Shift At Midnight Tips & Tricks — 15 Things You'll Wish You Knew

Fifteen community-discovered tricks that separate surviving clerks from dead ones.

Combat & Survival

1. Headshots only. Body shots wound Doppelgangers and they run — you'll waste ammo chasing. Aim for the head; it's instant.

2. The Entity is blind. It hunts by sound and touch. Walk, don't sprint, near it — and escape aggro through the vents. Hiding in a corner fails because it isn't looking with eyes.

3. Toilet paper is a weapon. TP kills Doppelgangers and the robber with no penalty. The humblest item in the store is also one of the safest kill tools.

4. Don't swing the sledgehammer at humans. It one-shots anything — including the robber and troublemakers, which are fines, not kills. Sledgehammers are for bodies, not people.

5. Barricade exactly three spots. Front door, bathroom entrance, back door. Everything else is interior — don't waste planks.

6. Bandages run, medkits stop. Bandages heal while moving; the token medkit channels standing still and resets when you take a hit. Medkits go behind barricades only.

7. The Marionette punishes chip damage. The more damage it takes, the faster it gets. Either wind the music box in time, or commit to burst damage — never nibble.

Money & Economy

8. Rats are worth $3 alive. Throw them in the dumpster. Killing them pays $0.10 — a $2.90 mistake per rat.

9. Grab tokens before reading the board. Reading the Midnight News notice starts the shift — sweep the store for tokens first.

10. Boss tasks pay $20 personal. They bypass the salary formula entirely and are the cleanest money in the game.

11. Spin the wheel every night. Once all hats are owned, hat results refund the 5-token cost — spins become free rolls at $10 revenue.

Secrets & Easter Eggs

12. Spare the skinless antlered figure. Leave the idle entity alone and it rewards you with a heart made of gold coins. Shooting idle entities gets you aggressive phone calls instead ("we know... you are kind..."). The Night 10 forest ritual also yields a coin heart.

13. The rubber duck deals bouncing damage. A community legend: a member posted ducks for 16 straight days to beg for its inclusion. It throws, it bounces, it hurts.

14. The lost dog is a red herring. Guillermo (brown fur) ≠ Tofu (golden, Charles Wigglebottom's service dog). No one has found a way to recover Guillermo — stop spending on the mystery.

15. Pets eat evidence (and profit). Your pet (Puppy/Husky/Kitty/Goose) helps on shift but eats leftover body parts — $0.10 lost per limb. Bag remains fast when grinding chores.

The Mistakes That End Runs

• Shooting Clyde (voids all ending achievements — forever, that run)
• Rejecting Bonnie McCree over her glasses
• Killing the dancing man in person (the Lens image dances, not him)
• Believing the "secret ending" rumors — there are exactly three endings (see All Endings)

One More: Accessibility

The game includes an Arachnophobia mode — useful if the Entity's spider-like design is more than you signed up for. Check the settings.

Tips sourced from Steam community guides, r/ShiftAtMidnight and player testing.