Eldritch contains a number of special rooms and other features that although will appear in different areas or orientations each run will also become familiar to the player over time. It is beneficial to learn the pros and cons of these common features as they will surely show up at some point almost every run.
Rooms of all Worlds[]
Shops[]
"All are welcome here, ssstranger. You won't find any better prices on such quality goodsss."
Shops are found throughout all of the three core worlds and the Mountains of Madness. If you are holding the Compass they are designated by what looks like a sign with three unknown symbols, the same one that appears over the shop's door. They contain a variety of items such as revolvers, baked meats, keys, knives, gear, kits, and boots. Some weapons are only available for purchase in certain worlds.
It is recommended that the Explorer close the shop door behind them since Denizens can wander inside. Sometimes shops will be encountered locked, especially in R'lyeh, but unlike real-world shops these are still open for business provided you are able to get in.
The Shopkeeper can be killed (or entombed using Materialize), providing the Explorer an abundance of items. Shopkeepers remain friendly until attacked or stolen from. Once hostile they utilize rapid missile attacks and take several hits to take down except for the Shoggoth Shopkeeper, who behaves as any Shoggoth. Shopkeepers will also react to Denizens fighting in or near their shops and will not hesitate to step in to stop the commotion! If the Explorer stays out of the fracas the Shopkeeper will return to their counter and behave as normal.
In each World, the Shopkeeper is depicted as one of that World's Denizens: on Dagon he is a Deep One with a bow tie, on Nyarlathotep a Lizardman with a bowler hat, on R'lyeh a Star Spawn with a monocle, and in the Mountains of Madness a Shoggoth in a wide-brimmed hat with a cagey fishnet trim. Clearly shopkeepers are smarter and more enterprising than their fellows!
Vaults[]
This area is labeled on the map with a chest icon. Inside the Vault is a Bank Chest and one or possibly more locked gates to chambers containing several Piles of Artifacts (or in the case of Nyarlathotep, sometimes buried under the Vault's floor). Chests are useful for creating stores of Artifacts for future runs.
If the Explorer wants to retain Keys it is also possible to gain access by using Explosives, shooting your revolver when you have the Destruction amulet, or via a Pickaxe to create a hole in the wall.
Vaults are randomized in terms of the number of locked gates and the amount of Artifacts within. In New Game+ the scarcity of resources applies, meaning you may only find a few single Artifacts for your troubles.
Prayer Altars[]
These areas contain a softly bubbling octopus-like statue that can grant the Explorer a magical power.
Some Prayer Altars are surrounded by walls with locked gates. Aside from using a key, the Lockpick kit, or the Knock ability, the Explorer may also gain entry by using Jump Boots, the Leap ability, a Pickaxe, shooting a hole in the wall using a Revolver in combination with the Destruction Amulet, or using Dynamite to blow a hole in the wall.
Churches[]
These are small rooms with four tables represented as three wooden blocks each and a book that will return the Explorer back to the Library. In both of the back corners of the room, two randomly generated objects will be spawned. These will be a sapling with fruit, a water fountain, or a cross. These rooms are marked as a white building with a black door and cross on it.
Blood Fountains[]
These are rooms leading to a fountain similar to those containing water that can be found randomly generated throughout the game. However, these fountains offer 15 Artifacts at the price of your own health. On the map, they are shown as a dish with the offered blood in it.
Taverns[]
Tavern room with tables and bar as seen in Dagon
This room is characterized by tables, chairs, and sometimes a bar. The tables are decorated with 8x8 game boards. There are often Bottles in Taverns, as well as Bugs, daggers, revolvers, food, and artifacts.
Be on the lookout for dark crawl spaces in the Endless Library's taverns as they commonly contain loot.
Rooms of Dagon[]
Swamp/Gated Graveyard[]
These are fenced off and locked by one or more gates, defined by the bedrock in one corner with bubbles arising from it and greenish (but harmless) gas making it difficult to see within. An invincible Shoggoth is found inside, sometimes with a few Flying Eyeball corpses. Items will be locked within, but consider the significant risk.
