chapter 3, you COULD just lure them to their deaths. There's enough room on the loading dock for their pursuit to end short of exploding near you. Otherwise, just throw green lights and avoid them (as they're pretty easy to get around when you know their path). Me? I caused them to blow up cause why not?! If you can get two next to each other doing it at the same time, they should take one another out so there's that too. The next room with the hanging meat doesn't offer the same kind of luxury so you'll have to do this the right way: get to one end of the room near the keycard, throw a bottle to the other end...while they're distracted grab the card then move back into position. Replacement bottle should be nearby if you desire. I encountered an issue I hadn't before though where they entered the vent so I had to wait until they decided to come back and gnaw on the body. After you push the cart, there's one more cadaver you can lure or avoid your choice.
Final area to worry about...the place with three goons and two (well, three) paintings. First thing's first, head out and crouch your way to the painting on the right. There's a guy on the right side of the...whatever you call this, kitchen/table/cabinet/thing from Jurassic Park used to hide from raptors. Throw a bottle to the left, preferred over the other one of these raptor-shields and the guy will run towards it. Burn the picture quick, then hide back behind it as you peak around to see where he's at before making your next move.
Make your way back to the left side now and go all the way to the vent in front of you (screw if you're spotted, shouldn't be though. Go through the duct until you get to the other side. There's at least two axes in this area, so realistically you COULD kill this guy if you wanted. It's best to throw a bottle through the broken glass and if you want to kill him, follow him inside and finish him off grabbing the replacement off the table. Burn the painting on your way out.
Now you can either take out one or both of the other guys or honestly...take the easy route. Go back in the vent, follow it all the way to the end and wait until both enemies backs are turned (guy on the right walks right and guy in front turns back the other way) then go in the room with Leslie. Both those guys will die after you burn this last painting. Replace what you desire and move on.
Patients (and Patience) in the Dark
There's three axes in the area and if you held onto one from the previous location, that means you're good to go in killing each of these guys. Throw out your green lights to get a view of where everyone is then I recommend axing the guy to the right first. If you for any reason get spotted, there are several vents nearby you can hide in until they give up so...there's plenty of room for error here. Axe each of them so that you won't have anything pursing you as you open the door. Or you could just go straight to the door and throw a bottle to the other end of the map. This is the last stealth section so you won't be needing a bottle later.
Well, that's not entirely true. You CAN stealth the following section but it's not entirely necessary. You can get some cool deaths in your favor too if you utilize the Cadavers against the regular haunted but that's up to you. Honestly...there's enough ammo for you to just score headshots to deal with those problems.
Anyways, when you get to the part with the guy you take the shotgun from just move quickly (while crouching mind you) to the left in this room and you should see him moving around the corner. If you still have an axe from before, vula...he's done. If not there's one just ahead of you that you should be able to grab in time to go for the kill. If not...there's another one in the area you can find and then make your way behind him.
If you wanted to stealth the guys in the next area, my recommendation would be to shoot the lock and immediately run to the right into a room and hide in the locker. This is what I did on survival. As they make their way out (it'll take a couple minutes, one guy will come back in and search the locker next to you...hopefully not yours) you can track them and move yourself to the next area. To be honest though...just shoot everybody. If you want to stealth it you can but at this point of the game, you're probably ready for the mode to be over. Be wary that some of them do have weapons of their own (which leads to ammo pickups of course) so gunghoing it does have a fair share of risk. Just utilize normal combat (in the dark) and you'll be fine. If need be throw some green lights to get yourself an area of view. If you killed all the guys at the bottom there still should be one up top to deal with...you COULD lure a Cadaver towards him but that's up to you. Shoot, avoid...move on. Avoid the cadaver in the vents, don't waste ammo.
Final Enemies before the Boss
Okay so let's cram the rest of your encounters in here real quick. If an enemy drops a shell, quickly reload and grab it then press forward so you can keep up on ammo.
As you reach the pit of blood where some patients climb out, run into the hallway where a Cadaver will pop up over the railing. Shoot , WALK RIGHT and start dashing midway to the edge here. If you were dashing you should make it to the ladder and be able to climb up before the rising patient can attack/grab you. Shoot the guy in front of you, run forward and hit the Cadaver that appears. As you press forward a Cadaver will be on your right, if you time this right you can run into the gate, passed the patient and the Cadaver will explode just behind you killing the patient and you can go through the door.
Final hallway has a couple shells on the desk plus shells you can get from the enemies who will burst from the cells. These guys are endless so it's best advised to shoot and avoid as you can, grab whatever ammo you can and dash for the elevator when it's ready. You may have ammo, you may not...I had 3 shells this time but was full in Survival.
The Dark Administrator...Slender Man
So uh...here we go.
It's actually not all that bad. The first part of the fight has you against multiple shadow-Slenders and eventually he'll attack as a "red" one. Easily dodged, turn and shoot at him when he does this. There are red markings on the ground for refills on ammo, what I'd do is go find one and light it up so I could have the ammo ready, take some shots, reload...after 4 shots for me the next segment began. As far as I know the multiple shadow clone-no-jutsu doesn't actually hurt you (but I never stayed close enough or still to see if they could).
The next segment has 2 Kidman clones that will ghost-teleportation-walk themselves around until they're ready to either grab you or attack you with their weapon. To be honest I just stayed in the area I was as the wall lights up and will give you enough field of view to see what's going on. You COULD throw green lights if you really wanted but you don't have to. When you run out of ammo, there are some nearby walls with markings to light up. As far as I know you don't have to deal individual damage to each clone as I shot one more times than the other and as soon as one died, the other died the very next shot.
The final segment, there is some ammo before it in the columns (4 shots, that's all you need). Stock up and make your way after Slender-boss. As you get closer columns will pop up and he'll send a wave of blocks your way...you can honestly make it to him fast by only hiding behind too columns then immediately going to the next. Once you reach him, another checkpoint so that's good news at least. Not that you really need it, once you know what you're doing and aren't being stupid like me ;>_> just shoot each hand twice and use your light on one of the markers to bring some ammo to deliver the finishing blow. If for some reason the hands take longer than 2 shots a piece, just find an opportunity to light up the markings for some reloads for your shotgun.
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And that's it! It's really, ultimately not all that bad. It seemed like it would be at points in Survival but honestly, I didn't struggle all that much anywhere. Neither this nor the Assignment combined can compare to Akumu, this is just a different kind of mode. I hope this guide helped a little bit, in case you were struggling.
I only died 12 times strangely enough and I cleared at 1:53:45. So these modes aren't so much hard as mildly annoying.
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BONUS BIT!!
Gotta love how when you turn on the power at the start of Chapter 3 a Japanese voice mocks you saying "oh you thought you'd turn on the lights? TOO BAD!", probably Mikami himself..