Diving into REPO as a tiny robot scavenger means braving eerie, monster-infested locations to snatch valuable loot before the horrors catch you. But beyond the jump scares and frantic escapes lies a game of strategy, stealth, and teamwork – if only we had known these 22 essential beginner tips before our first run, our survival odds would have skyrocketed. Ready to turn your rookie mistakes into masterful plays? Here’s what every new REPO player wishes they’d learned from the start.
REPO is the newest PC co-op horror game to play with your pals – and it’s also blowing up on Steam, too. As little robots, you’ll need to scourge through abandoned venues to collect valuables while hiding out from monsters haunting the halls. Like all great modern multiplayer games, there’s proximity voice chat that will help you track down your friends – or let you hear their wails as they die to the monsters.
While part of the fun is making mistakes on your own – and learning from them while your friends cackle at your despair – if you want to have a good foundation of what to know before you start, we got your back.
Below we list some things to know before you start playing REPO so you don’t have to suffer from the same mistakes we did.
1. Be careful with everything you pick up! Not only will items break when dropped, but some items have unique, surprising interactions. We found a staff that can fire a huge laser, destroying anything in its path, or a clown doll that’ll blow up after you touch the nose three times.
2. Keep small items close. Things like cups and potions can break from something as simple as your friend running into it, so you’ll want to hold smaller, more fragile items as close to you as possible, especially as you enter doorways or turn corners.
3. Push the cart in the extraction point fully or risk it getting destroyed. Don’t let any part hang over the square perimeter. Otherwise you’ll be cartless for the rest of the level.
4. That being said, make sure all your goods are in the extraction point properly, too. If things are hanging out the sides, they will just explode into nothing upon extraction, and you won’t get any money. Say goodbye to that harp you painstakingly carried over.
5. Also don’t stand in the extraction point while it’s extracting or else you will die.
6. Items can be dropped into the cart or extraction point without worry as they’re less prone to take damage. However, items can always topple from the cart and break, so make sure the cart and extraction point aren’t overflowing.
7. When you see a monster, it might be your first instinct to run and hide, but make sure to move the cart out of the monster’s path to save your items!
8. As you progress into harder levels, scout out the extraction points ahead of time and take your heavier and more valuable items to the easier extraction points.
9. Use your map to its fullest ability! Player heads will appear as a red dot on your map, while purchased items as a blue dot, and loot as a yellow dot. The larger the yellow dot, the heavier the loot. The map will also show a path to the activated extraction point, or the truck when you’ve finished a level.
10. You can use your map while interacting with other items. If you’re the person who is walking backwards while lifting a heavy object, pull out your map to see the path to the extraction point.
11. Monsters all have different moves, but for the most part, you can hide and sneak away from them with some patience. Hide under a table, but have an exit prepared in case they do have an under-furniture attack.
12. Shh! If you’re close to any monsters, zip your lips – and don’t use the text-to-speech either. Some of the monsters have very keen hearing and will hone in on you while you’re talking. (We’ve noticed that some monsters are more perceptive than the others, though.)
13. Pick up and drop the gnomes to get rid of them quickly. No need to sprint from these guys, just take them out.
14. Once all the goods are in the final extraction point, the lights will go out and things will get scarier. As soon as you chuck the rest of your stuff in there, start booking it back to the truck. You don’t need to wait for it to actually finish extracting.
15. Home sweet home! Every time you successfully reach the money requirement and return to the truck, you’ll heal 25 HP.
16. You can give your teammates 10 of your own HP by interacting with a teammates health bar on their neck. If you have more than 75 HP at the end of a level, heal a teammate to make the most of the truck’s healing ability.
17. At the end of every level, you’ll return to the shop where you can buy weapons, health packs, upgrades and more. Stamina and health upgrades are valuable purchases for newer players as you learn more about the monster types and how to deal with them.
18. With three strength upgrades, you can reliably carry some heavy objects on your own. Even more strength upgrades will allow you to pick up and deal with enemies.
19. Hit up the secret ceiling hole in the shop for additional grenades. You’ll need some buddies to help lift you up, but it’s always behind this ceiling tile near the extraction point.
20. Buy items in bulk as prices will increase depending on how many items you’ve purchased before.
21. It’s extremely easy to lose an item you’ve purchased from the shop, whether it’s into a hole or you’ve just simply misplaced it. Luckily, items will respawn in your truck as long as you successfully progress to the next level.
What hidden mechanics in REPO can give me an edge over monsters
Here are some hidden mechanics in REPO that can give you a significant edge over monsters:
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Manipulate Enemy AI to Eliminate Threats Without Gear: For example, you can eliminate the clown enemy without weapons by exploiting how its laser interacts with elevated liquid in certain pit rooms, causing it to self-destruct. Similarly, Reaper enemies can be baited into falling into pits by leading them to the edge and jumping back at the last moment, removing a dangerous foe without direct combat.
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Use Environmental Interactions: Overload electrical outlets to create distractions or damage nearby monsters, and combine water puddles with electrical traps for shock damage. This can help control or weaken enemies without direct fighting.
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Stealth and Positioning: Slip past monsters silently by using stealth navigation and hiding under furniture or behind objects to avoid detection. This reduces the chance of confrontation and helps you conserve resources.
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Turn Monsters Against Each Other: Lure one monster into another’s territory or use noise and throwable items to distract monsters, causing them to fight amongst themselves and clear your path.
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Mobility Tricks: Use the mini cart as a silent alternative form of transportation that doesn’t consume stamina, allowing you to move quickly and quietly past enemies like the Huntsman.
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Terrain Exploitation Against Specific Monsters: For example, you can trip the Huntsman by propping up slanted doors in its path, making it vulnerable to attacks without risking your health.
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Cart Magnet Mechanic: Use the cart’s container “magnet effect” to efficiently slide heavy or awkward loot into it, speeding up your looting process and reducing exposure time.
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Sprint Speed Optimization: There is an optimal number of sprint upgrades that maximize distance traveled while minimizing stamina drain, helping you evade monsters more effectively.
These mechanics reveal that success in REPO often comes from clever use of the environment, enemy behavior manipulation, and smart movement rather than just brute force or gear upgrades.
How can manipulating enemy interactions turn monsters against each other in REPO
In REPO, you can cleverly manipulate enemy interactions to turn monsters against each other, creating chaos that works in your favor. One effective tactic is baiting: lure a monster into the territory of another, prompting them to fight each other instead of you. This can be done by making noise or using throwable items to distract and redirect monsters’ attention toward one another. Such distractions can cause monsters to clash, weakening or eliminating threats without direct combat from you. This strategy not only clears your path but also conserves your resources and reduces risk during missions.
