Terrible Lizards guide for new players

What kind of game this is

Terrible Lizards is a parkour platformer with horror dressing. That order matters. The fear comes from being unable to fight back, but the skill being tested is movement — the same skill a precision platformer tests, just with something breathing behind you.

The developer describes the loop as: enter a new space, explore, learn a mechanic, get pushed into harder platforming, then face a skill check before the pace drops again. Once you notice that rhythm, the game becomes much easier to read. A room that introduces a new move is a promise that you will need it at speed shortly.

The movement set

Everything in the game is built from eight moves. None of them are complicated on their own; the difficulty is stringing them together without stopping.

The exact bindings change between patches, so check Options → Controls in your own build rather than trusting a list online. Full controller support is confirmed on PC, and the 1.0.9 patch fixed controllers getting locked out of sprinting.

Momentum, explained

This is the single concept that separates players who find the game easy from players who find it impossible. Terrible Lizards does not have a stamina bar and it does not slow you down for turning. What it does is reward carrying speed from one move into the next.

1. 01

   Never land standing still

   When you land, you should already be holding a direction. The next jump inherits your speed, and a standing start throws it away.
2. 02

   Jump late, not early

   Most failed jumps in this game are early jumps. The ledge geometry is forgiving at the far edge and unforgiving at the near one.
3. 03

   Hold forward through a climb

   Climbs trigger from momentum. If you release the stick the moment you touch the wall, you slide off.
4. 04

   Treat wall runs as commitments

   You cannot bail halfway along a wall. Decide before you step onto it, then hold the line.
5. 05

   Slide to keep, not to stop

   Slides are for maintaining speed under an obstacle. Using one to brake is how you end up inside a dinosaur.

Chases vs hunts

The game has two kinds of monster encounter and they want opposite behaviour. Confusing them is the most common reason people stall in Level 2 and Level 3.

Your first hour

If you want the shortest path to being competent, do these in order.

1. Turn the hints off, then back on. Look at what changes. Knowing which parts of the environment are guidance makes it much easier to read new rooms later.
2. Learn the lobby climb. The Allosaurus fossil is a climbing frame. If you can get onto it cleanly, you can climb most things in Level 1.
3. Practise the theater crate jump. It is the first jump that punishes a standing start. Do it three times until the timing feels automatic.
4. Get the flashlight. The Dilo Dash token route is optional-feeling and mandatory in practice; the basement is dark.
5. Die once on purpose. Jump off something high. You get an achievement and, more usefully, you learn that death costs seconds rather than a run.

Settings worth changing

• Hints (Accessibility). On by default. Turning it off removes yellow guidance, swaps some environment pieces and quietens Jordan. The developer added it for players who found the game hand-holdy, then warned it was not the intended experience.
• Graphics preset. Low, medium, high, epic and a Steam Deck preset. If you are crashing on a 4 GB card, drop the preset before you do anything else.
• “Terrible” lighting. A cheap lighting mode introduced for low-VRAM crashes. It also makes the game darker and, honestly, scarier.
• VSync. On by default since the demo. Leave it on unless you have a reason not to.
• Controller vs keyboard. Both work. The wall-run sections are more forgiving with a stick than with digital keys.

Ten rules that keep you alive

1. Update to 1.0.9 or later before your first run.
2. Read every note you pass — several are literally the puzzle answer.
3. Press every Paleo Pal talk box; it is an achievement and a free lore dump.
4. Take the flashlight the moment it is offered.
5. In hunts, do one objective per trip.
6. Break line of sight before stopping, always.
7. Check side ledges for amber; every fourth one unlocks a NG+ modifier.
8. Walk beams, sprint corridors.
9. If a room introduces a move, expect a chase that needs it.
10. Do not look back. You already know it is there.

The five ways people die

Almost every death in the first three hours is one of these. Recognising them is faster than improving.

• Stopping on a landing. You think it is safe because it is a floor. It is a floor in a chase.
• Jumping early. The gap looks bigger than it is, so you leave too soon and land short.
• Turning the camera. Half a second of look-back is a missed jump.
• Standing still to press a button. Interact prompts do not pause the world. Line of sight first.
• Sprinting in a hunt. Covered above, still the most common one.