Upon entering the game, the player will be transported into the Lobby as a Toon. If it is the first time the player has joined the game, they will have the choice to select between two free Toons—Poppy Render Poppy or Boxten Render Boxten—before entering the Lobby. From there, the player can view and select their Stickers, Toons, Skins, and Trinkets as well as view their progress on Mastery and Twisted Research. A short information menu is also viewable in the interface that explains the basic mechanics of the game. You can also buy various things including new Toons or Trinkets from Dandy's Store, access Roleplaying Mode through a door to the left in the spawning area, buy Stickers or Skins from Dyle's Store, or enter one of the three Elevator shafts in the bigger part of the Lobby to play a round, those of which only allow eight players to enter at a time. After 15 seconds following the first player entering an Elevator, if one or more players are still on, the Elevator will close and all players inside it will go to the game. Players also have the option to matchmake, which is done through entering the said Elevators and clicking the 'Matchmaking' button. After the game waits for players to join into the actual game, the players will be taken to a pre-game UI, where they will have 45 seconds to change their loadout and buy either a Valve Valve for 200 Ichor, a Health Kit Health Kit for 100 Ichor, and a Bandage Bandage for 50 Ichor if they desire. This section, however, can be skipped immediately using the Ready up Button. After all players have pressed the ready up button or the 45 seconds are up, all players will spawn in the Elevator with their desired Toons and Trinkets. From there, the game will generate a map for each Floor, including the number and placement of the Machines and the number of Twisteds present on the Floor. The amount of Machines and Twisteds scales with the number of Floors passed and the amount of players still alive in the round: at the start, only four Machines and two Twisteds will appear. Different kinds of Twisteds and Machine Types will spawn after a given Floor, like for example, the game not spawning Main Character Twisteds until at least Floor 5+. The goal of the game is to survive as many Floors as possible, while also assisting other players with your Abilities (if the Toon has any). To advance to the next Floor, players must fill different Machines by extracting Ichor. This can be done by interacting with the Machine (if close enough), and pressing the Interact key (E) or the "Stop Extracting" button while on a Machine to stop extracting. While on a Machine, a quick-time event called a Skill Check has a chance to occur. When a Skill Check occurs, a bar will appear along with an indicator that will move from the left to the right of the bar. The player must either press the spacebar or press the "PRESS TO SKILLCHECK" button above the bar upon reaching the light gray window or the golden window in order to pass the Skill Check. If you fail a Skill Check, the Machine will briefly stop extracting and any Twisteds nearby will be alerted to the Machine. Landing the silver window during a Skill Check will show text that says, 'Good Job', and landing the golden window will add extra completion to the Machine and the text will say, 'Great Job!'. On Floors, players can find various Items that can assist them. They can also find Tapes Tapes, which they can use to trade for Items at Dandy's Shop or activate their Toon's Ability if it requires Tapes, and Research Capsules that add 1% Research to any of the Twisteds (2% if playing as Rodger Render Rodger). Once all Machines are filled, Panic Mode will begin. During Panic Mode, Twisteds will become faster, although the speed boost can be mitigated using the Suppression Icon Suppression card if selected in a Card Vote. Players will have no less than 30 seconds to return into the Elevator. Once the timer is up, the Elevator will close and any players that didn't make it in will be instantly killed, regardless of how many Hearts they have remaining. The Elevator will close immediately if all players still alive have entered, regardless of how much time is left during Panic Mode.
After a Floor is complete, one of two things will happen: if the next Floor is even-numbered, Dandy Render Dandy will open up his shop for the players to exchange Tapes for any of three randomly generated Items, including Items that are normally only available through his shop. While all three items can be bought, only one of each can be bought at a time, the players can also choose to buy nothing. However, having every player doing so for three times in a row or more will give Twisted Dandy Render Twisted Dandy a chance to spawn. If the next Floor is odd-numbered, a Card Vote will occur, in which players can vote for one of three Cards; the card with the most votes will have its effects applied. Some cards can grant the option for a Challenge Floor. There is currently only one card that does this, that being the TIME'S UP Icon TIME'S UP Card. Toons can also have dialogue after a Floor's completion, which also happens when they finish a Machine or use their Active Abilities. Each Toon has a set of 6 Stats (Health, Skill Check, Movement Speed, Stamina, Stealth, and Extraction Speed). The player has a maximum of three Hearts (2 Hearts if the Toon is a Main Character, and 4 Hearts as Soulvester Render Soulvester) and will also have a Stamina bar from 100 to 200 depending on their Stamina Stat. They could hold the Shift key on PC, press the analog stick on console, or press the speed toggle on mobile in order to sprint, which will deplete the Stamina bar for however long they sprint. While not sprinting, the player will recover Stamina over time. If the player is hit by a Twisted's attack or uses an Ability that causes them to take damage, they will lose one Heart. If all Hearts are lost, the player will die and will be offered to either spectate other players or return to the Lobby. Upon the player's death, they will be shown how much Ichor they earned in the round, which is based on the number of Floors they survived, how many Twisteds they encountered, and how many Items they picked up, with Ichor also being earned during the round through completing Machines, picking up Research Capsules, and using their Toon's Active Ability if they have one. On top of having 6 Stats, each Toon also has at least one Ability to assist them or other players, two if the Toon is a Main Character. These Abilities can either be Passive, Active, or Toggle, in which Active and Toggle Abilities can be activated by pressing the Ability's icon next to the Item inventory, the F key on PC or the left shoulder button on Console. As the player does various activities in a round, such as extracting from Machines or using their Toon's Active Ability (if applicable) or collecting Capsules, they will collect Ichor (and Event Currencies, if an Event is active), which acts as the currency of the game, which can also be bought using Robux, Roblox's currency. The player can use Ichor to purchase new Toon licenses and Trinkets from Dandy's Store, or Toon Skins and Stickers from Dyle's Store in the Lobby. Most Toons and Trinkets do require the player to do various tasks on top of collecting enough Ichor to purchase, such as completing Machines, using Items, or researching specific Twisteds.
