The tutorial of this game sucks ass, we all know this. It cuts out before it teaches you how to cure the mutants, making it basically impossible to save all the animals without several playthroughs. I decided to make this guide to teach new players how to treat the mutants, and hopefully get the elusive Save the Animals achievement.


*Disclaimer: this guide is primarily focused on how to cure the animals and will contain spoilers for the story. This is also my first Steam guide so please forgive any awkwardness*

Dart Gun: Used to administer medicine.

ASSA: Used to sample the sounds of the animals for signs of distress.

Blood Syringe: Used to get blood samples for both diagnosis and medicine.

Food Bucket: Used to feed the animals by dumping food into the feeding area.

MFE: Used to gather fecal samples as well as parasites from dead or cured mutants.

UV Flashlight: Used to find muscus secretions on the animals, as well as secret codes on the walls of the enclosures (note: do not use in the bathroom).

TIS: Used to measure the temperature of the animals

First things first, interact with the door once you spawn in to talk to your wife Lily. Once the short cut scene is over, head to the cooler to grab a meat brick to give to her. Why your character thinks it is acceptable to give his wife and kids a weird meat brick from the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ zoo is beyond me, but do it. Make sure you pick up the vials in the medical cabinet on your way there.

After you've done this, load up the food bricks that you need for the animals you have to deal with tonight. Your first play-thorough will have you treat the Giraffes for the tutorial, and then the Penguins, Gorillas, and Wallaby's. I have not tested this guide on a brand new play-through but I have no reason to believe that it won't work. Once you have decided on your next enclosure, prepare the food and set off.

At this point I would recommend preemptively making a few tranq darts, as they may come in handy later. Once you make it down the hall to your first enclosure you will hear the phone ringing. Pick it up and Linda will give you the code to CJ's locker. Once the call is over, go into the enclosure to get your samples. You may need to use one of your tranqs to get a blood/sound sample from a sick animal if they are scared of you. Just make sure you don't tranq the mutant, but it is usually easy to tell them apart: if they have symptoms, they aren't mutants.

Now you wanna get back to the train and head to the hub. CJ's locker will have the mutant cures in them. You can now, assuming you've gotten all of the necessary samples, diagnose what is wrong with the animals. Now here's what you need to know:

1. All animals in the enclosure have the same diagnosis. If you have three animals with symptoms, they have the same disease and need the same medicine.
2. The mutant will not have any symptoms them self, but will have one of the following: scars on their body, mucus on their body, or unusual behavior (think an animal acting erratically or throwing up despite having no symptoms).

Curing the mutant is a bit weird, but you need to know that the parasite will be mimicking the disease in the noninfected animals. So if the sick animals have blood disease you will need to make the cure for a mutant mimicking blood disease.

Now here's where things get a bit awkward. The mutant cures need animal blood, but once you head back into the enclosure the mutant will reveal itself. This is where your tranqs come into play. Tranq the mutant and quickly get blood from one of the uninfected animals, then run back to the train and make the necessary cure. I would recommend figuring out what mutant cure you need beforehand to save time in the train. Once you have the cure run back and begin the showdown. You will need to hit the mutant three times and the recipe only gives you three shots, so make them count. If you play your cards right you will be able to cure the mutant before it kills any of its friends.

Before you leave, make sure to use the MFE on the parasite that the animal coughs up after being cured.

Once you get back from your first heroic encounter you will be tasked with "prepping the meat."

So yeah pull that lever and watch a naked lady pop outta the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ wall. Whatever you do DO NOT PULL THE LEVER ON THE GRINDER. Unless you are a sociopath, in which case go ahead, but you won't be able to get the achievement. Pick up the phone and and listen to Doc be a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ for a bit, and then head back to the grinder. As you make your way back Sarah will wake up and begin screaming. The phone will begin ringing again, and you need to head back into the office to pick it up. Once the second call is over again, you will have the option of saving Sarah by interacting on her instead of the grinder.

Now you get to move on to the next enclosure, but now Doc has sent you the mutant recipes. These recipes make the game piss easy as once the mutant eats them they will de-mutate. Unfortunately without grinding up Sarah you won't have meat for your next encounter, so simply repeat the previous section and you'll be fine.

After this point, saving the animals is routine with no real surprises. Simply refer back to previous sections of the guide for advice if you are stuck. Regardless, here are a few tips:

1. Do not waste vials. There are a finite amount of them in the map, and you run the risk of being soft-locked if you waste them. Shouldn't be an issue if you double check what you need to make before you make it.

2. Try to avoid getting attacked by the mutants. This will raise your infection meter, which will make you lose the game if you let if get out of control.

3. Use the UV light to examine the walls in and around each enclosure, you may just find something interesting.

4. Once you have access to meat this game becomes piss easy. On your way back to the train after taking the necessary samples, make the mutant recipe and bring it in. Once you enter the enclosure and the mutant does spooky ♥♥♥♥, dump the food into the feeding area and it will revert to a calm state, allowing you to cure it easily.

5. Make sure you get all the parasites after either killing or curing each mutant, they will be helpful later.

Once you get back from your second animal, Sarah will be awake and hacking away at a door in the break room. Talk to her and then return to the train and open the biowaste container. CJ's hand will fall out, and you can use it to open the door that Sarah is trying to open. Follow her down and talk to her. Pick up your phone and call lily. You can give Sarah the floppy disk, but she won't know how to use it. For now, make your way to the third enclosure and do your thing.

After the third enclosure, Linda will call again and you need to pick the phone up again. Linda will reveal that CJ was a man ♥♥♥♥♥ and had an affair with Sarah. Head back to Sarah and tell her you know about her unethical journalism, and she will be able to access the floppy disk. You will now have the option of creating a poison to kill the mother.

Now here's where things get weird and unclear again. You will now have access to the parasite storage tank in the train, but don't use it yet. You are gonna want to go to your fourth enclosure at this point. Once you cure the final mutant and get its parasite you will be ready. Opening the tank will show you a the parasites, all acting funky. You now need to determine which parasite is a female by using the second menu on the control panel. It is a bit confusing, but you need to figure out which species these parasites belong to by examining how the parasites react to each other. Once you figure out which species of parasite it is you will be able to determine which of the four parasites is the female. Grind that little lady up into a fine paste and make the poison. Once you have the poison, return to Sarah and you will be presented with your final choice. Make sure you choose to inject yourself with the poison.

And huzzah! Assuming you followed everything in this guide you will now have the Save the Animals achievement!