What are your guys' favorite routes to take with playing this game? Because of the randomization of the pots and lids, this game relies HEAVILY on luck of RNG. In this thread, feel free to discus your ideal route and your safe routes for Shivers.

MINE

Safe Route: I get ASH first, then go straight to workshop, eagles skulls, library, theater, oceans depths room and then I usually see where to go from there.

Ideal Route: I completely skip ASH because the pot and lid are ALWAYS in the same location and also the two Ixupi locations for ASH are semi-close. I usually try to get whatever is inside the clock tower first, then I open the theater curtain to see whats behind. From there on I usually continue a fairly normal route.

So much of the run has to be improvised that it's hard to really describe my ideal run outside of a few "if A, then B" decisions.

I always grab Ash first, because it guarantees I won't have to walk back and forth to try to force a spawn later on. Then I get the bone puzzle piece so I never have to go in the office door again, then check toucan, library, and Atlantis.

If at any point I make a match with any two of those pieces and wind up with an empty inventory, I immediately head up the clock tower to grab whatever's there, guaranteeing that I'll never have to climb the tower again, and then check behind the curtain. If I don't make any matches until after I go upstairs, I'll usually hit up the theater/clock tower after I make my first downstairs ixupi (sand, water, crystal, possibly wax) match.

Then I check pharaoh's tomb and... from that point on, there are enough pieces in play that it's really just super improvised based on what pots I've put together and which ixupis I can trap with them. I prioritize emptying out wings of the museum so I can mentally cross off rooms I never have to go in again. And in the early game, I try to leave myself presents near friendly ixupi spawns, RNG allowing. If I get sand as one of my first few pieces, I'll leave it in Atlantis. If I get water/crystal/electricity, I'll leave it in the toucan. If I get wax/wood/cloth, I'll aim at leaving it in that whole utility room/myths and legends complex.

But my routing once I go upstairs gets inconsistent because it really is just a lot of gut feeling. Sometimes I want to get the Sumerian lyre out of the way so I know the biggest run killer is behind me. Sometimes I'll hold off until later because I'm not in love with the run and I'm waiting for one more thing to go wrong so I can reset before even touching the lyre.

I think my plan up through the downstairs area is pretty well mapped out, though.

That's very good! Ya this game is really improvised but I LOVE it that way, you know? Makes us keep trying harder and harder each time :D

Dang this was my favorite Sierra game growing up and no one know about it. Just reading this short thread, man I gotta play this again.

Please do man! We would love to see new runners join us. Feel free to hop into our discord :)