Beginner's Guide

New to Grump the Baby Destroyer? Start here. Everything below is the minimum you need to survive a first night.

Before you start

1. Click the game canvas to lock your mouse pointer — nothing responds to WASD until it's locked.
2. For your first run, pick Survive Alone, Gentle difficulty, and a short night count (3 or 5) — Gentle gives you the longest days (300s) and shortest nights (150s) of any setting.
3. Read the in-game How to Survive screen from the main menu once — it's a fast summary of everything on this page.

What to actually do, day one

Day 1's job list never changes: get the generator started, eat something, and carry one toddler to your classroom. A fuel can and spare part are already sitting near the generator in the boiler room specifically so you can't get stuck — use them there. Beyond the list, just explore: open lockers, desks, and bins (hold E), and get a feel for the school's layout before dark. Every prop resets and re-fills for searching at the start of each day, so nothing you find is wasted by looking around.

Watch the clock

The top bar shows the phase and time remaining. With 30 seconds left in the day, a banner warns "IT IS GETTING DARK" — that's your cue to be heading toward your classroom, not still across the map.

Surviving your first night

• Get to your classroom and keep the lights on. A lit room (brightness above 0.55) is the one place Bob won't touch you, and the one thing Grump can't enter before he's turned.
• Bob is the only real danger for your first few nights. He patrols, hums, and sweeps a torch. If he spots you, run for any lit room — he gives up the chase the moment you reach one (unless he's already right next to you).
• Grump just watches, at first. Before he turns (day 4 at the latest), he can't hurt you at all — he's building tension, not danger.
• Hide if you're caught in the open. Get into a locker, under a desk, or into a crate (hold E) — it's quiet to enter, and if Bob didn't personally see you go in, his odds of finding you are low early on (18% on night 1).
• Noise matters. Sprinting is loud; crawling (Ctrl) is quiet. If something is nearby and hunting, crawl.

Talking to Grump

If Grump approaches and wants to talk, just pick any answer — there's no correct one, every option costs him a little patience, but ignoring him entirely for a whole day costs more (+6 resentment at nightfall) than answering ever does. Don't overthink your first few conversations.

Easy things to forget, early on

• Eat. Your tummy drains constantly; below 25% you get a warning, and at 0% you start losing health.
• Clean messes you walk past — it's the only in-play action that calms Grump down, and it stops the generator burning fuel faster.
• Carry toddlers home before dark, not during the night — anyone still "lost" when night falls is taken automatically, with no way to prevent it once it's happened.
• Check the map (M) — today's job rooms pulse with an amber outline, so you always know where to go next.

Once you've survived a night or two

Move on to the full Walkthrough for a complete run, and Tips & Strategy for deeper optimisation once the basics feel automatic.