In Shift at Midnight, you’re behind the counter of a lonely gas station where some of your customers aren’t human, and if you don’t spot them, they come back later as monsters to hunt you. This Shift at Midnight guide teaches you survival (only in the game, of course!). So Here’s how to beat Shift at Midnight shift after shift.
What You’ll Read:
How Does Shift at Midnight Work
Shift at Midnight is a co-op horror game for 1-3 players. You work the night shift at a gas station on an empty highway, and on paper it’s a normal job: stock shelves, take deliveries, keep the place clean, serve customers.
The catch is that some of those customers are doppelgangers, and the game hands you a database and five interrogation questions. You have to figure out who is a doppelganger. If you miss one, it will come back as a monster once the shift ends. And they are not pretty!
Every night is randomly generated, so no two shifts play out the same. Meanwhile, you should hit a sales quota and deal with a growing list of things that want you dead, sometimes all at once! It’s a lot of fun.
How to Spot Doppelgangers
Every customer could be a doppelganger, and your main job is to catch them before they clock out. The store computer keeps a database with each customer’s real occupation and ID expiration, as well as their appearance. If what they tell you doesn’t match what’s on screen, that’s your sign.
You also get an emotion detector and, later, an anomaly lens to scan for anything off, plus five interrogation questions per customer to confirm a hunch. One rule matters more than anything, though: never finish the sale before you act. Executing a confirmed doppelganger after payment still counts as a miss.
For the full breakdown on how to spot doppelgangers, check out our full doppelganger guide.
How to Make Money and Hit Quota
Your quota is 10% of the store’s daily revenue, and it resets every shift. Miss it, and you’re in trouble. Earning money is as serious as detecting doppelgangers.
Warning: killing an actual human costs you $30. So don’t pull the trigger left and right.
Random Employer Tasks
Your employer assigns optional tasks mid-shift, each with a 60-second timer and a $10–30 reward on completion. Here’s what they are and how to complete them:
1. Cockroach Extermination: Dozens spread across the store. The Water Cleaner wipes them out the fastest.
2. Mouse Extermination: You can shoot the mice. Or throw and smash them against walls. (Depending on how much you hate them!) Check every room. They hide almost anywhere.
3. Store Cleaning: Clear every dirty spot before time runs out. Do it in order so you don’t have to go back.
4. Collect Meat in the Forest: Find 15 pieces scattered outside. Don’t wander far, and head back the second you grab the last one. It’s NOT safe!
Warning: Keep an eye on customers while you’re doing any of these. The store doesn’t pause for your side quest.
Other Money Sources
Every stain you mop up earns $0.10, and tossing trash or limbs in the dumpster is another $0.10 each. Rats are worth $3 alive if you throw them in the dumpster, or $0.10 dead. Killing cockroaches earns $0.10, plus another $0.10 for cleaning up the mess it leaves.
If you’re short on quota, the gambling wheel using tokens (located around the store) can also close the gap fast. Once you unlock all the hats, landing on one refunds your five tokens.
How to Survive Every Enemy Boss
Shift at Midnight throws some ugly monsters after you once the entity actually notices you. Here’s how to to beat each one.
The Main Boss Entity
The main boss moves fast and breaks through boarded doors. His weakness is fire. You’ve got two real options:
Stealth: stay quiet and hide out of sight using walls and furniture. If he starts to chase you, duck into ventilation.
Loud: Keep moving. Don’t gather with your team, and always leave yourself an escape route.
Honestly, stealth is the safer call almost every time. If things go bad, retreat and regroup fast.
The Fast Creature (Red Creature)
This one only shows up if you try to leave the shift with a doppelganger sitting in the bus driver’s seat. It ignores boarded doors and disables your weapons. You cannot outrun it in a straight line either. Lure it back toward the gas station and just try to escape.
The Ghost (Phantom)
The Phantom can’t advance while you’re looking straight at it, but look away for even a second and he’ll French kiss the back of your head! So you have to walk backward while keeping it in the center of your screen. Lead it into a pre-placed bear trap, and he’s done.
