Click ground to walk; click characters to approach and swing. Space uses a nearby joy first; otherwise it swings. Recharging joys show their cooldown instead of triggering a swing. E makes regrettable small talk. WASD / arrows move. Hold Shift or toggle RUN to sprint using stamina.
Finish ALL three district tasks: bonks, DIFFERENT relief stops, and gold-diamond errands. Graduation is automatic. Your current level and strength carry over; health refills and stress drops. Clear all five districts to win. The Bureaucracy Building comes before the airport.
Lower levels give +1 level, strength, and stress relief. Equal levels add stress. Bonking a higher level is fatal. Hunters also attack unprovoked. A stronger attacker’s landed hit removes one heart AND one level (minimum level 1). Dodge the red wind-up! First aid heals a heart; bonking the level-0 intern near arrivals can help rebuild lost levels.
People approach and interrupt you. Office meetings and red-tape queues slow you down. Hazard circles show stressful areas; periodic announcements affect the district. Green quiet zones repel hunters and lower stress.
Joys recharge in 25s. Dogs protect you for 9s; headphones block conversation for 15s; coffee restores stamina and boosts speed. Reusing a joy helps stress but only counts once per district.
Click the mini-map to travel. Gold ◆ = errands, green = relief, purple = trouble. Drag the world to look around; scroll to zoom; C recenters. P / Escape pauses.
Even your existential crisis can wait a minute.