Inmost Beginner Tips - Characters, Tools, Traps, and Collectibles

Inmost, from Hidden Layer Games and published by Chucklefish, is a short cinematic puzzle platformer about three playable characters moving through one dark, interconnected story. It looks like a side-scrolling adventure, but the safest way to play is to slow down, read each room, and treat every tool, trap, and character swap as part of the puzzle language.

Content note: Inmost is rated Teen with blood and violence descriptors, and its official store pages warn that its story of loss and hope may be upsetting. This guide stays non-graphic and focuses on movement, puzzles, tools, and route habits.

This is a beginner guide, but the game itself can feel harsher than a beginner label suggests. The controls are simple, the story is short, and early scenes teach without heavy danger, yet the atmosphere, enemy pressure, and tool routing can punish players who rush.

Essential Tips

1. Play the Room Before You Play the Character

Every new screen is a small puzzle. Before jumping toward the obvious exit, scan for doors, blocked passages, climbable routes, enemies, switches, breakable walls, loose objects, and suspicious gaps.

The useful habit is simple: enter, pause, look, then act. A hidden tunnel, wall, shrub, rope, or object can be the whole answer. If you keep dying at the same enemy or obstacle, the game is probably asking you to change the room state rather than repeat the same move faster.

2. Respect Each Character’s Job

Inmost shifts between three characters with different roles. Do not carry the knight’s mindset into every scene. Some moments are about combat or danger, some are about careful exploration, and some are about quiet story movement.

When the game swaps perspective, reset your expectations. Ask what the current character can safely do, what they cannot do, and what the scene seems to be teaching. The early girl scene is especially important because it introduces movement and tone without treating the player like they are already in an action gauntlet.

3. Let Tools Define Your Route

Tools are not optional clutter. The scythe, pickaxe, keys, crowbar, fuel, silk, valves, knives, and other objects all point toward blocked routes. Because tools are selected automatically, you do not need to micromanage an inventory; you need to remember what obstacles your progress can now answer.

When you gain a tool, mentally list what it changes. Can vines be cut? Can a cracked wall be broken? Can a wooden blocker open? Can a pipe be adjusted? Backtracking is less frustrating when you treat each tool as permission to revisit a specific obstacle type.

4. Use the Environment Before Forcing Combat

Inmost includes enemies, but it is not built like a brawler where every problem is solved by direct attacks. Traps, hazards, doors, carts, walls, and room layouts can matter as much as timing. If an enemy seems unfair head-on, look for a way to lure it, drop something on it, trap it, or simply avoid detection.

This matters most for players who are comfortable with platformers. Reflexes help, but the intended answer is often environmental. A slow, observant attempt usually beats a fast repeat of the same unsafe route.

5. Search for Collectibles Without Breaking the Mood

The game encourages checking corners for secret passages and collectibles, but it is also a compact emotional story meant to be played in a focused sitting. On a first run, explore naturally rather than freezing every room into a completion checklist.

Look behind obvious path changes, inspect dead ends, and test suspicious architecture. If a collectible route asks for a tool you do not have yet, move on and remember the obstacle. Completion cleanup is better after you understand how the game’s tools and scene transitions work.

6. Treat Death as a Puzzle Hint

Many failures in Inmost are quick messages about the room. If a front door gets you killed, a tunnel, alternate entrance, tool, or trap may be nearby. If a creature catches you repeatedly, you may be entering its space too early or ignoring a safer interaction.

After each death, name the cause before restarting: enemy path, missing tool, bad jump, wrong timing, or unexplored route. That keeps retries productive and prevents the game from feeling more random than it is.

7. Keep Mobile Inputs Deliberate

The mobile version uses touch gestures for movement, jumping, crouching, crawling, and interaction. That works well for a slow puzzle-platformer, but it rewards clean swipes more than frantic repeated inputs.

On iOS or Android, practice a few low-pressure movements before committing to risky jumps or enemy timing. If a gesture does the wrong thing, slow the input down and separate movement from interaction instead of dragging across the screen in panic.

