Playing guide for new players:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
1. Almost all of you will begin ill-equipped for the dangers ahead of you. If you do not find health items, armor, or information, at the very least, it may be difficult for you to survive, or know where you should go. If you do not find a weapon, odds are very good you won't win many battles, if any. Searching early is probably crucial, but...

2. You are vulnerable when you're searching, and especially if you are alone and unarmed. It is also a viable strategy to find yourself an ally, to watch over you while you search, in defensive mode, moving slowly, for the combat bonuses, etc., and vice-versa, once you have a weapon. However, like most strategies in a game like this, there are positives and negatives. The big negative is you do not know who you can trust... or who among you is still fully human.

3. Key buildings and landmarks are typically places which can bring you greater positives or negatives than the average location. These buildings will contain keys, weapons, special items, or information that is very useful in helping you escape, but there are downsides. For example, everyone knows where the key buildings and landmarks are, and that means heavy traffic. Heavy traffic means larger groups of people. More people means more chances someone in the group isn't human at all, or is hostile to your group. And of course....

4. Large groups of people attract zombies, and most especially and dangerously, El Gigante. A large group is the primary target of the zombie team. Their goal is to inflict damage, and they do not care if they die, because there are ALWAYS MORE OF THEM. You cannot wipe them all out. That is why they wish to attack the largest possible groups of people. You must be well-equipped because large numbers of heat-generating, alive-smelling bodies attract zombies, and El Gigante in particular, is an extremely dangerous and effective crowd-busting device. More than that, El Gigante is even harder to kill than the previous iteration.... and just as deadly.

5. Some buildings contain nothing but more zombies. You have been warned. Searching may result in being ambushed by zombies that were once trapped behind those walls. Being equipped and prepared before trying to break into buildings in this zombie-infested city is a grand idea.

6. There will be story-related and player-triggered events which will cause your entire situation to change. Specifically, the strength of the zombie horde may massively increase at any given moment. You will be warned when this happens. The behavior of the zombies will also change over time.

7. There are players whose only motive is to slay as many people as possible, and have the means of doing so right from the start of the game, and therefore you may be ambushed or shot at, at any given time, and die suddenly. This is not meant to be a cakewalk. Every second you are alive in this game could be your last. Understand this above all else.

8. The first time you lose all your vitality points, you automatically win the "luck" toss and survive with 1 vitality remaining. You cannot die the first time you are attacked, no matter how effective your attacker, as long as you choose the option to FLEE FROM COMBAT IMMEDIATELY. This guarantees your survival as long as you haven't reached zero vitality yet. From then onward, your luck is at the mercy of unforgiving fate. It's a 50/50 toss, and you die when you lose it.

9. Strength is a substitute for finding keys, in most cases. If you have massive strength, you can open almost any door. Otherwise you have to move on foot to several destinations, which increases the amount of time it takes for you to solve the game and find an escape route. That gives the zombies more opportunities to eat you, and for others to find you. It is not strictly necessary to have a strength higher than 1, but it helps.

10. Stealth is a substitute for vitality, if you have massive stealth, and elect to flee from battles, it is possible for you to avoid detection and sneak through much of the dangers before you, conserving your health and covering ground more safely, if not more swiftly. Stealth is still a viable method of escape from zombies even if it is at 1, so it is not necessary to have a stealth higher than one.

11. You can outrun the zombies if you sprint. Speed is a substitute for combat, against the zombies anyway. Therefore it's not necessary to have a combat rating higher than 1.

12. Having high combat, even if you are unarmed, allows you to dodge damaging attacks. It helps you not die. But as mentioned, you can win the game with a 1 for combat, assuming you avoid battle, escape from battle, heal yourself regularly, or have lots of hit points.

13. Having high search allows you to find items and armor and health, and shouldn't be neglected, but even a poor searcher has a 50/50 shot at finding something, and a 100 percent chance of finding any key items in tiles they have full access to (open buildings, or key items laying in plain sight). Therefore even someone with a search of 1 can win the game.

14. It's not recommended to have a vitality of 1. However, since you have a 50/50 shot of surviving all lethal blows, and some blows cause like 4-5 damage anyway, having high vitality is not miles and miles more safe than having only 1 vitality. You just have a chance to heal yourself and survive more non-lethal blows. Having a vitality of one means the zombies are a lot more dangerous to you than anyone else, since a horde is almost guaranteed to hit you at least once or more.

