Back to the Dawn Guide | Beginner Tips and Tricks

Back to the Dawn is a prison simulator game where you’ll have only 21 days to master every aspect of prison life while working toward your goal of challenging the corrupt mayor in the upcoming election. 

This guide will teach you the beginner's tips, tricks, and strategies, as well as time management techniques and survival tactics, to help you escape.

Memory Recall

Your most powerful tool in Back to the Dawn is the Memory Recall ability, which allows you to turn back the clock when things don't go according to plan. 

If you discover that you wasted your day more and that you made tactical errors, you may use Memory Recall from the ESC menu to rewind time by a day.

This ability comes in handy when you are learning the ropes and need to maximize your daily schedule. Remember that this ability only allows you to rewind just one day, so use it strategically when you badly need a redo.

Physical and Mental Wellness

Your survival depends heavily on managing two critical aspects of your well-being: physical health and mental stability. Hunger poses your greatest initial threat, as an empty stomach continuously drains both your Body and Mental statistics every hour. 

Combat this by purchasing Cookies from Vice-captain Billy's shop. While these treats cost more than standard prison fare, they provide superior hunger relief that justifies the expense in Back to the Dawn.

Sleep management requires careful attention to environmental factors. During rest periods, you risk suffering from frostbite, making it essential to acquire a Blanket from Vice-captain Billy. 

When your Body meter reaches dangerously low levels, head to the playground vending machine and purchase Yoghurt. Although expensive, this item offers significant health benefits that can save your life in critical situations.

Mental health maintenance involves multiple strategies to combat the psychological stress of prison life in Back to the Dawn.

You can boost your mental state through various activities, such as chewing Gum, eating Chocolate, visiting the Church for prayer, taking relaxing baths, getting quality sleep, and completing tasks that provide rewarding outcomes. 

Each of these activities serves as a buffer against the mental strain that accumulates during challenging situations.

Combat Strategy

When facing confrontational situations, particularly encounters with the Crocodile who attempts extortion, avoiding physical altercations often proves more beneficial than fighting, especially if you didn't select War Correspondent as your starting background. 

Instead of engaging in combat, consider purchasing a cafeteria meal at noon to minimize your losses while preserving your resources. Monitor your finances carefully, as running out of money severely limits your options.

If you do end up on the losing side of a fight, patience becomes your ally. Wait until you've strengthened your character, find an isolated location, right-click on your opponent, and settle the score when you have better odds of success in Back to the Dawn.

Attribute Enhancement Techniques

While your core statistics don't increase permanently, you can temporarily boost them when specific situations demand higher performance. 

Strength receives enhancement from consuming Mushrooms or using Stimulants. Agility improves through drinking Soda, smoking Cigarettes, or using restroom facilities when the indicator shows green. Intelligence benefits from Sedatives and learning the Geek ability. 

Charisma increases through personal hygiene activities like brushing teeth, chewing Gum, and showering with Soap.

Relationship Building

Beyond personal survival, cultivating relationships with fellow inmates opens up new opportunities and resources. 

You can establish these relationships in two excellent ways: by speaking and by providing thoughtful gifts in Back to the Dawn.

When maximizing gift giving, examine each character's past to determine what they like, or look for hints of their values in their personal effects.

Acquiring the True Friends charm skill significantly enhances your ability to build relationships.

Essential Skills for Success

Specific skills provide disproportionate benefits and should be prioritized early in your prison stay. Energized helps maintain proper sleep schedules while giving a +1 boost to all attributes. 

Strength Miracle is 8 points of Strength to build, but gives you +1 to all Agility challenges. Gustatory Imagination enables you to gain +1 Satiety value by drinking water when hungry on an empty stomach, thereby extending the duration of your food supplies in Back to the Dawn.

Navigation and Interface Mastery

Smooth navigation and menu movement play a significant role in your daily productivity. Use WASD for movement, Left Shift to run, and Left Mouse Button for general interaction. The right mouse button offers more interaction options.

Access your inventory with I, check abilities using K, review quests with L, examine faction relationships through Y, explore personal relationships with N, view the map using M, and pause the game with Esc.

Randomization Elements

The game features dice-rolling mechanisms that introduce randomness to particular circumstances. The random variables bring about peculiar circumstances and challenges, and as such, every playthrough is distinct.

Whether there is a successful roll or a failure, every result results in alternate adventures and possibilities in Back to the Dawn.

Skill Development

The success rate in dice challenges can be increased by developing associated traits and acquiring skills and competencies relevant to them.

Advanced preparation can even guarantee success in most situations, with the notable exception of rolling double ones. To counter this rare failure condition, learn the Self-hypnosis skill, which provides 100% success rates regardless of dice outcomes.

Also, check our Back to the Dawn Review and other guides below:

• Back to the Dawn Guide | How The Specialties Work
• Back to the Dawn Guide | How The Stats Work
• Back to the Dawn Guide | How The Combat Traits Work
• Back to the Dawn Guide | How The Combat Actions Work
• Back to the Dawn Guide | How To Use Combat Items
• Back to the Dawn Guide | How The Combat Moves Work
• Back to the Dawn Guide | How To Get the Sun Achievement