As an apology for the recent string of delays, I have decided to restore what I believe to be the most recent revision of the "Beyond the Grave" demo. It is entirely unchanged from its original release, sans two small changes (one removing an ultimately unnecessary script intended to address stack level crashes, and the other commenting out a redundant line in a debugging script.)
That being said, here is a small sampling of tips on common sticking points, as well as a list of known issues. Do know that these will likely be— or have already been, in some cases— addressed in the next public release of the game. Additionally, some of these points may contain what people would consider "spoilers," so consider yourself warned. However, I have tried to avoid giving out too many of the demo's secrets.
Tips
Saving at outlets will provide the party with a full heal.
Press the Q key to check for help when the indicator is displayed in the HUD. This will oftentimes provide you with the necessary context to complete obscure objectives, such as the key hunting segment. That being said...
The 401(k) weapon has its own balance separate of your overall Tokens, visible within the description for each associated skill and accessible by entering the Skills menu and choosing Deposit or Withdraw from the overworld. When High & Low is used, this directly modifies the balance of your 401(k); if you lose, you may be left unable to use standard attacks. The same applies to both Investment Banking as well as Bankrupture. Conversely, High & Low can also be used to farm for Tokens (and, in turn, Rocks) by cashing out with a large sum.
Your Rank in combat is determined exclusively by the amount of turns it took you to finish the battle. Receiving an A Rank doubles your spoils; receiving a B Rank leaves your spoils unchanged; receiving a C rank halves your spoils; receiving a D rank divides them by four; and receiving an E rank divides them by six. As such, it is always important to wrap up battles quickly; if you play well, you will never have to farm for resources. No encounter in this game is determined solely by luck; there is always an optimal, guaranteed-win strategy available in some capacity.
Using standard attacks on Shopping Carts and Trash Cans will all but ensure an A Rank is attained, lest you suffer an unlucky miss. Getting A Ranks will allow you to reach the requisite fare for the Uber much more quickly.
The speed with which you exhume a grave successfully during the grave robbing minigame directly correlates to the group of spoils your reward will draw from. As well, the amount of mistakes, you make when inputting the requisite keys determines your likelihood of being ambushed by a random encounter. If a grave is pulled in less than approximately 1.5 seconds, you will be rewarded with spoils from the first and highest tier of rewards; in 2.5 seconds, spoils from the second tier; in four seconds, spoils from the third and lowest tier; and in any longer time, no spoils at all. If you make no mistakes when inputting the requisite keys, you will never be ambushed by a random encounter; with one mistake, there is a 1/20 chance; with two mistakes, a 1/10; and with three mistakes, a 1/3 chance. Just as with the Rank system, "if you play well, you will never have to farm for resources."
Oh Fuck a Ghost and Little Boner will always begin each encounter by applying a buff to themselves. This gives you a turn to prepare a response or attempt to run.
Oh Fuuuuck a Ghost and Big Boner are "rare" enemies and will pose a significant threat if you are not adequately prepared. The best option may be to flee if your current kit is not suitable for the job.
Sun Medals are always plainly visible. Conversely, Moon Medals are always hidden in visually-obscured places.
As mentioned in their descriptions, Sun Medals make Tophat Bomb stronger, and Moon Medals make Tophat Inversion last longer (in increments of five.)
Hylian text is 100%, overtly intended to be completely unreadable. Nothing conveyed through this text is actually necessary to complete the demo, and translating it only provides the player with greater context to the overall story. It is solely for the purpose of worldbuilding and immersion, as Toy Freddy also does not understand the language as evidenced many times in the dialogue.
When navigating the Lost Woods, you can stand directly next to the exit tile for each tree and listen for a change in the volume of Freddy's laughter. If it gets louder, you're on the right track; if it gets quieter, you're going in the wrong direction; and if it stops entirely, you've taken an exit. If you pay careful attention to the volume of Freddy's laugh as you make progress, you'll eventually find that the forest is always changing...
As implied by their description, Stiff Shafts deal an enormous amount of damage when used concurrently with an exploding Tophat Bomb. This can be used to fell tanky foes such as the Stupid Fucking Asshole and Bastard with ease.
Cheerwine's Aftertaste status lowers incoming physical damage by 25% and provides 10% LP regeneration; the Shamrock Shake's Aftertaste status lowers SP costs by 25% and provides 10% SP regeneration; and finally, Monster Energy's Aftertaste status lowers incoming physical damage by 10%, lowers SP costs by 10%, provides 5% LP regeneration per turn, and provides 5% SP regeneration per turn.
The Worthless Plank, purchasable from the Merchant's shop in the Lost Woods, is an invaluable asset when engaging in combat with any foe that uses projectiles. When equipped, it will automatically bypass the associated QTEs for any projectile-type attack. This is useful when fighting Wooden Fucks and Monopoly Men.
When fighting Piranha Plants, you can use Tophat Bounce to avoid their massive, highly-damaging lunge attack. They always use it every other turn, unless otherwise incapacitated.
When Toy Freddy must search for the three keys, approach any of the Monopoly Men with at least one Rock in hand. Pay attention to the price they offer you; if you can't afford it, or simply do not wish to pay the given amount, reject the offer and begin haggling them down bit by bit by entering new counteroffers. The larger the difference between their initial offer and your counteroffer, the more likely they are to lash out and fight you.
When playing the rotating key minigame, ensure that the key is correctly oriented to enter the lock. Once the key has been inserted, use WASD to rotate it and disarm the lock. The correct orientation looks like this:
When fighting the Stupid Fucking Asshole, there are a variety of approaches that will all but ensure a swift victory, the safest of which involves continually reapplying Paralysis through Timber Testicles or Second Amendment's Paralysis Bullets.
In the forest maze, you cannot be harmed when standing in the water.
Known issues
Very rarely, the game may show the Rank dialogue a second time after returning to the overworld. This often results in a game crash, so save often.
Investment Banking may return your stats to the wrong numbers (within a margin of ~1 up or down) when used repeatedly, as a result of division/rounding inaccuracies.
The Help function may randomly be disabled under certain contexts. I have been unable to reproduce this bug, so I am unsure of how to avoid it.
The visuals for the key radar may become "stuck." I have been unable to reproduce this bug, so I am unsure of how to avoid it.
Not a bug per-se, but a logistical issue; the Rank you are rewarded with at the end of the bartering section disproportionately values the overall time spent. As such, while you may get multiple Perfect scores for each Monopoly Man encounter, you may end up still getting an E Rank if your overall time was too long.
The Timber Testicles shot by Wooden Fucks in the forest maze may behave strangely under certain conditions.
Very rarely, Toy Freddy may clip through the Joust Protagonists in the forest maze if walking directly towards them while they are charging at you.
The sequence initiated by interacting with Freddy's grave does not function as intended if you do so from behind.
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