Playing the game on Nightmarish Difficulty:

15. If you do set your maximum vitality to 1, I will give your final score a bonus multiplier for every round you survive. That specific bonus is: your final score will be multiplied by 1.01, cumulatively, for every single round you are alive. So, for example, if your final score is 100 (to demonstrate percentages), and the bonus is 1.01, and you somehow died immediately, your score is now 101. You survive the first two rounds (1 cycle), it is now 102.

Vitality of 1 Non-survival Final Score bonus multiplier

Movement Phase 1- 101
Interactive Phase 1- 102
Movement Phase 2- 103
Interactive Phase 2- 104
(etc) see spoiler for full breakdown of your multiplier.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
101%
102%
103%
104%
105%
106%
107%
108%
109%
110%
111%
112%
113%
114%
116%
117%
118%
119%
120%
122%
123%
124%
125%
126%
128%
129%
130%
132%
133%
134%
136%
137%
138%
140%
141%
143%
144%
145%
147%
148%
150%
151%
153%
154%
156%
158%
159%
161%
162%
164%

16. If you survive the game, free yourself, and escape, with an original maximum vitality of 1, that final total score (after multipliers) is then DOUBLED on top of everything else, given the extreme unlikelihood of you surviving.

And a hearty congratulations.

Still, I wouldn't try this unless you really like being dead.

17. Remember, you score well if your team does. Do things that help your team, not just yourself. Team scoring is very important. But, if you think you can score better on your own...

Playing for maximum evils:

18. If you are a Town Survivor, but think you will score better this way, you can elect to turn yourself evil and play as if you were a serial killer. Your objective is to kill the most people possible, and be the last Town Survivor standing at the end of the game, and if possible, the last Player remaining in Southgate. If you elect to play the game this way, your points scored on every round after your elected to turn evil is doubled. In order to do this, you cannot be Leon S. Kennedy or a Town Defender, and you must send me an order to turn evil. Once you go down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. You must know that you can never be turned from the dark side. If you are the last town survivor standing, your score (after you turn evil, and then onward) will be tripled instead of doubled. If you are the last person standing in Dark Falls, your score (after you turn evil, and then onward) will be quadrupled instead of doubled or tripled. Note that if you turn Serial Killer, your points for escaping from Southgate are severely reduced, so your incentive is to remain in Southgate and be the last one standing from your team, and overall. Also, you can assist your Town Survivor teammates in escaping, to boost your Team Score. You can be an evil, ruthless bastard and still play for your team, it's just that most of the people you'll be able to kill are your own teammates, and some of them will be able to detect that you are a threat that must be eliminated, and then they will try to eliminate you.

Caveat 1: if you elect to turn evil and then never do anything evil, or attempt to kill anyone, I will unilaterally decide that you haven't actually turned evil and there will be no bonus. Convince me you're evil.

Caveat 2: If you betray your own teammates, the violence that transpires will be part of the public writeup. It may be difficult to convince people to trust you when there are tales of betrayals all over the public writeup. They won't know you did it unless they're a police detective, but violently betraying your fellow survivors should make everyone more wary.

Playing to win normally:

19. Achieve as many of your objectives as possible, get as many of your team out of Soutgate alive as possible, personally survive, never stop sending in orders even if you die, destroy as many hostiles as possible, open as many buildings as possible, find as many rare or unique items as possible, etc. Even if you fail, each round that you spend achieving something that could conceivably help you or your team win the game will earn you points. The specific point bonuses will be announced.

20. Every round you send in an order is a large amount of points. Missing orders is missing out on a great number of points. Participation points are usually much higher than any other point bonuses you can find, so continue participating even if you think you're not doing well. You can still score well if you keep playing and trying.

21. Your team's finish will give you a bonus multiplier to your final score. If your team achieves victory first, second, third, etc, you get different multipliers. If your team does not win, but outlasts other teams, it is ranked accordingly. The serial killers achieve a similar multiplier among themselves and are ranked accordingly, as they have no "team".

22. If El Gigante dies, moving in groups becomes a much stronger tactical decision than before. Slaying him early could be massively beneficial to your team, even if you die in the process.

23. Avoid battles you cannot win. Fighting a losing battle to the death means you're dead, so good job, hero.

24. Some members of your team are strategically more valuable than others. Keep them alive as best you can.

25. Never give up.