Not long after Adult Swim Games released Amateur Surgeon 4, Fixpoint Productions launched a new game called Remedy Rush, which comes with the same premise – it’s a medically-inspired game for iOS devices where you fight off germs inside your body, navigating through a maze of cells and using some unusual remedies to get rid of these nasty bugs. Each of these remedies have “game-changing” side effects, and you may use some of the weirdest possible things as remedies, including sushi, a tennis ball, and even a teddy bear, all to serve as your defense against those germs as you try to stay healthy for as long as possible.
We’ve already shared a detailed Remedy Rush guide on Level Winner, covering just about every topic in depth and offering some helpful tips and tricks on those topics. But what about the remedies available in the game – what do they do, and are they actual remedies to begin with? Yes, we should let you know that some of these so-called “remedies” aren’t very helpful after all depending on your goals, but we shall be breaking all of them down in this Remedy Rush strategy guide, listing them in alphabetical order.
Apple
They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and that’s definitely true in Remedy Rush. That’s because the Apple will add to the number of green health burst pickups you can get as you make your way across the map, and if you’ve got the Apple at the start of your run, you can use all those Health Bursts as often as you want without having to worry about running out of them, or not being able to reload on them as you progress on. If you’re trying to play the hero by blowing up as many germs and toxins as possible, may they be up close or ranged, or if you can’t stand having to deal with all those cells, the Apple should be ideal for your needs.
Avocado
This remedy doesn’t do anything at all as far as gameplay goes. It just adds “more screenshake” – more intense-looking explosions, and more shaking in general.
Banana
You’ve heard about bananas and their health benefits, so let’s talk about how they can benefit you in Remedy Rush. They simply reduce the number of toxins that appear during your runs, and that should make things more stress-free if you’re trying to go as far as possible and avoid getting thrown off so often. But the downside of this is that the Banana also makes it harder for you to beat your high score. Less toxin kills means lower chances of stringing together long combos, and therefore a lower possible score.
Baseball Cap
Want to string together impressive combos without the pressure of watching your combo meter go down so quickly? Use the Baseball Cap. It makes the game’s combo meter go down at a substantially slower pace, so that way you don’t need to fret much about your combo string or chain getting broken because you haven’t killed a germ or toxin for so long. This is the ideal remedy for players chasing their high scores, because as we told you in the general strategy guide, stringing combos together is the most important thing you should do to reach an impressive score.
Broccoli
The Broccoli remedy limits you to only one germ type per game, with the germ type chosen randomly each time you begin a new run. That means you will only be encountering the small spikes, large spikes, or turtle-shaped germs, and not two or all three of them. With only one germ variant to deal with, you’ll know what you’ll be getting each time you encounter a germ. This works best if you’re dealing with the large spikes, as they’re easier to kill, and useful in breaking down those cell walls.
Chicago Mug
The Chicago Mug was originally identical in effect to the Sunglasses. Now it’s a completely unique remedy, as remedied (pun intended) by Update 1.01. But don’t misconstrue the “germs attack more slowly” description as meaning germs will literally be moving at a snail’s pace. Instead, it means that you’ll have more time to react once germs approach you and start to flash and warn you of an imminent explosion.
Cookie
Everything remedy-related starts with the Cookie – it’s the first remedy you’ll get once you start playing Remedy Rush for the first time, and while most of the remedies will start you off with only one Health Burst, the Cookie will give you three. We wouldn’t really call it a good remedy, though, as Health Bursts tend to be easy to find early on in the game.
Deodorant
The Deodorant remedy reduces germs much like Bananas reduce the number of toxins you can encounter in each run. This is good if you’re aiming for distance, but not good at all if you’re gunning for a high score and trying to string combos together.
Diamond Ring
Who wants to use this Diamond Ring? If you want the neat effect of seeing snow inside the map that represents your body, then go for it. But it adds absolutely nothing by way of gameplay.
Dog Bone
We’ve mentioned it quite frequently – cell walls may not harm you directly like germs and toxins could, but they are a major nuisance as they often end up blocking otherwise clear paths, and really hard to take down. Ordinarily, you’ll need three health bursts to take down one fully-healthy cell wall, but when using the Dog Bone, all you’ll need is one health burst to destroy any kind of cell wall, regardless of how many hit points it has left.