There’s also this restroom door glitch some players use: board up both exits, force the Phantom to break through, and it dies! Although this will probably be fixed in future patches.
The Gnome (Norbert)
No. Norbert isn’t a doppelganger, and he’s not trying to kill you (directly at least!). So why is he on this list? Because this little sh… gnome makes every shift worse the longer you ignore it. He appears four times and ruins everything. So trust me. Shoot it the moment you see it.
If you want to learn more about what happens when he appears, check out our Norbert guide.
The Demon (Marionette)
A music box (Jack in the Box) spawns before this one shows up. If you wind it all the way down, it will stop the fight before it starts. If you let the box play through its melody three times without winding it, you have to face the Marionette with no real counter. Learn the box’s timing and how to survive Marionette in our Marionette walkthrough.
Screaming Creatures
These small monsters slow you with a scream, then jump straight at you. Shooting them before they reach you works fine, but the better trick is dodging left or right during the jump windup. They only lunge forward, so a sidestep will do the trick. Clear these out first when you’re dealing with a group. They’re not dangerous alone, but together they make chaos fast when tougher enemies are also in the room.
Shift At Midnight Tips and Tricks
Here are the tips and tricks you need to become a pro player:
1. Ventilation is a temporary escape, not a hideout. If you stay inside it more than 20–30 seconds, a mass of flesh forces you back out into whatever’s chasing you.
2. Always check the bus before boarding. Empty driver’s seat? You’re good. Someone behind the wheel? That’s a doppelganger. And leaving anyway triggers the Fast Creature with your weapons locked.
3. Split roles early. One player runs the computer and handles every ID check; the other two cover cleaning and stocking. Stay close enough for proximity chat. Losing that connection is how people die alone.
4. Three trap types exist: Bear Traps, Stun Traps (reusable, stuns an enemy for roughly 10 seconds), Landmines (good for choke points. Enemies can get stuck on them twice in a row before you kill them).
5. Pistol is free by default. Melee options are brick, baseball bat, sledgehammer. Ranged weapons are SMG, shotgun, flamethrower. And all can be purchased.
6. Bandages and med kits both heal you. Bandages can be picked up 10 at a time. So grab a full stack instead of one at a time.
7. Move pallets in pairs. Small detail, but it cuts down blind spots and keeps both players aware of their surroundings while restocking.
Shift At Midnight Achievements Guide
Shift at Midnight’s achievements break down into three categories.
Basic Achievements
| Achievement | How to Unlock |
|---|---|
| First Blood | Kill your first customer, doppelganger or not |
| Still Breathing | Survive your first hunt |
| Locked and Loaded | Buy all 3 melee weapons and all 4 ranged weapons |
Enemy Kill Achievements
| Achievement | Enemy | How to Unlock |
|---|---|---|
| Silenced | Shrieking Doll | Kill one during a hunt |
| Freed | Demented | Place a bear trap and look away as it walks through |
| Last Performance | Marionette | Kill one (only available from Shift 9 onward) |
| Relentless | Any | Finish an entire hunt within 30 seconds |
Ending Achievements
| Achievement | How to Unlock |
|---|---|
| Empty Home | Let your pet die to save Clyde |
| Grave Decision | Choose to call Clyde after Shift 12, sacrificing him |
| True Ending | Keep both your pet and Clyde alive |
All Shift At Midnight Endings
There are three endings, and it depends on whether you can save $250 for your pet’s surgery in time. If you do, you get the True Ending, where everyone, Clyde and your pet, both live. If you don’t, you have to choose between saving your pet and saving Clyde. Yes. It’s pretty dark. But what did you expect from this game?! If you want to learn how to get each ending, check out our full SAT endings guide.
If you’ve reached this far, you hopefully know how to beat Shift At Midnight. But if you have more questions, I will always have answers in the comments section.
