Hard to the Core is a relatively challenging achievement, requiring you to complete the game in under an hour (60 Minutes), with no deaths.

I know there are video walkthroughs for this achievement, but I also know not everyone wants to have to watch an hour long video just to see how to do it. This guide will give you helpful tips for the more difficult areas to speed through.

Here are some quick, helpful tips that are non-chapter specific:

• Play the game through a few times to learn how puzzles / bosses work
  
  
• Sprint when you can (but be mindful of when you are about to be chased and save your 'stamina' up for that. Be careful sprinting on narrow ledges.
  
  
• You can sprint while crouching, and light lighters while sprinting.
  
  
• You sprint SLOWER when your hand is touching a wall (You can tell when she has her hand out) This is most noticeable on walkways that hug a wall
  
  
• Jumping can help you. To get away from leaches, to avoid grabbing hands, to speed up when 'hungry' and walking slower.
  
  
• Sliding (Crouch while sprinting) is a good, quick way to get into a hiding spot quickly
  
  
• Ignore Collectibles. They will slow you down.
  
  
• Having the "Grab" Button held down, even if not climbing, can sometimes save your life. If you slip off a ledge, you have a chance to grab on again and climb up. This does not work on Pipes
  
  
• Time spent in Pause does not count to your timer

There are two ways to go about getting the 'no death' side of this achievement:

1. Play through with no deaths

This is as straightforward as can be. You simply rely on luck and skill to get you through the entire game without a single death, restarting if you die.

2. Back up a save copy of your game

This one is a bit more, well, 'cheaty', but it works and it saves a lot of frustration. What you do is save a copy of your game periodically when you hit what you know is a check point, and save it in a different location.

Then, if you die, you go to that back up save, copy it, and paste it in the Saved folder (removing your other save file), restarting you at the last saved point with no deaths on record.

This way you are still playing the game, and technically with no deaths.

Save games are located at:


YOu want to copy the entire SaveGames folder and save it somewhere else, and replace only that folder when reverting to a previous save

So using my own speed run as an example, these are the times you are aiming for per chapter:

CHapter 1: 11 Minutes
Chapter 2: 14.-15 Minutes
Chapter 3: 15-16 Minutes
Chapter 4: 6 Minutes
Chapter 5: 3 Minutes

In total, my game took me 49.31 Minutes, you can round that up to 50 Minutes total, which is 10 minutes extra time for potential mistakes that increase your time.

When your character suffers the hunger pangs, it can be annoying with how slow you move. You can no longer sprint!

HOwever...you can jump. If you jump during your hunger pangs, you'll make better time than if you just limp slowly along.

Note: For the more serious hunger pangs, you eventually lose the ability to jump as well during the final stages of the hunger, but you can still use jump during the initial hunger pangs to cover ground until the ability is locked.

Most of this level is straight forward and simply sprinting through the levels as fast as you can.

The first real dangerous moment is when you drop into the inky slime puddle with the leeches. The best way I have found to get through this quickly without dying is to light your lighter after standing up, get out of the ink puddle and sprint almost directly right, go behind the bucket, and towards the door. Jumping if you get too close to a leech helps.

The Leeches have a hard time grabbing you if you're jumping, and unless you are unlucky and land directly on a leech, you should get through safely

You need to be careful, but you can sprint through this entire thing. You do not have to follow the walkway south, you can make the jump to the left in the dark and safely make it. This shaves a couple seconds off your time, which can be invaluable if you're cutting it close.

Eye 1:


The quickest way through the Eye chamber is to hug the back wall. When you reach the right corner, Wait until it looks to the very far left, and then make a break for the cages

Eye 2:


This Eye is twitchier than the first one, but going along the back wall still feels like the optimal strategy. You have to be very careful when at the far right corner and preparing to go out the doorway, for the eye will look back suddenly just as the wheeled trash can starts sliding to the left.

The Lair contains your first real boss encounters, and I will do my best to explain the best way to quickly get through each one without dying.

So this is actually rather easy. What you do is:

- sprint and jump, and climb up onto the cage.

-He will start looking for you.

-Run along the cages and jump. You HAVE to land on the carpet for this speed run tactic to work. If you land on the carpet, he will continue to not know you are there. Go through the hole.

-You do NOT have to lift the trap door all the way. You can lift it up about half way and then slide in.

While you cannot sprint while in the shoes, you can sprint and jump off the suitcases to cover more ground and get you ahead of the pursuing monster.

Jumping will not get you on the suit cases faster, you'd be better off holding down the Grab key / button / trigger and pressing up every time you get to a suit case.

This room is fairly simple, you can get away with throwing only one Cymbal Monkey to distract him.

In the first room, throw one as far to the left as you can, and then go through the cubby hole. Be sure to stay on the carpet!

Run for the book shelf and start climbing. You should have plenty of time to get out of reach.