Eggs
Players gunning for high scores should use the Eggs, as they add one point to each toxin’s base score. For example, X-toxins are normally worth a point and T-shaped toxins worth two. With Eggs, those values go up to two and three points respectively. That might sound like an insignificant increase, but think about that main point-scoring mechanic – chaining combos together. So if your string is long enough for the combo meter to show x10, you’ll be getting 20 points instead of a mere ten points for busting an X-toxin.
Flip Flop
Remember the Chicago Mug that’s described as a remedy that makes germs attack more slowly when, in fact, it allows you more time to run from an explosion? If you want a remedy that actually slows down germ movement, you’ll want the Flip Flop. That reduces the pace that germs move in, as they’ll pause for a longer period of time in between spaces. While this is a good remedy for players who find it difficult to escape surrounding germs, it’s also a less-than-advisable remedy for high score chasers, as the slower pace means you may have to wait a bit longer in between kills.
French Fries
Remedy Rush is a strange game indeed, and that’s because you’ve got remedies such as the French Fries – aren’t they actually unhealthy? These guilty dietary pleasures will be of help in this game, as the “more cells start damaged” description means you’ll be encountering more walls with damage. More damage means less Health Bursts required to destroy the walls, but why should you opt for French Fries and not Dog Bone? With this remedy, germs will have an easier time destroying walls as well.
Fried Chicken
The effect of Fried Chicken – “more toxins” – shouldn’t be thought of as a bad thing. You should know that if you’re the type of player who strings long combos together and guns for a high score. With more toxins, you’ve got more stuff to kill and earn points with, as well as a greater chance of chain reaction explosions that could extend your combo string.
Hair Dryer
This is a remedy with a catch, though you can make good use of it with a little practice. Make that a lot of practice, because you will be getting bigger health bursts, albeit with the limitation of holding a maximum of one. Bigger health bursts means that their explosion will cover twice as much ground, or two tiles away from you instead of one. This is good if you’re stringing together combos, as you can potentially blow up half of what you see on your screen, though you’ll have to get used to the limitation of one health burst at a time.
Laptop
With the Laptop, you can earn more points whenever you kill germs. While Eggs help you by adding to the base point total of toxins, Laptops do the same for germs, meaning large spikes, small spikes, and turtles will be worth six, seven, and eight points respectively, instead of five, six, and seven. We’d go with the Eggs over the Laptop because toxins are far more common in runs than germs are, though it’s worth a gamble to use the Laptop if you’re banking on the possibility of more germs than usual.
Lipstick
Lipstick slows down toxin explosions, and that’s good on the outset, as it allows you additional time to escape from toxins before they blow up. But as you can probably guess, slower explosions means more time in between kills, and greater chances of your combo meter going down. Again, we have to stress this for high score chasers – combo, combo, combo. You don’t want to use anything that could potentially break your string, such as Lipstick, and in case you missed it, combos are key to high scores.
Milk Carton
The Milk Carton works in a similar way to Broccoli, but this time limiting you to only one type of toxin per run. Use this remedy and you’ll be limited to X-toxins, T-toxins, etc., but not more than one of each type. But that’s where the conundrum with the Milk Carton comes in, as it is one of those remedies that serve as double-edged swords. If you only deal with X-toxins, you’ll be able to escape faster, but won’t get as many points. If you’re limited to square-shaped toxins, you’ll have a better chance of stringing impressive combos together, but more dangers ahead of you. Those who want to play it safe should avoid the Milk Carton, but it’s worth trying for players who like taking chances.
Nail Polish
Another aesthetic-only remedy, Nail Polish makes your runs more colorful, creating a rainbow effect that we’d say is quite impressive-looking. Striking as it may appear, the rainbow effect can make it harder for you to tell when germs are close to blowing up, so it does have a downside. Use this remedy at your own risk if you’re a beginner.
Phone
The Phone is, once again, solely aesthetic in nature, but it’s quite an interesting remedy. It inverts the color scheme in your runs, turning health bursts from green to purple, making germs blue and toxins turquoise, and turning white cell walls black. Use this remedy if you’re bored with the classic color scheme, but avoid it if the change in colors doesn’t work out for you.
Piggy Bank
The Piggy Bank does what you may think it does – it adds to your coin total for new remedies. The catch, however, is that it’s going to cost you some real-life money to purchase. You cannot win it in the random prize box, as you’ll have to pay $2.99 or its equivalent in order to get it and add it to your list of remedies.
