Find those Shift at Midnight doppelgangers before they find you. Here’s everything you need to know about identifying and dealing with Shift at Midnight doppelgangers.
Shift at Midnight: How to identify doppelgangers
There are telltale signs that someone is a doppelganger. Some are more noticeable than others, you know…like a well-mannered bear or a naked man rolling between the aisles. But there are also obvious details such as doppelgangers having a different skin color than their ID or the ominous confirmation that the person you’re serving is deceased.
Question their DOB, occupation, and appearance. Check whether their ID is legitimate (has a barcode). Run passports or driving licenses through the computer you’ve found from drivers unwilling to hand over their ID.
Some have more subtle clues, similar to That’s Not My Neighbor, such as small differences in appearance, like a scar on the wrong side of the face. You can find inconsistencies in a customer’s answers by questioning them. They may make incorrect claims about their appearance or job compared to what is on their ID.
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Screenshot via Bun Muen -
Screenshot via Bun Muen -
Screenshot via Bun Muen -
Screenshot via Bun Muen
Use weapons to take them out before they hunt you down at night. Leaving any doppelgangers will invite them back as entities and strengthen any monsters that pay you a visit post-shift.
As the shifts are randomly generated, the who’s who of the doppelganger world continuously changes as spared customers, be it human or fake, come back the following day, where their status can change on a dime.
Shift at Midnight: Entities guide
Entities can appear at the start or during a shift, but there’s a handful you need to worry about should they spawn in either Story or Endless Mode. The Entity (spider) always spawns during a hunt or Blood Moon, and can have other variants join should you let a doppelganger leave the store.
There are five main monster variants outside of The Entity that you need to be aware of. Each has a unique appearance, behavior, and counters.
| Entity | Description | Counter |
|---|---|---|
| The Entity | A spider entity that sprouts eight legs from its human body and spins webs. | Hide and use weapons from the arsenal when it unlocks. |
| Shrieking Doll | Small entity that crawls on the floor. | Kill with traps and melee weapons. |
| Demented | Long-limbed entity that moves incredibly fast if you’re not looking at it. | Works like Coil Head in Lethal Company or SCP-173 in SCP: Containment Breach. Look at it to freeze in place, look away to lure it into traps. |
| Marionette | Cloaked figure that floats. | Find and rewind the music box on the shop floor before the song finishes for the third time; otherwise, the Marionette will spawn. |
| The Dentist | Looks like the corpse that spawns in the break room. Loves to stalk the forest and bus at the end of a shift. | Run, don’t use open mic, and don’t look back until the entity gives up. |
| Camoflage | This entity camoflages as the wall in the stockroom. | Shoot or whack the entity to get rid of him. You will be jumpscared, but won’t lose any health. |
Shift and Midnight: Blood Moon
Some entities hunt, others chase. A Blood Moon guarantees they will spawn in after the shift ends. This means venturing outside is sure to trigger one of the events. Each entity follows a specific rule you must adhere to if you want to survive. Pay attention to what instruction appears on-screen should an entity spawn.
Be sure to read any notes left behind on the counter and check emails for new entity entries before your shift starts, as this’ll help guide you on what threats you can expect to see that night.
How to deal with doppelgangers that turn into entities
If you didn’t catch a doppelganger in your shift, they will return when you’re locking up as a monster variant. When this happens, you have 60 seconds to arm yourself, barricade the doors, and booby trap the store. Place traps at the three doors and nail wooden planks onto them with ‘E’. Once the timer runs out, entities will spawn in. Here you must hide until you have unlocked the Weapons Arsenal to give you enough firepower to fight back.
Hiding spots consist of ventilation shafts scattered around the stockroom and shop. But you cannot stay in them indefinitely. A mass resembling innards will descend through the shaft, inflicting damage and forcing you out into the open.
Pay attention to the patience bar at the top of your screen. This acts as The Entity’s health bar and a timer counting down how long they’ll search for you. The eye on the screen fills when you are in The Entity’s line of sight. It will pursue you if it turns red. However, you can reset this meter by jumping behind cover as soon as possible. Your audio is tracked too. If you make too much noise—be it with your mic or in-game footsteps—The Entity will notice you.
The Weapon Arsenal unlocks after reaching the halfway point on the bar. Though your firearm deals damage, it’s minimal. Use the EMERGENCY WEAPONS ARSENAL to get stronger weapons (but only if you purchased them on the computer beforehand). This is crucial should multiple entities spawn in at once if you missed taking them out as doppelgangers in your latest shift.
Whether the health bar goes down because you hid or attacked The Entity, it will only run away and try again another night. Entities come back stronger and are tougher to kill should you let a doppelganger loose during a shift.
