Case Files

Case Files (also known as procedural generation and randomization) is the newest game mode in Labyrinthine, released on the main branch on October 1 2021. This is a comprehensive guide to the game mode, and **can contain spoilers**. If you like to learn on your own, read on at your own risk!

## How It Works

When you host or join a lobby, the noticeboard that contained the story chapters has a new addition to it: the Cases section. Underneath are four cases that have been generated for you, which consists of a maze that was completely procedurally generated. This means that the type of maze you get, the number of lives you have in it, the monsters you face, and the layout of the maze has been decided and built through RNG. When entering the case file, holding TAB will show you the objectives for the maze, which differs between maze types. Completing the objectives and exiting the maze will award you experience based on how well you performed. Leaving the maze or running out of lives will bring you back to the lobby, where the case will remain for you to try again, or to re-roll later on. Each case file has a size, a difficulty level, and a number of lives displayed. As you level up, your cases will become progressively more difficult, even if the size and difficulty appear to be unchanged.

## Maze Size

*For more about maze types, see mazes*
The size of the maze is decided independently of the difficulty and danger, and currently there can be very small, medium, large, very large, and giant mazes. One size does not fit all for these types, as they can have different widths and lengths. For example, the largest very small maze is 15 x 15, after which the maze would become a small-size maze. Here are the current size thresholds:

* Very small is up to 15 x 15
* Small is up to 20 x 20
* Medium is up to 30 x 30
* Large is up to 35 x 35
* Very Large is up to 40 x 40
* Giant is 40+ x 40+

Giant mazes can only be generated using the Custom Cases generator. A 1x1 tile in a maze is 3m x 3m, or roughly 10ft x 10ft.

As you level up, the chances that you'll generate larger cases increases. For example, by the time you get to level 20 you should have seen a few large mazes, and you should see very larges by level 30. Keep in mind these sizes are chance-based, so if you don't see many or any by those levels, it comes down to luck. To help solo players and groups that prefer smaller mazes, you will always have at least one very small or small mazes, and you'll never have more than 2 large/very large/giant mazes. Additionally, you cannot have more than one giant maze at any time. As an example, you could have a small maze, a medium maze, and two very large mazes, but you cannot have a medium maze, two large mazes, and one giant maze.

## Danger

The danger level of a map is a hidden value that influences the difficulty level. It's determined by the type and amount of the monsters in the case file. Monsters have been given a danger level based on their speed and how difficult they are to handle in the maze. The combined danger levels of monsters placed on a map provides the overall danger of the case that is factored into the difficulty. Smiley for example isn't a very dangerous monster when you know how to handle him, so having two Smileys would skew the difficulty toward easy. Having multiple Wickermen in a maze however is much more threatening, so your difficulty level would get bumped up.

* Scarecrow
* Smiley
* Witch
* Wickerman

Keep in mind, this doesn't mean that if you have one Wickerman or one Pigman on a maze, it will be a high difficulty maze. These values are weighed together to calculate the danger level, so if your case only has one Pigman or one Wickerman, it can still be a low difficulty case.

## Difficulty Level

This is a representation of several different factors, such as the size of the map, the danger, and the number of lives that you have. To make it easier for new players, lower level case files will always have a high number of lives. The difficulty decided is based on a hidden point system, where points are given based on the factors listed above (e.g. several monsters gives you several points). The number of points the generator gives you in this hidden system will determine the difficulty level you get. The different levels of difficulty are easy, normal, hard, very hard, and extreme. There is technically a severe difficulty, but at the moment it's not possible to earn enough points to get a severe-difficulty maze.

## Objectives

Each maze type has its own set of objectives to complete before the maze can be escaped. Some maze types will even have objectives randomized, meaning there could be 2 or 3 sets of objectives that can be chosen to be completed instead of their usual objectives. The Maze Types section below will cover these situations.

To check your objectives for the maze, hold TAB when you load into the maze. As long as you have the list of objectives showing for those maze types (e.g. 0/5 seals found, 0/3 levers found, etc.), that means those objectives have definitely spawned somewhere on the maze and are obtainable. So if you're stuck on 4/5 seals and are confident you've explored the entire maze, the sections below will go over spawn points that you might have missed, because the objectives should always be obtainable if they are displaying correctly.

## Re-roll Tokens

If you come across a case file that you just want to get rid of because it seems too difficult, there is a re-roll option available. Each time you complete someone else's maze, you will earn a re-roll token that can be used to re-roll one of your case files, which can be seen on the shelf on the bottom right corner of the noticeboard. There is no limit to the amount of re-roll tokens you can have, but the maximum amount that can be displayed on the noticeboard is 10: 7 in one pile, and 3 in the second pile. You can also buy tokens from the shop for 4 tickets per token.

Re-rolling a case will make a completely new maze to replace your last one, but that doesn't mean it will be any easier! Each case has a set of dice next to them on the right, and you can click the dice next to the one you wish to re-roll. If you are hosting, you will not earn any re-roll tokens for completing your mazes. Any players in your lobby that have helped you complete a maze will need to make their own lobby to re-roll their mazes.

## Custom Cases

This feature can be accessed by clicking the cog icon next to a case you want to get rid of. This opens up the UI to begin generating a case. You're able to choose the size of the maze, the number of lives you have, the number of monsters you have, the maze type you want to play on, and the monsters you want on the maze. You can also choose to randomize everything, or only randomize some aspects. Generating cases costs tickets, and the harder you make the maze on yourself, the fewer tickets it'll cost to generate the case.

By default, players will start with only Unkept Hedges and Kept Hedges unlocked as maze types, and the Witch, Clubfoot, and Smiley unlocked as monsters.

To unlock more maze types, you'll need to find blueprints for the maze types you're interested in unlocking. They have a low chance of spawning in safe houses in that maze type. For example, Cornfield blueprints have a chance to spawn in safe houses on Cornfields.

To unlock more monsters, you'll need to encounter them a total of 10 times in cases, but this can be spread out between cases. For example, you could encounter Wickerman in Unkept Hedges 7 times, and encounter him in Cornfield 3 times to unlock him. Due to current limitations, Scarecrow and Centipede can only be placed on their respective maze types, so it's not possible to have a Scarecrow spawn in the Trenches, or a Centipede in the Crypts.

## Case Modifiers

As you complete cases, you'll have a chance of receiving a modified case: Rare or Hardcore. These are guaranteed to have a cosmetic and hardcore has its own special hardcore cosmetics, but with case file limitations as outlined further below. Also keep in mind only one cosmetic can spawn on modified cases.

Rare cases are nearly identical to regular case files but are marked with a blue R stamp to indicate it has a 100% guarantee of a cosmetic (as opposed to the normal 15% chance for non-marked case files).

Hardcore cases can start appearing at level 10, and are marked with a red and black pentagram stamp. These also have a guaranteed cosmetic that is exclusive to hardcore mode, but comes with several catches:

* You have 0 lives
* Infinite lives does not work
* There's a minimum of 3 monsters
* Failing or leaving the case will cause the case to re-roll (so you only have one chance to find the item and complete the case)

You can bring in revival bracers and other items, but this only applies to the host, nobody else in the group can bring in anything.