Why this guide? Uncanny Valley is an unusual adventure game, and one that can be a bit daunting to get into. I hope that some spoiler-free tips and tricks which will give you the tools you need to confidently explore the facility and uncover the secrets (and horror) for yourself!

Also, I've become an inveterate achievement hunter over the last few years, and the lack of a text-based guide to the achievements in this game lead me to knit together information from multiple incomplete sources. It is my duty to mark the trail for those who will come after me.

What this guide is not: A walkthrough. There are more than a couple of those online, many of which have achievements and endings noted in them. While I will tell you how to get certain achievements or endings, I'm not going to be explaining puzzle or story elements. This guide is for those of you who want the thrill of exploring the world yourself, but also want a little guidance on how to get started or what you might accomplish!

• It’s okay to mess up, especially when you're starting out. For your first through play-throughs focus on exploring the facility you've been charged with patrolling and gathering as much information about the environment and your colleagues as you can.
  
• Don’t worry about the “time limit” to your shift. You have several nights to explore the upper levels of the facility, and despite his grumbling Buck doesn't really care when you make it in to work as long as you check in with him so he can get some sleep.
  
• You can keep exploring after your shift ends, but one way or another Tom is going to need some sleep. Whether you make it into your bed that night or not generally does not matter, though.
  
• You can scroll through emails on computers using the direction keys. Some computers have multiple emails, and some emails have multiple pages. Be sure to check both the inbox and sent mail! (Seriously, so many crucial clues are in the emails, and I did not realize for way too long that computers had more than one email!)
  
• You can skip days if you want to pass the time by going to bed any time during your shift after your first day. Just go to the bed and press the use key twice. This is useful if you just need to pass time until a certain day, but obviously your day will end early so make sure that's what you want to do!

• Hide from enemies! You will notice that as you walk around, Tom will walk behind some items. You can hide in those locations, and enemies will walk right past them and you. Rule of thumb: If you can’t see Tom, they can’t see Tom. (Sometimes that means you need to duck to maintain full cover!)
  
• Walk, don’t run! If you run, enemies in the room will hear you and immediately give chase. Run only after you've been spotted. Enemies who are pursuing you will not be deceived by hiding spots, so you should exit the room as quickly as possible.
  
• You get one freebie! The first time you are killed by an enemy, you will be captured instead. This will bypass some of the lower levels and is necessary to get some endings. If you were already captured though, being captured/killed again be your ending.
  
• Vents are safe passageways to navigate between rooms on the same floor. Enemies will not pursue you into vents.
  
• Keep your legs healthy, otherwise not only will you be unable to run, you won't be able to crouch to hide behind furniture or crawl into vents. If you start limping, apply a bandage to your leg ASAP.

"Day 0" refers to your first day on the job (when Buck meets you at the train station and shows you the ropes).

Anarchy Man
Finish all the Anarchy Man levels.

Note: This can only be done on Day 0.

• Go to the 1st Floor Rec Room (left from the elevator) in the facility
  
• Use the arcade machine on the left side of the room to play Anarchy Man! (Use the direction buttons to move your square and the Use button to smash a car you are next to. Avoid the moving cones and smash all the cars to beat the level.)
  
• Beat all the levels to earn the achievement and a prize necessary to earn the Doctor achievement!

Random Hero
Save the stranger.

You'll need to move quickly to get this one! After falling asleep at the end of Day 0, you will have a dream. During that dream:

• Move to the far right and duck under the pipes to enter the next room
  
• In the second area, go past the Exit sign and up to the stranger tied up to a chair. Press the use key to free them.
  
• Hurry back to the exit and use it before the shadowy beings catch you.

Grand Theft Auto
Steal Bucks car.

Note: Stealing Buck's car will start the endgame - though what ending it leads to depends on which day you decide to steal it!

• Steal Buck's car keys from his apartment Floor 2, Room 6. (The keys will only be there after Day 0.)
  