8. Plan for a Short, Focused Session

Inmost is structured as a 3-5 hour emotional story, and its store copy frames it as something that works in a single dark, focused sitting. You do not have to play it that way, but the pacing benefits from fewer long breaks.

If you split the game across sessions, stop after a clear scene transition. Coming back mid-puzzle can make tool routing and character context harder to remember, especially when the story shifts between perspectives.

Character Mindsets

The key beginner adjustment is to stop asking, “What can I do in this game?” and start asking, “What can this character do in this scene?” The knight, child, and wanderer/man all support the same story, but they do not ask for the same attention.

For dangerous castle sections, look at enemy placement and object layout before committing. The game supports slicing through enemies and using deadly traps, but the stronger habit is to identify the trap or tool first, then execute. If the room has a cage, cart, wall, door, or hazard, assume it may be there for a reason.

For quieter child scenes, do not rush just because there is less immediate danger. These moments establish story, movement, and atmosphere. They also keep you in the habit of checking vents, passages, furniture, and small spatial details.

For exploration scenes, track the last locked route you saw. Puzzle-platformers often feel confusing when players remember only the current screen. Inmost is easier when you remember obstacle types: vines, unstable walls, wooden blockers, locked doors, ropes, pipes, and hidden spaces.

Tools, Traps, and Puzzle Routing

Route Element	Beginner Read	Better Habit
Scythe	A weapon-like item	Use it to cut vines, shrubs, and route blockers
Pickaxe	A break tool	Recheck rocks and unstable walls after finding it
Keys	Door access	Remember which locked space each key likely belongs to
Crowbar	A blocker answer	Test it against wooden barriers
Valves	Pipe puzzle pieces	Look for what changes after turning or restoring them
Knife	Cutting tool	Revisit ropes and webs
Traps	Background danger	Use them as puzzle tools against enemies
Hidden passages	Optional secrets	Check suspicious floors, walls, tunnels, and dead ends

Do not overcomplicate the inventory. Inmost is not asking you to build loadouts or compare stats. Tools are progression answers. The question is, “What obstacle did this area introduce, and what tool answers it?”

When stuck, make a short mental loop: find the locked path, identify the obstacle, search nearby for the missing object, then test the changed route. If that fails, widen the search to the last two or three rooms. The game is compact enough that the answer is usually local, but not always on the exact screen where you notice the blockage.

Platform and Control Notes

Use the platform that matches how you want to play. Windows PC and macOS are supported through Steam, Nintendo Switch supports handheld, tabletop, and TV play, and the current mobile edition is available on iOS and Android.

On Nintendo Switch, handheld mode suits the short-session exploration pace, while TV mode gives dark environments more room to breathe. On iOS and Android, the first chapter is a useful control test before buying the full experience.

Choose among Windows PC, macOS, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. PlayStation, Xbox, and browser versions are not part of this release lineup.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Charging through a new room before scanning it - You miss the clue, tool path, or trap setup that makes the room safe.

2. Fighting every enemy head-on - Many threats are better handled by the environment, timing, or avoidance.

3. Forgetting blocked routes after finding a tool - Tools matter because they change earlier obstacles into open paths.

4. Treating all three characters the same way - Each perspective asks for a different pace and risk level.

5. Ignoring hidden passages in dead ends - Dead ends often exist because there is a secret, tool path, or alternate entrance nearby.

6. Swiping too quickly on mobile - Messy touch inputs can turn a simple movement puzzle into repeated mistakes.

7. Stopping mid-puzzle for a long break - Returning later is harder when you forget the active tool, route, or character context.

8. Chasing every collectible on the first pass - Learn the route language first, then clean up secrets with better context.

Summary

Category	Top Tip
First Run	Slow down and read each room before moving
Characters	Reset your mindset whenever the perspective changes
Tools	Treat every new tool as an answer to a route blocker
Enemies	Look for traps and environmental solutions before forcing combat
Collectibles	Search naturally, then clean up later with route knowledge
Deaths	Name the failure cause before retrying
Mobile	Use deliberate gestures and test the free opening chapter
Platforms	Stick to the exact supported paths for this version