Guidebooks/Summaries

Guidebooks is a comedy game that features minigame, exploration, and fetch quest gameplay. The whole game takes place over one chapter, and is currently completed. Since the game only has one chapter, the summaries will be split into sections of the game, rather than by chapter.

**To view the rest of the page click the "Show Summary" button. Spoilers ahead proceed at your own risk!**

## Day 1

### Intro

The game starts with Ludwig, Matthew, Kyle, Ivan, and Katya standing next to a parked car on the edge of the forest. Katya is quizzing Matthew on if the four have everything they need, and Matthew assures her everything will be fine and they have all they need. He briefly mentions he and Alfred have done this for years, which prompts Ludwig to question if Alfred will be there. Matthew replies that, no, he won't, he's sick. Further prompting from Ludwig reveals that Alfred has been grounded for sneaking into the wine cellar at 3 AM, phrased as him 'catching "I got caught going through the wine cellar at 3 AM disease."' Ivan and Kyle get overexcited and run off into the woods, and Ludwig attempts to get out of camping by insisting he has unfinished homework. Matthew reminds him that it's spring break and he watched him finish his work at school already, before dragging him off towards the campsite. Katya reminds them to stay safe and have fun before driving off.

### Camp Setup

Once further in, Matthew directs Ludwig to set the tent up at the campsite while he goes to find Ivan and Kyle. Ludwig makes his way to the campfire and pulls out the manual to figure out how to pitch the tent, only to realize it's in french. As he goes to translate it, Matthew brings back Kyle and Ivan who were attempting to fight a bee's nest and eat mystery fungus. Matthew directs the two to help in some way, and as they go over to help Ludwig pitch the tent, a loud guy comes running in and demands to know who is 'trying to camp better than them.' He introduces himself as 'Darkwing, Camper Extraordinaire,' and insists he's there to fight them to the death. Immediately, however, another neighboring camper (Lukas) comes in and says he's done boiling hot dogs for lunch, calling him Paul and asking if he's bothering people again. Paul yells for him to shut up before saying he wants both ketchup and mustard on his hot dog, and Lukas leaves, only for another (Emil) to show up and say that Paul's flat iron caught the tent on fire. Paul leaves in a huff, insisting that he'll be back, and the main characters turn their attention back to setting up camp. Matthew takes over the pitching of the tent, and asks Ludwig to keep an eye on the other two. Ludwig loses sight of Kyle quickly, but manages to find him sitting by the edge of a cliff to take a look at the view. He brings him back to the camp, and Ivan offers him some of a substance that he's snorting, which turns out to be salt.

### Gathering Food

With the tent pitched, Matthew poses the idea of having some breakfast, which leads to the quick realization that the food bag is empty, meaning that Kyle lost the food. Ludwig jumps on the opportunity to propose going home, which Matthew quickly shuts down. Instead, he says they should fish and pick berries to have food to eat, bringing up the possibility of eating pine bark and dandelion greens in a pinch. He attempts to explain how to pick safe berries from toxic ones, but Ivan and Kyle just run off in the middle of the explanation. He gives the explanation to Ludwig instead, directing him to pick up a berry basket before leaving, as well. Ludwig heads off into the forest, and the player is greeted with their first minigame, which is a simple game of picking berries while avoiding touching the wasps that are living in the bushes.

When Ludwig returns to camp, Ivan is attempting to convince Kyle to eat a wild mushroom that they picked off of the forest floor for twenty dollars. Ludwig is concerned for a moment, before Matthew pulls him aside and ensures him that it's only a morel, and isn't going to kill him. He does also say, however, that Kyle is likely to get mushroom poisoning from eating a wild mushroom, but that he sees it as payback for Kyle letting his snake eat in Matthew's bed. Ludwig steps in and smacks the mushroom out of Kyle's hands, preventing him from eating more than a bite or two.

They then decide that their next course of action is going fishing, since the berries Ludwig picked aren't enough for a meal. Ivan and Kyle insist that they want to go fishing too, but Matthew shuts them down, saying he doesn't trust them. He hands a fishing rod to Ludwig, and the two of them decide that Kyle and Ivan can help by holding the fish that they catch. The four head to the nearby river that holds trout, from Matthew's memory, and they begin fishing. The player then gets the second minigame, which consists of pressing the A button as close to the center of the bar on-screen as possible. After catching a good amount of fish, Ludwig turns to check the basket, only to find it empty. He asks where the fish are, to which Ivan responds that fish is a social construct. Ludwig quickly realizes that Ivan put the fish in a puddle instead of the basket, meaning that they simply flopped out of the puddle and back into the water. After ensuring that Ivan is holding the basket and will put the fish in it this time, Ludwig returns to fishing. After catching a few more fish, something strong tugs on the line. Ludwig tries his best to reel it in, but gets unbalanced and falls into the river. He manages to keep hold of the fish, however, and passes it off to Ivan to store before helping him up out of the river. As he begins to struggle out of the water, however, Ivan insists that he's missing something, which Ludwig quickly realizes is his pants.

Matthew comes over to check on them, and Ludwig relays the previous events to him. Matthew blames Ivan, and Ivan immediately gets a call from Katya, causing Matthew to swipe his phone and take the call for him. After a brief confusion caused by Ludwig yelling at Ivan that he won't get out until Ivan gives him his pants back, Katya offers to order them a pizza. Matthew insists that a pizza place wouldn't deliver to the middle of the woods, and Emil wanders over and asks to have some if they're going to get pizza. Matthew hangs up the call and Emil disappears back into the forest, as Matthew kicks Ivan into the river, insisting that he go find Ludwig's pants. The player then gets the third minigame, which consists of swimming around the river and checking bubbling water spots. Eventually, Ivan finds Ludwig's pants and the two climb out of the river. After heading back to the camp, Emil shows up again and asks about the pizza again, which prompts Paul to jump out again and proclaim that their group has cheese and spinach and could make their own pizza. Ludwig remarks that they have quite a few pizza ingredients as well, mentioning a bottle of ketchup, which Emil then goes over and drinks before the two neighbors leave. The four then decide to finally eat.

## Nighttime

### Dinnertime

During the meal, Ivan gets up and wanders into the forest, unnoticed by the other three. After they've all eaten, Ludwig insists that it's time for sleep, considering how late it is. Matthew insists that going to bed immediately would have Ludwig miss out on scary stories, what he considers to be a core camping experience. Ludwig expresses skepticism, but agrees to stay up and participate after Matthew insists he's worried about Ludwig only doing schoolwork and not having any fun. The scene then cuts briefly to Ivan in the forest, and the player then gets a minigame involving running around and catching as many bugs as possible within 3 minutes. Ivan then returns to the camp, stopping by the tent briefly before sitting down. Matthew asks where he went, but quickly gives up on getting an answer, as Ivan's response is evasive and he clearly doesn't want to tell them.

Kyle then begins to tell a story, only to be shut down by Matthew, who insists that the story was just about Alfred accidentally breaking a photo frame in his house over the spring. Ivan goes next, but also gets shut down, this time on the insistence that his story is traumatizing in nature. Matthew decides to go next, saying he usually likes to save his stories for last, but doesn't want Ludwig to have nothing good to go off of. He tells a story about an experience that his cousin Michelle had with a creature known as a tikwii, successfully scaring Kyle and unnerving Ludwig in the process. Ludwig then attempts to tell a story, defaulting to a time that he didn't study well enough for a very large and important test, before also getting stopped by Matthew who prompts him to try something a bit more traditional in nature. The player then gets to another minigame, which consists of picking choices periodically to tell a successful scary story. There are two possible stories, one about a german marksman's brush with the devil disguised as a peddler, and one about a haunted dresser. Depending on the player's choices, the story can either be a success or a failure, and Matthew and Kyle with react appropriately. They then decide to head to bed, but not before Matthew gets startled by the sleeping bags being full of bugs, and then forces Ivan to clean out every last one.

### The Middle of the Night

Partway through the night, Ludwig is woken up by noises coming from outside the tent. He starts to get up to investigate, which wakes up Matthew. Matthew insists that he shouldn't go outside in the dark alone, and decides to come with him. The two head outside and find Kyle, who claims he can't use the bathroom because a deer won't leave him alone. Ludwig says that that's ridiculous, as deer are timid creatures, but Kyle points the deer out to the two of them. At a loss on what to do, Matthew comes up with the idea of creating a modified catapult that functions solely as a noisemaker, so as not to actually hurt the deer. He stays back to keep an eye on Kyle, while Ludwig heads off deeper into the forest to gather resources for the catapult, as well as some pinecones, 'just in case.' This is another gameplay segment, which consists of picking up sticks and pinecones, with some of them being too brittle and snapping. Eventually, Ludwig gathers everything and Matthew assembles the noisemaker, and they successfully chase away the deer. Kyle is free to finish his business, and Ludwig and Matthew head back to bed.

## Day 2

### Breakfast

As the four sit around the firepit and eat breakfast, Ivan pulls out a bottle of what he calls 'appley juice' and offers some to everyone. Kyle insists that he won't touch it and Matthew seems to realize something after Ivan says that his sister Katya gave it to him after they got out of the car. Ludwig, on the other hand, decides to try some. Matthew tries to stop him, but Ludwig drinks some anyway, and immediately begins to gag. Ivan reveals that it's apple cider vinegar, and immediately heads off to the neighboring camp to share it. Mathias immediately takes some and begins to drink, as Paul comes running in, demanding to know who is 'disrupting their camping experience.' He hears about the 'juice,' and runs off, claiming that he'll make a better juice than Ivan's and that he doesn't even need to taste it to know his will be better. The four decide to head back to their own camp, and Matthew goes to head into the tent, only to come running back out in a panic. Somehow, his plush bear Kumajiro has gone missing from his sleeping bag, and Matthew begins to emotionally break down, insisting that he's his emotional support bear. Ludwig becomes annoyed at Ivan, sure that he's responsible, before getting the taste of the vinegar in the back of his throat and beginning to cough and gag. Just then, Ivan gets another call from Katya. Katya hears Matthew crying and Ludwig coughing and rightfully assumes that something is going on, but Ivan just insists everything is going great and hangs up. Ludwig insists that the four of them are all going to go look for Kumajiro, seeing as how Matthew is clearly emotionally distressed without him, and they all set off into the woods to go look.

### Wandering the Woods

After a bit of trekking around the woods, Matthew spots Kumajiro at the top of a rather large tree, next to Kyle. Kyle insists that before he returns Kumajiro, they should have a race to the top of the tree, and whoever wins gets a kiss from Kumajiro, who he calls the prince. Matthew is clearly upset with the situation and tells Kyle he's not doing that, before immediately turning to Ludwig and begging him to go get Kumajiro back for him. Ludwig agrees rather easily, and the player then enters another minigame where they have to climb the tree as fast as possible, while dodging things Kyle is throwing from the top of the tree. Once the race is over, Ludwig takes Kumajiro from Kyle's hands and hands him back to Matthew, who immediately hugs him and sets off a little voice box that he has. After triggering a voice line or two to help calm him down, Matthew puts Kumajiro in his backpack as Kyle and Ivan decide to play a game they call 'knife monopoly.' Ludwig is confused until Matthew explains that the game is essentially the two of them stabbing each other in the hand, and whoever gets stabbed in the hand the most loses. Matthew then heads back to camp due to a bout of sudden exhaustion, and Ludwig stays behind to keep an eye on Kyle and Ivan. The player then gets put in the last minigame, which consists of a simple knife monopoly game where you either dodge or attack at the right moment. After Kyle and Ivan poke each other's hands full of holes, the three of them head back to camp and meet up with Matthew, who's entirely unsurprised at the outcome, and suggests that it's time to gather food for lunch.

### Final Stretch

The four head off into the woods to figure out what they'll do for lunch. They end up near a smaller river further into the woods, which Matthew says is too full of algae to bother fishing in. As they go to leave, Ludwig spots a frog sitting on a rock. He crouches down to get a closer look at it, considering it to be cute, before it jumps on his face, startling him. The player then has to do a quick QTE as Ludwig panics, before finally getting the frog off of his face and lying down on the grass to recuperate. Matthew suggests them not having fish after all, and they move on to a different part of the river. Kyle starts hopping across some rocks at the base of a waterfall, before slipping and falling into the water despite Ludwig's warnings about the rocks being wet and slippery. Kyle calls up that he's fine, there's a cave behind the waterfall, but he landed on his arm and can't really feel it. Ivan jumps in to join him without a second thought, and Matthew and Ludwig are left at the riverbank, wondering if they should go after them. Not even a moment later, Kyle starts to call for help, so they jump in after them and come face to face with a bear. Kyle and Ivan begin to run away as Matthew yells at them to stop running since that's now how you handle a bear.

The group ends up having to run from the bear all the way to the cave's entrance, before the bear trips and yells a very loud and obvious 'SHIT!' The 'bear' then removes its mask and is revealed to be Gilbert in a bear suit, who immediately starts monologuing about his plan to follow Ludwig and scare him for the fun of it. Ludwig questions the origin of the bear costume, to which Gilbert reveals that it's a fursuit of his fursona, Moon Moon. Matthew remarks that fursuits are expensive, and Ivan makes note of the sheer amount of bear hoodies Gilbert owns. Suddenly, a real bear appears behind Gilbert and begins to chase him, Ivan, and Kyle around the cave entrance. Ivan's phone begins to ring then, and seeing that he'd dropped it on the ground, Ludwig takes the opportunity to pick it up and beg Katya to come and pick them up. The scene then cuts to a shot of a car driving down a thin road. Ivan mentions having taken the frog from the forest and is intending to name him 'Commander Pissington.' Matthew and Ludwig reflect on the experience as a whole, and Ludwig admits to being open to trying camping again at some point, which makes Matthew happy. The camera then pans up a bit and the credits roll, ending the game.