• Use Buck's car (parked outside the facility) twice

Charmer
Befriend Eve and Buck.

Befriending Eve:

• Exhaust the conversation with her on Day 0 on the Ground floor when you first enter the apartments
  
• Exhaust the conversation with her on Day 1 in the Rec room on the 1st floor of the facility, after she leaves a note in your room.

Befriending Buck:

• Check in with him every day at the start of your shift
  
• Fix the generator yourself on Day 2

Insomniac
Never go to sleep.

This is one you might get inadvertently if you keep staying up late to explore after your shift ends.

• At the end of his shift Tom will remark that he needs to some sleep. Instead of returning to your room, keep exploring (or just idle) for another 2 - 3 minutes. Eventually Tom will pass out where he is standing and fall asleep, and after the usual terrifying dreams he will awaken in his bed.
  
• You will get this achievement if, whenever and however your game ends, you have never gone to bed and instead just kept passing out at the end of the day.

Doctor
Collect all cassettes.

Note: The cassettes are all in the main areas of the facility. You can find them in any order, except for one which can only be found on Day 0. You will need to find them all before the endgame is triggered, though.

1. First floor on a table in the tape room, the room to the right of the elevator (You can listen to these tapes in this room)
   
2. Second level on a table in the Kitchen, the furthest right room
   
3. Third floor on a table in the presentation room, the furthest right room
   
4. Ground floor on the counter of the women’s washroom
   
5. Ground floor on a cart in the warehouse
   
6. Second level beat all the levels of Anarchy Man In the Rec room, the leftmost room. (See: Anarchy Man

Conformist
Complete all the objectives.

1. Befriend Eve: See "Befriending Eve" in Charmer
   
2. Fix the generator: Solve the puzzle in the generator shed on Day 2
   
3. Find two keycards and enter the lower level:
   
   • Find the first keycard on a bulletin board in the apartment building, Floor 4, Room 4
     
   • Find the second keycard in the safe on the facility's 4th floor. You'll need to deduce the combination from the hints on the nearby computer and also have the safe key from the apartment building, Floor 1, Room 6.
     
   • Enter the lower levels via the red-striped door on the facility's ground floor.

Bucksickle
Find Buck in the freezer.

• Fix the generator yourself on Day 2
  
• Access the lower levels of the facility by finding the two keycards
  
• On the first basement level, enter the freezer through the door on the far left (or from another room via the ventilation shaft)

Peeping Tom
Collect all VHS tapes.

Note: The VHS tapes are located in the lower levels of the facility. You cannot backtrack to previous levels, so make sure you find all of the tapes on Level 2 before proceeding to Level 3.

1. Level 2 on a table in the Genitalia Lab
   
2. Level 2 on a table in the Skin Lab
   
3. Level 3 on a table in the recording room, left from the elevator. (This is where you can watch these tapes!)
   
4. Level 3 on a table in the secure room, to the far right of the elevator

Terminated
Kill an android.

While this isn't a very practical way of dealing with an android due to the limited amount of ammo available, it's still handy if you would rather get rid of one than have to keep sneaking past it.

• Enter the facility basement by finding the two keycards.
  
• Solve the puzzle on the first basement level to open the secure door.
  
• Pick up the gun and ammo from the storage closet inside the secure room.
  
• PROTIP: For safety reasons, guns are stored unloaded. Make sure to load it (hold the aim button and press the reload button) before entering a combat situation!
  
• When confronted by an android, raise your gun with the aim button and shoot with the use key. It will take 7 - 8 shots to put one down.

Playing House
Time to settle down

This constitutes "getting Eve to fall in love with you".

• Befriend Eve (see "Befriending Eve" under Charmer)
  
• Let yourself be captured or "killed" by an enemy in the endgame.

Note: Spoilers are unmarked in this section - proceed at your own risk!

Each of these endings has a corresponding achievement.

Happily Ever After
You will realistically get this ending your first time through. I'd be impressed if you didn't!

