Well, you might have picked this up on the opening sale, or just picked it up because it's cheap. WNO is a Slenderman clone with some small twists to keep things interesting. In this guide, I'll describe what every stat does, what character should you pick, a little bit of how to work as a team, and ultimately how to stay alive for LONG periods of time.

I will not however explain the maps: The game already runs on the formula that the newer you are to the concept, the better, and given the lack of story, I feel explaining where you should go would spoil the gameplay for you.

A lot of people doesn't really know which character to pick due to not knowing what the skills do. Most characters combine positives and negatives, so pick one that fits your style and knowledge of the map.

Sanity: Since the sanity may start going down overtime just by running, a high sanity character is adviced on unkown maps if you plan to take your time. A low sanity character may die extremely fast lategame.

Evasion: How fast the monster locks on to you and how fast it chases you. It's generally expendable to play solo, but on teams it makes you the last survivor fairly often.

Flashlight: How long your light lasts before starting to die off and flicker.

Stamina: For how long can your character run. Most don't outrun the monster, but it's still nice to have.

Speed: Simply, how fast can your character both walk and run. High speed characters (Alex and Hannah) are usually the most sought after, since they can blaze through maps and reposition as needed.

Scout: How long can you have the "It's dangerous to go alone" message on before starting to lose health. Fairly useless.

Following these simple tips will help you be alive for long, long periods of time, up to 40-50 minutes if need be. Of course, you're gonna be aiming to finish your games in 10-20 tops, but still.

-Check back somewhat often. Not all the time, but keep in mind that the monster is pretty quick. If you hear something behind you, check back IMMEDIATELY.

-Don't look straight at the monster, glance at it. Try to have it in your field of view but not right in the center of it. You can avoid screaming and losing larger amounts of sanity that way.

-Listen. The monster actually makes all sorts of noises, even some metallic ones. You can pinpoint his location a lot of the time just by paying attention.

-Look for landmarks and follow paths. While it's fairly common to run into the trees and stumble across tapes, specially early game, in the end you'll need to get the last two while the monster stalks you relentlessly. They're usually placed in spots you'd want to keep the hell away from, like houses, freaky statues and the like.

-If the monster blinks straight in your group's faces, either try to all run in the same direction, or split into couples. The monster seems to actively attempt that.

-If you die, search for tapes. You can also keep the living company so they don't panic from being alone. Other than that, feel free to scout, and enjoy your night vision.

-If you get a tape, there's a three second or so grace period where you won't die from going alone, and the monster can't attack you. Sometimes it bugs up and the monster just instakills you anyway, even when you've just picked the eigth tape, though. It still counts as a win and you'll get the "An ancient evil awakens from it's slumber" rather than the "You are dead"

Characters have slightly different playstyles, which is where most of the game's variety comes from.

-Kurt: +1 Scout. Default character. Kurt's strength is his lack of weaknesses. He can also stray aside a little from the Scooby gang to grab tapes. He does need to keep tabs on where everyone is, but he's still a solid pick to start the game with. Kurt-Types can fill any role in a group.

-Jean Luc: +1 Speed, +2 Stamina, -2 Sanity. Jean Luc is the Shaggy of the default Scooby gang. He moves sligthly faster than the rest and also runs longer. His low sanity makes it really easy for him to die the longer the game drags on, though, and he also can't look at the monster very long. Jean's based around listening to the monster and just running from him rather than keeping him at bay. His high speed usually makes him the leader.

-Mary Ann: -1 Stamina, +2 Sanity. Everybody calls her Velma. Default as well. Mary Ann can't run as long as the rest of the group, but she can look at the monster longer, and with good strategy she can live up to an hour. Her high sanity also makes her the designated checker in a group, and responsible for keeping the monster at bay the most often. Probably the best starter pick. Good caboose, as all the sanity characters.

-Sarah: -1 Speed, +2 Evasion. Sarah's really good at staying alive due to the monster chasing her slowly and not targetting her often, but she's also slower than the rest, which means most people will ditch you even unwittingly. Sarah's decent on her own, but generally the one people gets stuck with in teams. Usually forced to caboose, but should be in the middle.

-Frank: +1 Flashlight. Kurt-types are all rounders, and he has a slightly better stat, and a kickass player model.

-Chuck: +3 Flashlight, +1 Stamina, -2 Scout, -1 Evasion. Chuck's style centers around being the leader of a group using his long flashlight time to find stuff and his stamina to counter his low evasion. Awesome team player, bad solo. If split into couples, Chuck should go with a high sanity character to watch the monster for him, since lategame gets pretty rough for him.

-Richard: +2 Sanity, +1 Flashlight, -2 Evasion. A twist on Mary Ann's stats, the monster does latch on to him a lot, but his high sanity is useful to keep it at bay. Lategame, though, that low evasion coupled with a flashlight that's dying anyway and no speed or stamina makes it pretty hard to survive. He's better off as a monster watcher in the middle or the caboose.

