Shift At Midnight Intro Walkthrough — Setup, Pet Choice, and First-Shift Rules

The intro is short, but it establishes the campaign objective and the evidence rules that every later night expects you to use. Make the setup choices deliberately, then pause on each How to Play card instead of pressing through it: the database rule and the escape-response rule are the foundation of the entire walkthrough.

Choose the right first run

INTRO-M01 — Check settings before pressing Play

From the title screen, open Settings before starting if you need to adjust volume, brightness, language, or controls for your system. The opening story immediately uses dark scenes and small text, so this is the cleanest time to make those changes. Return to the title screen and select Play only when the interface and dialogue are easy to read.

Make readability and control changes before entering the story; the intro proceeds directly into the pet sequence.

INTRO-M02 — Start Story Mode, solo or with coworkers

For a first clear, choose Story Mode. It is the structured campaign covered by this walkthrough and contains 13 nights. Endless Mode is not the starting route; it unlocks after Story Mode is completed.

You may run the campaign solo, as both local evidence videos do, or use online co-op with as many as three players total. If you are following this walkthrough alone, continue without waiting for a lobby. If you bring coworkers, decide who will scan IDs, check the computer, restock, and prepare defenses so that no one accepts a customer before the evidence check is finished. On Steam, plan to invite other Steam players rather than assuming cross-platform matchmaking.

Complete the pet prologue

INTRO-M03 — Choose the pet you want to save

The story recalls a visit to an animal shelter and asks you to choose a pet. Move through the available animals, highlight the one you want, and confirm the selection. This is a persistent story choice, so do not rush past the confirmation prompt just to reach the store.

The highlighted animal becomes the companion named in your campaign scenes and treatment reminders.

INTRO-M04 — Name the selected pet

Enter a name in the text field and submit it. The two evidence runs use different names—Timmy in one and Dilly Duck in the other—so later dialogue may not match another player's recording word for word. The important part is recognizing that the name shown on bills and story screens refers to the pet you selected here.

Your chosen name is reused by the campaign; differences between videos are not different objectives.

INTRO-M05 — Read why the night shift matters

Advance the story panels one at a time. The quiet life with your pet is interrupted when a terrifying race—described by people as doppelgangers—enters the story. Your pet then needs ongoing treatment, and the dangerous rural job is the only work available to pay for it.

This calm scene establishes the companion whose treatment drives the 13-night campaign.

Treatment costs are the reason shift earnings and later campaign decisions matter.

INTRO-M06 — Enter the dangerous job

On the final story panel, confirm Enter Game. The text makes the immediate goal explicit: you only need to keep taking this dangerous job until your pet is feeling better. The next scene begins outside the gas station and leads straight into Night 1.

Selecting Enter Game ends the narrative setup and moves into the first shift.

Memorize the four pre-shift rules

INTRO-M07 — Every customer is a verification problem

The first How to Play card says that customers will arrive throughout the night and that your job is to determine whether each one is a doppelganger. Do not decide from appearance, voice, or attitude alone. Treat every counter visit as a sequence of evidence checks.

The stable objective is classification; the specific customers and nightly details can vary.

INTRO-M08 — Treat the computer as the verified baseline

The next card gives the most important rule in the game: use the computer to detect doppelgangers because its database always contains correct, verified information. Once Night 1 teaches the scanner, compare the customer with the record rather than changing the record to fit their story.

When a person's claim conflicts with the database, the database is the trusted side of the comparison.

INTRO-M09 — Question the mismatch before deciding

Use the profile fields to question customers about their job, appearance, habits, route, or other listed facts. An unusual detail is a prompt to investigate, not automatic proof. Ask about it, compare the answer with the verified record and any nightly information, and make the accept-or-reject decision only after the comparison is complete.

The correct loop is record first, question second, decision last.

INTRO-M10 — Know the consequence of an escaped doppelganger

If the game reports that a doppelganger left the store, stop treating the shift as normal retail work. The tutorial's response is explicit: board up, lay traps, and hide. Later chapters explain each attack in detail, but before Night 1 you should already understand that one wrong transaction can change the shift into a survival phase.

An escaped doppelganger triggers preparation for an attack; do not continue serving as if nothing happened.

INTRO-M11 — Walk to the gas station and begin Night 1

After the story and tutorial finish, you spawn outside the illuminated roadside store. Head to the entrance and follow the first objective inside. From this point onward, use the Night 1 walkthrough for the notice board, cleaning jobs, scanner tutorial, customer decisions, and closing sequence.

The exterior arrival is the handoff from the intro to the Night 1 objective list.

Before entering Night 1

Confirm this checklist before moving on:

• Mode: Story Mode, not the post-story Endless Mode.
• Players: solo is fully workable; co-op supports up to three players total.
• Story objective: earn enough through dangerous shifts to fund your chosen pet's treatment.
• Evidence order: customer arrives → check the verified computer record → question discrepancies → decide.
• Failure response: if a doppelganger escapes, barricade the store, place traps, and hide or prepare for the attack directed by that night.
• Next page: continue with Night 1 for the first playable shift.