• Get captured (by an android or the gangsters)
  
• Get captured again (by Eve or an android, but not the gangsters)

Capital Punishment
The second most-likely ending.

• Do not befriend Eve (see: "Befriending Eve" in Charmer for what to avoid.)
  
• Enter the facility by obtaining the two keycards
  
• Escape the basement of the facility
  
• Be captured by the gangsters in the forest

True Love
Whether this is a happier ending than the last one is up to you.

• Get Eve to fall in love with you (See: Playing House)
  
• Enter the facility by obtaining the two keycards
  
• Escape the basement of the facility
  
• Be captured by the gangsters in the forest
  
• Proceed to the left side of the room

Buck It
Can't blame you for bailing, Tom, but Buck might...

• Steal Buck's car (see: Grand Theft Auto) on Day 1
  
• Leave town via the train station.

Getaway
Let somebody else do your dirty work.

• Do not befriend Eve (see: "Befriending Eve" in Charmer for what to avoid.)
  
• Allow Buck to die either by failing to complete the generator puzzle, finding him in the freezer (See: Bucksicle) or by killing him yourself with the fire extinguisher.
  
• Allow yourself to be captured by the gangsters by stealing Buck's car on Day 2 or later (see: Grand Theft Auto) or by playing the game until/beyond Day 4. Eve will kill the gangsters and rescue/capture you.
  
• Leave town via the train station.

Lone Wolf
If you want something done right...

• Do not befriend Eve (see: "Befriending Eve" in Charmer for what to avoid.)
  
• Allow Buck to die either by failing to complete the generator puzzle, finding him in the freezer (See: Bucksicle) or by killing him yourself with the fire extinguisher.
  
• Enter the facility yourself with the two keycards, and make sure to grab the gun on the first level.
• After escaping the facility and entering the woods, shoot all three gangsters before they catch you.
  
• Leave town via the train station.

Happy Ending?
Maybe the happiest one you can imagine for this story.

• Befriend Eve and Buck (see: Charmer)
  
• On Day 4, steal Buck's keys from his room (see: Grand Theft Auto), but before you try to take the car, check in with Buck one last time.
  
• After stealing the car, you will get into an accident and will subsequently captured by gangsters. Eve will kill them and rescue/capture you.
  
• Escape from the facility. After you get outside, head left and you will hear the voice of an (invisible?) Buck.
  
• Keep heading left to the train station.
  
• At the train station, Eve will arrive to try and talk you out of leaving. Ignore her, and leave town via the train. (If you go back to her you get the Happily Ever After ending - thanks for finding this out Godot!)

Note: I recommend playing the game normally and without doing this unless you are frustrated by dying repeatedly in the endgame or are tired of playing the intro again while pursuing different achievements/endings.

Uncanny Valley only has one save file which autosaves regularly, indicated by a floppy disc icon in the lower left corner of your screen. When you get an ending, the save file is erased and you start again from the beginning.

To back up your save, simply go to the location where the game is installed (accessible by right-clicking the game in your Steam library and selecting Manage > Browse Local Files) and make a copy of the save.ini file. Later, if you want to restore your save file, simply replace the save.ini file with your backed-up copy. (If you have gotten an ending and the file was deleted, you can still replace it with with your backed-up version.)

Autosaves typically occur in one of two places:

1. At the start of your shift (before the endgame)
   
2. When approaching the left side of the elevator in the basement (during the endgame)

When you restore your backed up save, expect to start at one of those two places.

Thank you for checking out this guide! I hope it made this strange little pixelated horror game a little easier for you to dive into. If you've spotted an error or have additional information you think should be included in this guide, please leave a comment to that effect!

I wrote this guide as a little way to give back to the community, after all the achievement guides that I've benefited from. If it was useful for you, please give it a thumbs up so it will be easier for others to find!

Version History
v1.2 2025-03-26: Added more info about Happy Ending?, thanks to Godot
v1.1, 2024-10-16: Updated branding image for guide.
v1.0, 2022-05-29: This guide is released.