Exploring the halls of Paper Cut Mansion can be dizzying and disorienting under normal circumstances. If you're not careful, you'll find yourself going in circles or blundering into traps. The game is further complicated by the existence of three parallel dimensions, each with a unique set of rules. Traveling between the dimensions is a key gameplay element.
The game mostly leaves players to their own devices, so it can be confusing when you first enter a different dimension. If you're having trouble making heads or tails of the worlds within the game, this guide will fill you in with everything you need to know!
What Are The Dimensions?
On each floor of the mansion, you'll find portals to the different dimensions. Each dimension has one portal per floor, and you can freely pass between them as long as you can reach the appropriate portal in one piece. The purple portal leads to the Neocortex, the red portal leads to the Reptilian Complex, and the blue portal leads to the Limbic System.
The map layout doesn't change when you travel from one dimension to another, and NPCs exist simultaneously in all three. If you accept a quest in one dimension, you can claim its reward in any of the others without having to return to the first.
To move to the next floor, you'll have to complete a main objective in two of the three dimensions; one given by the Talking Door, and the other by the Gatekeeper. It's possible to complete the Gatekeeper's quest before opening the Talking Door, letting you finish a floor all at once.
The Talking Door's quest is always related to the dimension in which the current floor started, and the Gatekeeper's quest will always take place in one of the other two - use this to plan ahead!
Toby has three health bars, one for each dimension. They're in the top-left corner of the screen, and color-coded identically to the portals. This means that damage you take in one dimension won't count against you in the others. If one of your health bars is critical, find a portal and get to another dimension until you can heal!
Some late-game traps and enemies can deal multiple types of damage simultaneously. Usually this means dealing Fear (purple) or Bloodlust (red) in addition to the damage type appropriate to the current dimension. Be especially careful around these foes!
Neocortex
Your very first game will always start in the Neocortex. This dimension is focused on exploration and puzzle-solving, but it has plenty of dangers lurking throughout. In the Neocortex, you can inspect furniture scattered throughout the mansion. Rotating objects will often reveal coins, making the Neocortex the best place to build up some cash.
Your main goal in the Neocortex is to find key items that will let you bypass locked doors. These always take the form of a randomly-generated cipher, which you'll need to input the correct code when you find the lock. If the Talking Door's quest in the Neocortex, your goal is to find the golden key; it's always hidden in a piece of furniture behind a locked door.
If the Gatekeeper's quest sends you to the Neocortex, you'll need to find a boxlike cipher to determine which letters to use in the Gatekeeper's puzzle box.
Ghosts And Traps
While you're exploring the Neocortex, watch for objects flashing and listen for sudden sounds. Several pieces of furniture on each floor will contain traps, and when one activates you only have an instant to get out of the way. Getting hit by traps deals a small amount of damage, but many traps will fire every time you pass them!
Rarely - no more than twice per floor - inspecting an object will reveal a ghost. Ghosts will relentlessly chase you, dealing heavy damage if they catch you. After about thirty seconds, they give up and vanish. Ghosts are the only enemies that will pursue you into other dimensions, and cannot be damaged even if you travel to the Reptilian Complex.
If you encounter a ghost, keep moving and stick to open areas. Ghosts have a dash attack that is almost sure to hit you in tight quarters. If you've found the Priest on your current floor, stop whatever you're doing and go to him. The Priest banishes any ghosts that enter his room, provided you've solved his puzzle at least once.
Limbic System
The Limbic System is a dimension of biting cold and oppressive darkness. Your only light source is Toby's flashlight, and you'll slowly take damage as long as you're in the Limbic System. On the bright side, there are no enemies here whatsoever!
Icicles occasionally fall from the ceiling in the Limbic System, dealing moderate damage if they hit you. Watch out for red warning areas and keep moving to avoid getting hit.
Visiting the Limbic System is a treasure hunt - NPCs will often send you here to find dropped items, and this is the only dimension where you can find Evidence to unravel the mystery of the mansion.
The Talking Door's quest in the Limbic System requires you to light Toby's torch in the starting room, then use it to light the other torches throughout the floor. Toby's torch will go out after a short while, or if you take damage from any source other than the cold, so you need to move quickly and efficiently from one torch to the next. The torches must be lit in a specific order; if you get it wrong, they'll all go out, forcing you to start over. The only way to find the correct order is through trial and error.
The Gatekeeper's quest in the Limbic System requires that you track down and capture several Memorimps. These small creatures move throughout the floor, usually hiding in corners. Catching them can be counterintuitive, since doing so requires that you press the attack button rather than the interact button.
Hypothermia damage can be healed by staying near a source of flame. Every NPC has a fire going nearby, so as long as you know where an ally is located you can warm up with them. This makes the Limbic System the safest of the three dimensions, despite its persistent damage.
Reptilian Complex
The Reptilian Complex is the combat dimension, filled with enemies that you'll need to defeat. Whenever you're in the Reptilian Complex, Toby has a basic rifle along with any other gear you have equipped. The rifle is comparatively weak, but will get the job done against basic enemies and doesn't have a cooldown.
The Reptilian Complex plays differently depending on whether the floor started there. If the floor starts in the Neocortex or Limbic System, enemies in the Reptilian Complex will consistently spawn, giving you a steady stream of threats. If the floor starts in the Reptilian Complex, there will instead be glowing red crystals scattered throughout the floor, which spawn enemies when destroyed, but there will be no wandering monsters to deal with at all. The Talking Door will require that you destroy all the crystals and defeat the enemies that they spawn.
If you start on the Reptilian Complex, don't activate any crystals until you've found both side quests on the current floor. Since there will be a finite number of enemies, it's possible to lock yourself out of some side quests by defeating enemies before accepting them.
Each floor has different enemy types, and there will occasionally be a powerful boss wandering the map. If the floor has a boss, the Gatekeeper will only let you proceed to the next floor once the boss is defeated.