The Abandoned Shop[]
An otherwise ordinary one-square room but features a small "counter" and two "shelves" on either side. The shelves will contain plenty of random inventory items and some may be behind the counter as well. There's no one keeping shop, but Denizens may be hanging around!
The Private Rooms[]
Built of red brick, the Private Rooms always contain a few counters or Tavern tables and chairs. Usually there will be two doors: one unlocked and seemingly devoid of anything useful, and one locked. The locked room is usually a gated door, allowing a glimpse of the inventory items inside - and usually two Bugs! A small space at the ceiling can be climbed over into the useful room if the Explorer has the right tools.
Occasionally the second part of the rooms will seem completely closed off. This usually indicates a "secret" room where a slot item and several other items will be hidden.
Monster Prisons[]
Monster prison in Dagon (be careful with that Knock ability)
High-walled, enclosed, gate-locked rooms that are home to several denizens and items, including a slot item. Usually in Dagon-2 or Dagon-3, can contain a half-dozen Denizens of different types, typically Deep Ones and Flying Eyeballs. Plan carefully before deciding to engage these, as once the door is unlocked or the wall blasted the prisoners will advance quickly!
Pyramid[]
Perhaps this Deep One has too played Eldritch?
At the bottom of Dagon-3 there is a room with a stepped pyramid. Unlike every other room the Pyramid is 2 levels high and 2 rooms wide. At the top of the is the first Soul you have to collect to open up the next world and a book that takes you back to the Library.
Around the back of the Pyramid is a door where you'll find a locked cell with some useful item (and possibly a Bug) and a penitent Deep One, banging it's head to the wall, oblivious to your presence and the first sign that even the Denizens eventually succumb to madness.
Rooms of Nyarlathotep[]
Tombs[]
What are those?!?
Whenever a tombstone is seen in Nyarlathotep it likely means a Mummy is sighing nearby. Bombing the tombstones is believed to do nothing. Sometimes these areas appear with a gated second level containing tripwires and items inaccessible by ordinary jumping. It may be possible to jump to a ledge around the Tomb's outside, but a means of entry must still be found. One random slot item will be in the far corner of the tomb.
Grave Pits[]
An open area often with two headstones, the plots are actually false tile hazards that will fall away into a two-block deep pit of spikes. There are usually Artifacts or weapons buried here, but it's extremely dangerous to attempt to grab them.
Sarcophagus[]
A dusty room containing a large gray slab surrounded by spikes, accessible only by small windows surrounding the room. Often accompanied by tripwires of varying height and Flying Eyeballs, it's common to come across the traps already set off and and the Eyeballs dead. Explorers able to reach the top of the sarcophagus may find artifacts, weapons, and food. It is unknown what lies within the slab....
Lizardman Vault[]
Can appear anywhere in Nyarlathotep, sometimes more than once on one floor. A series of locked rooms containing Lizardman Statues, these vaults will end in two separate rooms containing items, including random slot items - one room with a statue, and one without. Materialize, Lift, Teleport, Jump Boots, or a Grappling Hook are very useful here in order to get on top of the walls to avoid the statues and determine which items are easily grabbed and/or worth taking a risk for.
Dusty "Bones"[]
Probably just rocks. Probably.
These blocks may resemble a large ribcage from certain angles....Found in rocky, barren areas, the area beneath the "ribs" is full of dust as well as Artifacts, weapons, and related items.
Throne Room[]
Well-hidden and rare in Nyarlathotep, this is an open space containing an empty throne with a couple Lizardman Statues guarding the area in addition to other potential wandering denizens. If the Explorer can successfully navigate their way behind the throne a random Kit awaits them.
The Statue Halls[]
Many a run ends here.
Nyarlathotep-3's exit is an intimidating gauntlet of Lizardman Statues, a total of eight with four on either side, with this being repeated on any side where there's entry. If there are no magical or tool-based ways around them, stealth is absolutely key for this room - and don't forget a key for the gate where the Soul and exit book are located!