Pizza
The Pizza remedy is a great choice for players trying to add to their scores, as it shortens the in-game days, meaning you’ll have to travel forward less in order to make it through one day. With this mechanic in play, you’ll get more bonus points each time a new day begins. You will also have more germs and toxins to attack, and while this ramps up the game’s difficulty, it also allows you to score more points and string some nice combos together. Take note, however, that the Pizza got nerfed on the recent Update 1.01; you will now need 28 forward steps to make it to a new day with Pizza, with most remedies at 35 and Sunglasses at 42.
Potted Plant
If the Diamond Ring lets it snow, the Potted Plant makes it rain. The rain effect – a purely aesthetic one – can be quite calming for some players, but other than that, it doesn’t change gameplay one bit.
Remote Control
While Remote Control may require you to do your share of practice runs in order to get the hang of using it, it’s also one of the more interesting and enjoyable remedies to use, not to mention one that can work well to your favor. With the game in slow motion with Remote Control, everything will be slower – that especially means germ and toxin explosions. But when we say “everything,” we mean everything. Your remedy’s movement, as well as the speed of your health bursts, will also be slower. That may require you to tap and act faster, though if you’ve got your speed and precision all worked out, you can use Remote Control to get some nice aesthetic effects, while also benefiting from the gameplay-related stuff.
Soda Can
The Soda Can reduces your health burst pickup spawns during your run, but each time you run into a health burst, you’ll get three automatically. That might sound all well and good, but many prefer the Apple due to the higher number of pickups you can encounter, or the Hair Dryer due to the expanded explosion coverage. Soda Can only helps those who can’t be bothered to make a side trip for more health bursts, but if you’re a rather patient player, you won’t need this remedy too much, if at all.
Sunglasses
Originally, Sunglasses added to your reaction time when a germ starts flashing and warning you of an explosion; they don’t make germs move slowly, contrary to what you may think. That made it a virtual copycat of Chicago Mug, but with Update 1.01, its effect is now “Longer Days,” making it the exact opposite of Pizza. With 42 steps now required for you to complete one in-game day, that will make things more relaxed and allow you to cover more distance, but the drawback here is that you’ll have more downtime in between kills, and a greater chance of losing your combo multiplier due to the lack of toxins and germs that accompanies the longer days.
Sushi
Want to string together longer combos by blasting more germs? Use Sushi, as that’s going to increase the germ count during your runs, just like Fried Chicken ups the toxin count. Fried Chicken is safer, as having more germs means a good chance they’ll try to corner you and end your run, leaving you with your hands figuratively tied. But if germ-killing is a key element of your combo-chaining strategy, use this remedy.
Teddy Bear
There’s one reason why the game’s makers listed the Teddy Bear as one of the featured remedies in the game description. Germs “don’t follow your remedy” with the Teddy Bear, thus allowing you to play more defensively and ignore germs more frequently. Instead of chasing after you the moment they see you, the germs will avoid the Teddy Bear and do their own thing without acting malevolently in any way, except if you’re within two tiles. If you’re at a safe distance, they’ll ignore you surely enough.
Television
Don’t bother with the Television if you want something that changes gameplay. But if you want an old-school, classic visual effect in your game, use the TV and you’ll change the in-game world from full color to black and white. Be careful, though, as it’s harder to tell objects apart from each other when the only colors are shades of black, white, and gray.
Tennis Ball
Similar to the Hair Dryer for health bursts, Tennis Balls make explosions bigger if you blow up toxins. The obvious benefit of the Tennis Ball is that those larger explosions make it easier for players to kill germs, as well as create large combo strings. As such, you’ll need this among your list of options if you’re chasing a high score, but you’ll also need to practice quite often with it, as larger explosions are harder to avoid, and would require you to act quicker.
Toilet Paper
This is the last one out of the aesthetic remedies in the game, and it works by making your actions, such as triggering explosions or picking up new items, more impactful in appearance. So if you pick up a coin, the floating coin icon will become bigger each time you pick up a new coin. Nice to look at, but not as nice as the other cosmetic remedies in Remedy Rush.
Toothbrush
Last, but not the least, the Toothbrush will be the remedy to use to slow down the creeping sickness that follows you around during your runs. With the sickness slowed down, you’ll have more time to map out your next move, and less pressure in general, especially in the latter parts of your run. As you progress farther, the sickness will be moving toward you at a quicker pace, and the Toothbrush can ward the sickness off just like that. But you might not find that much use for it, because we’ve noticed deaths occurring more frequently due to germ or toxin explosions, and not general “sickness.”