The official loop
Frogwares’ about text tells players to watch inventory and treat combat as something you choose, not a hallway you clear. Ammo tables and a full item encyclopedia are not on the store pages, so this guide does not invent magazine sizes. What the first-party copy does say is concrete: mind capacity, solve puzzles, and return through unlocked shortcuts when you need supplies or an upgrade. That is why the field checklist below is six actions, not a damage spreadsheet.
The same about text pairs travel on foot with travel by skiff. Demo patch notes 1 later fixed a camera break after boarding the boat and updated safe-puzzle evidence, which is the closest official confirmation that the opening hour actually puts you on the water and in front of a puzzle table. If the camera still snaps after a boarding animation in an older demo build, that patch is the note to look for — the launch product inherits that boat, not a different traversal toy.
Field checklist
The six rows persist in this browser under a site-scoped key and restore after reload. They map one-to-one onto official sentences: watch inventory; use shortcuts; retreat to refuge; treat optional cases as upgrade work; travel by skiff as well as on foot; read the six HUD tabs on the General Ward map still. Pressing a row toggles aria-pressed and the N/6 counter. There is no fifth column of stats and no invented ammo budget.
Use the list as a pre-district reminder, not as a walkthrough. Official copy never says you must clear every fight. Refuge is described as brief: you fall back, rearm, and retune a Talent or crafted loadout, then go out again. If a room is eating shells you do not have, the first-party advice is the retreat row, not a hidden infinite-ammo crate. The optional-upgrades row exists because the store says those cases never gate progress and still pay in safer routes and hard supplies.
Progress 0/6
HUD tabs
An official Steam screenshot of the General Ward map labels six tabs in all caps: INVESTIGATION, CODEX, MAP, INVENTORY, CRAFTING, TALENTS. The Investigation tab is the evidence graph with Area Progress, testimonies, and digit memos — the same UI language that shows up on the optional-cases still. Codex sits beside Investigation; the store does not publish a Codex table of contents, so this page does not invent one. Map is where the Anatomical Theater objective is written. Inventory and Crafting are why the about text talks about minding capacity and retuning a build. Talents is both a tab and a Steam achievement: Obtain all Talents.
Steam’s feature list includes full controller support: DualShock over USB, DualSense, and Xbox controllers. That is the official input note. It does not publish a button overlay, so the case-file rail only repeats the tab names from steam-ss-10 rather than drawing a fake compass. If you came from the one-hour demo, treat the same six tabs as the launch HUD; the demo patch did not rename them.
Optional cases as upgrades
Do not treat optional investigations as side fluff. Official copy says they never gate progress but they do unlock safer routes, supplies, and upgrades. Named cases on Steam achievements include The Inheritance, The Other Gods, The Siren’s Call, The Red Press, The Whisperers, The Vault, The Drowned, and The Damned. Each public description is a one-line Investigate… hint. Full solutions are not first-party; this site does not invent wall-safe digits or church codes.
Open Optional Investigations for the eight titles in a table and for the official board nodes: Testimony of Cornelius Wright, Testimony of Ambrose Pence, Testimony of Silas Dunwich, Note (Wireless Room), Occult Symbol, Prism System Plans, Letter with Digit, Memo with Digit, at Area Progress 19/19. Terms such as Refuge, Skiff, Talent, and Dream Essence are collected on Arkham Glossary. Dream Essence is the Field Kit item that learns a Talent early — Deluxe and Premium already include that kit. Steam’s about block is the source for the never-gate-progress rule; the achievement HTML is the source for the eight Investigate lines. Together they are enough to plan a first night in Arkham without a spoiler atlas.
Controllers, boat, and the one-hour demo
Steam lists full controller support for DualShock over USB, DualSense, and Xbox pads. PlayStation’s store page agrees the product is a DualSense title. Frogwares did not publish a button overlay or a keyboard map on the captured storefronts, so this guide does not draw a fake compass or invent a “best bind.” If you came from the June 2026 one-hour Steam demo, the same six HUD tabs and the same boat boarding animation are the opening-hour facts that survived into the 18 August 2026 launch product.
Demo patch notes 1 are the official paper trail for that hour: crash fixes, a camera break after boarding the boat, updated safe-puzzle evidence, and a balance pass. Those notes are why the skiff is treated as a real traversal toy rather than a cutscene, and why a safe can sit on the Investigation graph as evidence instead of as a hidden community code. After launch the demo is history, not a second SKU. Buyers who need the date, the three storefronts, and the Steam PC table should open Release and Platforms.