Rooms of R'lyeh[]
Swamped Cabin[]
100% Baker-free guaranteed.
A locked room on a dock situated in a swamp. The dock will usually have barnacle eyes encrusting it, and while the swamp gas is harmless it obscures vision. The cabin will contain inventory items and one slot item.
Spike Dungeon[]
These are gate-locked rooms full of spiked walls with items at the center, including one slot item. Careful navigation will prevent damage, but an hasty Explorer will meet their end in this room.
Mossy Steps[]
You may be hiding here a lot.
More of a distinct terrain feature, this area will be have one or two one-block openings at the bottom that might contain inventory items, but the Explorer will likely be using this area as cover from Denizens after a split-second slide.
Starry Altar[]
Perfect for an offering...
Rare and well-hidden, these small rooms contain a dusty four-block altar beneath a seemingly star-filled ceiling. Behind it will be various loot, and behind those a single useful item will be caged under a ledge, requiring Dynamite, Revolver+Destruction Amulet, or a Pickaxe to access.
Unlike the usual starry "bedrock" pattern, the ceiling CAN be broken through.
Gated Pyramid[]
R'lyeh-3 contains another stepped pyramid behind locked gates on all accessible sides. Once inside the explorer must unlock one more gate (or break through the wall) at the bottom to obtain that world's Soul and exit via book, but they'll need to get past the sleeping Star Spawn to do so.
Rooms of the Library/Endless Library[]
Library Canteen[]
In the Library is a small canteen area that has a bar, tables, and chairs like in the taverns. It is where the player can heal in between rooms as it has baked meat and fruit, but note these resources do not replenish between Worlds. Bottles can also be found here, providing the player with a useful starter item, however these too do not respawn in the same run.
The Trick or Treat World portal via Jack-o'-Lantern is also found here.
Bathroom[]
Don't forget to wash your hands.
The Endless Library will on occasion include a green-tiled bathroom complete with (non-reflective) mirrors, sinks, and stalls, the last stall often locked. The stalls will contain items and very rarely a slot item, but don't forget certain items make the difference between a Good ending and a Great one.
The Restricted Section[]
Situated behind a locked gate with several small barred windows this area will contain several Piles of Artifacts, important to have on hand for endgame survival.
The Caged Idol[]
What *is* this thing?
A small area closed off by iron bars containing an eerie-faced pillar surrounded by Artifacts. Normally inaccessible, this is more of an aesthetic feature within a room, but notable all the same.
Candle Room[]
Located on the second floor of each level of the Endless Library, each room contains a single candle the Explorer must light in order to achieve the Good Ending. These rooms are only accessible from the top floor unless the Explorer is able to Pickaxe or Dynamite their way in. Worms are occasionally found "guarding" the candles.
Binding Room[]
The final room of the game, this room is at least two levels high with the Ritual of Binding book waiting on the top level. Reading from the book will end your current run. Accessible only via ladders and one-block wide ledges, a careless explorer may come close to their goal only to fall to an untimely end.
Rooms of the Mountains of Madness[]
Deep Pit[]
An icy pit found on floors 1-3, will descend from the top floor through the second and into the third floor of the level, typically with no exit other than to climb back out. Will contain items including a random piece of gear, including the Soapstone normally only available at the entrance to the entire world.
Rooms of Trick or Treat World[]
Three Closets[]
While Trick or Treat tends to be pretty ill-defined, one of the few distinct features is a series of three small "closets." These will usually have at least a few artifacts, weapons, keys, baked meat, etc., but possibly more important is the furthest closet will have a two-block wide space between it and the wall containing more loot plus one useful Item.
Giant Jack-o'-Lantern[]
We're gonna need a bigger pie shell.
This massive Jack-o'Lantern is always on the lowest floor of Trick or Treat world and is the portal back to the Library. Hopefully the Explorer returns with as much loot as the size of Jack-o'-Lantern suggests!