How to play › ADVENTURE
WARD NINE
Ward Nine was supposed to be empty. Then the doors locked. Ward Nine is a top-down survival horror game in a sealed hospital three floors deep, where your flashlight and the pressure in your head are the only tools you have.
PLAY NOW ▶The goal
Get out of Ward Nine alive. Restore the lift, crack the director's keypad, get past Dr. Hollis, and decide what happens at the roof door. There are three endings, twelve notes and four lost tapes to find.
How a night plays
Your flashlight is the heart of the game. Orderlies caught in its beam freeze, but on the lower floors it also wakes the sleepers. Turn the light off and nothing freezes, but sleepers stay asleep and orderlies notice you later.
Your psi burst kills what it touches, but it is loud: orderlies within six tiles come hunting and sleepers within five wake, walls or not. Each burst adds to your load, and at high load the next burst shorts, clearing the room at the cost of a heart. A lit lamp holds the pressure in; only the dark lets it drain, and blue vials vent it.
Cards open doors, fuses wake the lift, and the director's code is split across three notes. You can carry a flare, bandages and a pager. Patient 9-14 wakes on the first floor and never stops walking after that. If you flatline after the first floor, you can wake at the stairs and try again.
Controls
| Keyboard | Pad | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Arrows | Stick / d-pad | Move and aim the light |
| X (hold) | B (hold) | Sweep the beam without moving |
| Z / Space | A | Psi burst |
| X | B | Read notes, play tapes, use the fuse box and keypad |
| C | C | Use the held item (flare, bandage, pager) |
| Q | L | Next item |
| E | R | Flashlight off / on |
On a phone or tablet, a see-through joystick and A, B, C, L, R and SPACE buttons appear over the game and do the same as the keys above. On a pad or touch screen, a double tap of B also uses the held item.
Gamepad: the stick or d-pad moves and the buttons follow the Pad column (Start is START). Esc, P or Back pauses, and the HOW TO PLAY button over the game shows the basics any time.
Modes
- STORY: the main night, three floors to the roof.
- NIGHT ROUNDS: an endless mode, opened by finishing the story once.
- THE OLD WING: an epilogue night under the labs, where a blind Matron hunts by sound. Also opened by finishing the story.
- DAILY ERRAND: see below.
Mastery stars
Each star pays tickets the first time you earn it.
- Bronze: Off the Ward: leave the locked wing.
- Silver: The Director Is Out: put down Dr. Hollis.
- Gold: The Whole Story: walk out with her and with the proof.
Daily challenge
Yes. The DAILY ERRAND asks you to carry five supply crates, one at a time, to the station by the stairs while the rounds keep coming.
Beginner tips
- Keep the light on orderlies and walk past them. A frozen orderly is no threat, and you save your load.
- Turn the light off on floors with sleepers. The beam wakes them, and in the dark your load drains.
- Burst only when you must. The sound carries through walls, and it wakes and draws everything nearby.
- Save flares for tight spots: a flare holds orderlies still and slows her down. The pager draws orderlies away, but not her.
- On one heart, use a bandage with C before you push on.