-Hannah: +3 Speed, +1 Sanity, -2 Evasion, -1 Scout. Hannah is the fastest character in the game, which allows her to reposition as needed. Her good sanity makes it easier for her to stay alive a little longer than the rest, too. She's usually the leader. While playing as her, you need to make sure you stay with the group: Her bad scout and high speed makes sure that if you get separated, you will die first. Remember to run checks every once in a while, her low evasion makes it easy for the monster to track and chase her down, and her decent sanity is meant to balance that out with glances.

-Rafaella: -1 Stamina, -1 Flashlight, +3 Sanity. She's the perfect caboose, with not crippling weaknesses and the highest sanity in the game. She can keep the monster at bay and live through the game for ludicrous amounts of time. She's a great beginner character, since she naturally gets the highest playtime of them all.

-Sylvia: +2 Speed, +1 Scout, -2 Sanity. The one character that combines Scout with Speed! She's actually pretty good at sticking with the group then going ahead and nabbing some tapes, but it depends on your teammates whether that'll be appreciated or not. Much like Jean Luc, she shouldn't look at the monster and just walk/run from it. She can lead too.

Invisible Man: -2 Scout, -2 Flashlight, +3 Evasion. The joke character! He's very hard to track down for the monster for obvious reasons, but his low flashlight makes him a poor solo choice. He's an okay middler if you run background checks every once in a while or have someone that does.

Invisible Woman: -2 Sanity, -2 Stamina, +3 Evasion. The other joke character! Just like the Man, she's hard to track down, but her low Sanity AND Stamina turns her into cannon fodder even more than her husband. She can't look at the monster OR run from it. She's an okay middler in a large group, though. In couples, she's probably doomed at some point.

Alisa: +3 Sanity, +3 Stamina, -3 Evasion, -2 Flashlight. She can both outrun the monster and look at it for insane amounts of time, but the monster is almost permanently on her back. She's pretty good even solo if you like that, though. It feels like she has more control over the monster than the monster does over her.

Jack: +3 Stamina, -3 Sanity, +3 Flashlight, -2 Evasion. His style is pretty much RUUUUN WHILE YOU CAAAAAAN. He's just a heart attack waiting to happen. You can't look at the monster for any time and should rely more on sound cues to keep running in the opposite direction. His long flashlight makes sure he knows where he's going for a long time, too. He's overall fun to play as, but pretty hard if you like knowing where the monster is.

Adele: +1 Speed, +1 Stamina, -1 Evasion. She's okay. Not very remarkable. If you get her early and prefer her to the others you have, you could use her. She fits any role.

Oliver: -1 Speed, +1 Sanity, +1 Flashlight. Much like Adele, he's okay. The -1 Speed means he's usually doomed to caboose, the +1 Sanity means he's okay at it. The flashlight doesn't really make much of a difference.

Katya: +3 Stamina, +1 Evasion, -3 flashlight. Her super low flashlight REALLY is a problem. If you know the map, she's really good at keeping away from the monster, but if you don't, you should probably not pick her.

Omar: +1 Stamina, +3 Scout, -3 Evasion. Okay... Black dude dies first. Reference to the 90s horror movies cliche? His high scout coupled with his low evasion means he usually separates from the group and gets stealth hugged to death in 10 seconds flat. His okay Stamina is nowhere near enough to outrun the monster. If you play as him, he gets stalked 24/7 and the monster is constantly breathing down your neck, so... Play him if you like that, or don't if you don't.

Alex: +3 Speed, -1 Stamina, -1 Evasion. She's slightly slower than Hannah only because she runs shorter before getting winded, but she's still overall my favourite. Her meh evasion is offset by the fact that she just walks so damn fast. Early on, you can outpace the monster just by walking. At 6-7 tapes you're probably gonna have to run and find the remaining ones quick, since her Sanity is standard, but she's still awesome as a solo and can lead teams.

Johan: +1 Stamina, +2 Scout, -1 Flashlight, -1 Sanity. He's okay. He can scout a little and use his stamina to reposition quickly. If you like the scout types, he's probably the best of the bunch. Meh sanity and flashlight don't usually build up to be a problem and he's useful scouting from the middle of a group.

Susanna: +1 Speed, +3 Stamina, -3 Scout. Good middler or leader of the not so fast characters. The fact that her weakness is scout makes her have no tradeoff for the high stamina and okay speed, but she's one of the later ones you'll unlock and at that point you'll have Hannah and maybe Alex. She's good, but overshadowed by awesome.

Most of them are done solo, two aren't.


Chateau:


Bunker 51, part 1:


Bunker 51, part 2:


Saint Martin, part 1:


Saint Martin, part 2:


Founder's Hall:


Isla Grande:


Kvitoya: