Stage 1: Pick by what you want out of the session
The game page describes two modes and nothing else. STORY MODE is for uncovering what happened at Fathom Amusement. CHASE MODE is for jumping straight into the hunt.
Those two sentences are the whole official distinction. Everything below adds dates and build times, not new promises.
How you know it worked: you can say whether this session is for progress or for the chase.
Stage 2: Know which place you are joining
Story and Chase do not share a map file. Roblox's place list for this universe returns three playable places beside the experience itself, and each one was built on a different day:
| Place | What it is | Last build we read |
|---|---|---|
FATHOM [HORROR] — 106632886527873 |
The experience page you join first; the lobby with the Chapter 2 clock | 30 Oct 2026, 12:32 UTC |
Chapter 1 — 80884457093967 |
The story run the walkthrough covers | 29 Oct 2026, 05:08 UTC |
Chapter 2 — 105561894472960 |
Created 23 Oct 2026; opens with the Chapter 2 event window | 30 Oct 2026, 01:53 UTC |
Chase — 107017834293742 |
The hunt, with no story objectives | 29 Oct 2026, 05:07 UTC |
That matters in one practical way: a Chapter 1 recording cannot show you Chase's layout, and a Chase recording cannot show you the story objectives. Times above are the Updated field Roblox returned for each place on 30 October 2026, UTC.
The lobby clock is real and it is not a mode: a walkthrough published on 28 October 2026 shows a CHAPTER 2 marquee over a four-part clock reading 03:19:33:34, labelled days, hours, minutes and seconds.
How you know it worked: the mode name on your screen matches the place you meant to join.
Stage 3: Play Story Mode when progress is the point
Story Mode is the run the walkthrough covers. The objective bar names the current job, the route is walked in order, and progress saves automatically, so you can stop and come back.
If your goal is a badge, this is also the only place the chapter badges are recorded. All four chapter badges carry a completion condition in their own description: Chapter 1 Complete — you climbed out of Chapter 1; Go Deeper and Go Home — you chose one of the two; Untouchable — finish Chapter 1 without losing a life.
How you know it worked: the objective bar shows a job rather than a hunt countdown.
Stage 4: Play Chase Mode for the hunt, including as the monster
Chase Mode starts the hunt without the story scaffolding. One store row goes further than most players expect: a developer product called Become the Monster, listed at 99 Robux, is described as playing one Chase round as the monster and hunting the others until they run out of lives.
Chase also carries its own revive prices, cheaper than the story equivalents: Chase Revive: +1 Life is 19 Robux, and Chase: Revive a Teammate is 19 Robux. The story versions cost 25 and 49 for one and three lives.
What Chase does not publish: how many lives a round starts with, whether there is a timer, how many players a round takes, or what counts as a win besides outlasting him. We have not recorded a Chase round, so this page stops at the store text.
How you know it worked: the round you joined is a hunt, and the store row you bought names Chase in its description.
Stage 5: Treat Nightmare as a pricing rule, not a guide
Nightmare appears in store descriptions and nowhere else we could read. Radar and Night Vision Goggles both say they work in Story and Chase and are off on Nightmare. The per-run versions of Radar, Night Vision and Stronger Grapple repeat the same limit. Shove says it still works on Nightmare.
So the useful part is a buying rule: do not buy a radar or night vision for Nightmare, because its own description switches it off there. The permanent Stronger Grapple description makes no Nightmare claim either way, so we do not add one.
How you know it worked: you have not bought an aid that its own description switches off.
Stage 6: Decide, then load the game
- First session, or you want progress. Pick Story Mode, keep the objective bar on screen, and follow the Chapter 1 order. This is the only mode with badges attached.
- You want the hunt, or you want to play him. Pick Chase, and read the store row before buying Become the Monster: it lasts one round.
- You want to buy an aid first. Read the pass list first. Radar and Night Vision are worth nothing in Nightmare, and the per-run rows are worth nothing next session.
- You want to bring friends. Settle the party size before you queue; the party guidance is on the multiplayer guide.
How you know it worked: the mode matches the reason you opened the game today.
When the mode you joined is not the one you wanted
Check the objective bar before you re-queue.
- A bar with a job on it is the story. Read the job, not the map.
- A round that starts with pursuit and no job is the hunt. There is no objective list to finish.
- The lobby shows the Chapter 2 marquee. The chapter is still behind its event window and you are on the experience page.
- You cannot see your friend. That is usually the server rather than the mode; the join procedure is on multiplayer.
We did not record the mode-select screen, so we are not describing its buttons or labels.
What we could not confirm
Five things stay open, and none of them are worth guessing at:
- How Nightmare is selected, and whether the current build opens it at all.
- How many lives a Chase round starts with, and what ends it.
- Whether a Chase round has a timer, an objective count, or a win condition beyond outlasting him.
- Whether the automatic save covers a mode change in the middle of a chapter.
- What the mode list looks like once the Chapter 2 window opens on 31 October 2026.
If you test any of them, the record worth keeping is a clip showing the menu, the clock and the result screen together.
Where this fits
If you chose Story, the chapter route is on the beginner walkthrough and the fuse gate is on power and fuses. If you chose Chase, Grinsworth's rules apply unchanged: sound, sight and four tools. Before any purchase, read the pass list, because two of the aids are switched off outside Story and Chase.