As soon as you push the door down and cause a ruckus, slip into the room and stay still on the carpet to the far left. When he approaches the clocks, you will creep your way to the shoes and grab one. Wait by the button for the clocks to go off, then heave the shoe at the button and run down the corridor. You should have plenty of time and a good head start, and not be in any danger.

Sneaking through the library is unavoidably slow going. You can avoid detection by carefully walking around the blocks, and throw the monkey. THen creep along the shelf and throw the large brown vase. From there, you can quickly make your way to the TV Room.

You have to wait for him to approach the TV. If you move too soon, he will spot you.

There are two shelves you can take a short cut through rather than follow the winding hallway

This boss fight can be annoyingly hard, but with practice and experience you can do it in one go, within a few seconds

He will always start with his left hand feeling the cage, and the right searching. When he brings his left hand out, (See screenshot) that is your moment to jump down from the back cages and pull out the cage support.

After that, run back to the cages and wait for him to once more feel the cage with his left hand, and then move it. That is your cue to jump down and remove the last support.

The chefs are a lot easier to evade and fool than the Janitor. The moment you leave their line of sight they get confused and lose where you are. You can use this to speed through their level fairly quickly.

This section can be completed very quickly, especially if you're willing to take a bit of a risk.

- Instead of creeping all the way through the first kitchen, I creep halfway until I'm behind the chef. Then I sprint!


- SPrint into the next room and hurry to get under the small table. He will lose you and go to the left side of the kitchen to get a sausage.


- While he goes over there, you will sprint again, under the table, up the stairs, and to the back cupboard, which you climb up to the rafters. If you miss your chance, just wait. He will head to the back to stir some pots afterwards, you can go then.

Now that you have the key from the upstairs bedroom, you have to be a bit more careful. You cannot sprint now, so you have to time when you move.

-Enter the room when he is NOT in the room and wait by the barrel. Do NOT wait by the cubby hole, he can see you through it.

-Wait for him to come into the room, and as he does slip around the barrel and out the cubby hole.


You can now make your way all the way to the locked door. He has never seen me in all the times I've done this. I walk out the cubby hole, run past the stove, under the big table, around the stairs and up to the door without any problems.

Getting all three 'hams' on the trap door and THEN making sausage saves you a bit of time, so I recommend doing that. It doesn't appear to be a huge time saver, but every little bit of extra time for later helps.

Getting to the grinder is not really able to be sped up at all, but once there you can shave some valuable seconds off your timer.

- After hitting the button, immediately sprint for the cubby hole to your right. Don't worry about the chef, he will not see you.


This part is fairly simple. You slide out of the cubby, sprint to the table, grab the key, and make your way to the elevator. You can't really speed it up at all.

This level is pretty straightforward, but there are still ways to shave some time off.

- Hop out of the drain in front of the table they're working at, and sprint for the table to the right. Go under it, and immediately out the other side and sprint into the far room. THey will be looking for you on the other side of the kitchen so they will not see you. Flip the switch, and hide.

- One of them will come in and look around, then leave. Go back the way you came, under the table. There are two options now, they seem to be about the same in terms of time to complete, it mostly depends on where the Chefs are


Option 1: Go to the far left of the map, the second to last drain and come out. Go climb the shelf of dishes, hop onto the small bookshelf, and grab a hook.



Option 2: Go to the center plates, climb up, jump on hook. This seems a bit faster, but is also a lot riskier

This chapter is rather short, but fraught with peril. As long as you're quick on your feet you should get through it without a death or any serious time.

I'm listing this one because while it's not possible to speed it up, it is quite possible to die.

The tips I have for not dying are:

- Try to jump if you end up too close to their hands

- Swerve your way around the obstacles while sprinting

- Don't run too close to the table edge or you will fall off and have to redo it, adding time

This one is the same as the previous. While it's not possible to do it faster, there are many chances to mess up and die.

Tips to not die:

- Don't start sprinting until the first door opens, then run!

- Know what is going to fall over and when to jump

- Keep Grab key/trigger held down, this makes it easier to climb up the table without misplacing your fingers trying to find it at the last minute

Another short chapter, that is relatively fast to get through. I beat it in under five minutes during my speed run.

You can speed this spot up a bit by:

- Crouch-Sprint past her

- Knock over vase, grab key, and immediately leave. She does not come in, you are free to make your way out of the bedroom asap

The final boss fight, and a very easy and quick one at that.

- Knowing where the lights appear lets you get there faster and be ready

- Knowing which directions she approaches from lets you use the mirror earlier and quicker, ending the fight faster

While this can't really be sped up at all, you CAN make sure you are walking at the absolute fastest you can. It is possible to slow-walk on this stage, and while that is more dramatic, it will add some time onto your playthrough.

The achievement should trigger halfway up the staircase leading to the sunlight

Note: You can fast forward through the credits by holding Down on D-Pad (XBox Controller) or Down Arrow (keyboard)

I really hope this helps people! You can always watch video guides to get more in-depth strategies, but this should be a nice and ready to read guide if you're having trouble getting through one spot swiftly.