How to Beat Dark Mode in Alternate Watch

Unlike other Horror Games such as the classics of Silent Hill and Resident Evil, most Indie Horror Games do not give players the option of picking the game’s difficulty. Because of this, some games such as Puppet Combo’s Power Drill Massacre are more challenging than others to beat on first try. Alternate Watch follows suit in having one set difficulty, but its differences in gameplay and challenges come from the choice of visual Mode. The options of color, black and white or Dark Mode can change this Analog Horror Game from something realistic and creepy to downright terrifying. But it is Alternate Watch’s Dark Mode which houses the most terror, with a natural increased difficulty due to limited visibility.

Alternate Watch has a replayability factor similar to I Am On Observation Duty, testing your observation and deduction skills by spotting as many Anomalies as you can until 6am. Go Dark Mode if you dare. This is our tips and tricks on how to beat Dark Mode in Alternate Watch.

Alternate Watch Dark Mode Guide – How to Survive Until 6am

The first important tip we want to recommend to players on Dark Mode is that you play the game either on color or black and white at least three times before you attempt this Mode. Our reasons for this is so you can get the best overview of how each Anomaly appears within the 8 rooms of the House. Players need to be aware of what are the most common tricks that the Alternates will pull inside the House and in which rooms have the greatest number of Anomalies. If you are unsure of how to differentiate between Tulpa, Flawed and Pure Form, we have a full guide here to help.

Get Familiar With your Surroundings

Once you have a general understanding of what all Anomalies look like and where they will appear, we next recommend that inside Dark Mode, you shift through each Camera Feed spending a maximum of 5 seconds per room for any Anomalies. The main areas to check in your sweep and the most common Anomalies to appear here are:

• Kitchen – Fridge Pictures (Imagery), Cereal Boxes (Displacement), Apple, Cup and Fork on Table (Displacement), Stove Pan (Displacement), x3 Jars above Bin (Mimic), Cross on right corner turning upside-down (Displacement), Left Chair at Kitchen Table (Flawed).
• Living Room – Television (Electrical), All Paintings and Pictures (Imagery), In left Hallway, in front of Jesus Christ Painting (Intruder), x2 Plants (Mimic)
• Master Bedroom – Vanity Chair (Displacement), Scissors (Displacement), Closet Door (Intruder), Paintings and Pictures (Imagery), Guitar (Displacement), Laptop (Electrical)
• Kids Room – x5 Kids Toys on the Floor (Mimic), Beanbag (Displacement)
• Basement – Television (Electrical), Shelves (Mimic), Chair (Displacement), Radio (Pure Form)
• Laundry Room – Clothes on Dryer (Displacement), Washing Machine (Electrical), Door (Flawed), Laundry Box/Bin (Mimic)
• Bathroom – Shower Curtain (Intruder), Mirror (Tulpa),
• Stairwell – x2 Cassettes (Mimic), Vase and Jar (Displacement), Flawed Human Jumpscare.

Utilize Light Sources

Although this is Dark Mode, using the Flashlight pointing at specific areas of each room can in fact illuminate the entire room. This can help you search for Anomalies quicker than if you used the Flashlight to scan across the entire room as you may take longer to notice Anomalies that way. You should point the Flashlight at the Mirror in the Bathroom, the Ceiling of the Kids Room, the Pipe/Boiler (cannot tell what it is but it is on the right-hand side) in the Laundry Room and the Cross in the Kitchen (far-right corner). Although every room cannot be illuminated by the use of metal or mirrors, knowing these spots in the rooms listed will save you time in your search and perhaps save you from a few scares.

Try to Find an Anomaly Per Room

On average across your playthrough in Alternate Watch, you should experience 30-40 Anomalies if you survive until 6am. For this reason, you should always keep in mind where you had just filed a Report and move onto another room as soon as you have input your Report. You will get an visual confirmation if you did or did not correctly Report the right Anomaly Type for the room you were just in. For that reason there is no need to stay and hover within the same room, move onto another and search for the next Anomaly. The frequency of Anomalies pick up relatively early on, around the 2am mark and for that reason, you should assume that there is an Anomaly in every room.

Although you cannot keep track on how many Anomalies are present, you should assume that there is always something present. This includes any Intruder Events as a main Anomaly so that when you Report these you can move onto another room and look for the next Anomaly. Never assume you are safe and if the Threat Level goes into Evident, you need to locate at least 2 Anomalies so that you are in the clear for a while longer before the Threat goes up again. This is your only way of knowing how many Anomalies are in the House so you need to regularly check your Threat Level in the top-left corner of the screen. The game starts on Vague and you can build up many Anomalies before the switch onto Evident.

Keep the Report Menu Open

It is crucial that you keep your Report Menu open so that you can Report any Intruder, Flawed, Tulpa, and most importantly, the Pure Form. If left alone, the Pure Form will destroy the Camera Feed in the room is it housing, so you do not want to panic trying to open the Report Menu and missing out on saving that Camera. For that reason, you should keep the Report Menu open, it saves you a couple of seconds scanning for the Anomaly Type and Room you are in too and you can quickly react to whatever Anomaly you are observing on the Feed.

Keep Track of the Little Things

Finally, we recommend that when you start Alternate Watch, you keep track of how many little items are present in each room. If you must, make a starting note of the amount of objects can be found on top of furniture or on the floor (Kids Room). This is imperative to your survival so that you can notice specific Anomaly Types that will always appear of Displacement and Mimic. A tough thing to remember is the Picture Frames as the images can change, but if you make either a mental or physical note of what you see at the beginning of the game, you will notice when something stands out.

Make it your priority to look out for these little things as Anomalies will build up over time with the main Types being Displacement and Mimic. Keep Intruder Events as your final observation when seeking out those differences. In order of Anomaly Type priority, we recommend you look for Anomalies in this order: Displacement, Mimic, Imagery, Electrical, Pure Form, Flawed, Intruder, Tulpa and Unknown.

That was our full guide on how to successfully beat Alternate Watch in Dark Mode. Whether you are an Analog Horror fan or just someone who enjoys a good scare, we have a lot more content available to read within our Horror Game section in Gamer Journalist. Thank you for reading our guide!