Caretakers Progression Guide: What Carries Over and What to Unlock First

Caretakers has no XP bar, level cap or talent tree to grind. Progress is everything that stays with you between Survival Mode rounds: the Money you earned, the gear sitting in your loadout, the perks and class you have equipped, and your running total on the Most escapes leaderboard.

If you already have an escape or two, the clearest next goal is the one demonstrated in played sessions: take your earnings to the lobby shop, buy the Extra gear slot, and equip a second item — such as the Taser, whose description says firing at an entity will stun it. Below is what carries forward, how the earning-to-unlocking loop works, and a sensible order for everything after that. Still working toward that first escape? The beginner guide covers the basics.

What carries forward after a round

The official Survival Mode feature list reads like a progression loop: complete objectives to escape, survive different entities, earn money from objectives and escapes, unlock and equip unique gears, and discover hidden secrets and lore. In observed play, four forms of progress demonstrably survive the gap between rounds:

One honest caveat before planning around this: it's demonstrated behavior, not a published save rule. In recorded sessions, money, gear, perks, a class and a leaderboard standing all survived the gap between rounds on screen — but exact payouts and prices never appeared, so this roadmap sticks to what you can verify in your own lobby.

The loop: earn Money, then unlock

Money gates the lobby shop. A player who opened the game broke couldn't buy anything ("I am broke, so I can't do that"). Later that same session, repairing the broadcast objective paid him directly ("Got some money from that"), and his earlier "Why can't I buy?" had turned into being able to purchase usable items — a consumable that makes you vanish from Bon for a few seconds, and revive shots.

The shop's entries have distinct jobs, and it's worth telling them apart:

• Gear bundle — different gear items in one listing.
• Extra gear slot — adds a second loadout slot; the standout early purchase.
• Double cash — a listed offer whose terms never appeared on screen, so don't count on it as a permanent multiplier.
• Spawn entity — spawns an extra entity, if you want the round harder.
• Supporter bundle — the one purchase shown being completed, and it was a paid premium buy ("We'll support them").

No entry displayed a price or currency label in observed play, so don't assume every line item is bought with earned Money. The demonstrated link is simpler: a broke player can't buy, and earning from an objective let him — which is exactly the relationship the official page draws between "Earn money from objectives and escapes" and "Unlock and equip unique gears." If you want numbers on the earning side, the how to get money guide has the details.

Purchases genuinely convert into round utility. The same player browsed his Equipment tab between rounds ("probably one of the best things"), reading effects like a revive item and a vanish-from-Bon consumable. Then inside a round he activated his scanner — it "scans all objects on the map and highlights them all" — and immediately found his objective. The full item catalog lives on the gear list.

A sensible order of goals after early escapes

1. Earn Money from objectives, and escapes when you can. Repairing the broadcast demonstrably paid mid-round, and the official list adds escapes to the payout side. Even a round you don't survive can leave you richer — the player who never escaped still held his earnings at the end of the night. The objectives guide and escape walkthrough cover the tasks themselves. Before grinding, it costs nothing to glance at the Codes page for any currently active codes.
2. Buy the Extra gear slot in the lobby shop. Fresh off his first escape, the observed player said "I 100% want an extra gear slot," bought it, and immediately had "Boom. Two gear slots." Target the shop, pick the slot, confirm — that's the whole demonstrated route.
3. Fill the new slot. Open your loadout and equip a second item; his pick was the Taser, since firing it at an entity will stun them. Success is easy to recognize: the loadout shows two filled slots, and that gear comes with you into following rounds. The equipping steps are on the how to equip gear page, and once you're choosing what to buy, the best gear roundup compares options.
4. Check the perks and classes tabs in the lobby. In the same post-escape menu, the player found a perks tab and discovered he already owned a perk — "the instant an entity locks onto you, gain a 5-second burst of speed to get away" — and equipped it. The same menu lists classes: Technician (finish tasks one stage sooner), a class that lets downed teammates move through walls with a speed boost while carrying players, and Angel ("Pocket an extra 10% cash"), which he wore into later rounds to spot and revive downed teammates. How each class is acquired isn't shown in observed play — but equipping one happens right in the lobby menu.
5. Keep one long-term goal in view. Escapes stack onto the Most escapes leaderboard — one player stood at Number 28 after his second escape, while guessing that staying ranked "realistically... you need to play all day." Its scope (global or friends-only) never appeared on screen. Map knowledge compounds too: as he put it, "the more you know the map, the easier it'll be" — the map routes guide helps there. And the official loop's last bullet, hidden secrets and lore, is the open-ended collection goal (secrets guide).

How to check your progress in-game

• Money — a persistent counter beside a money sign stays on screen through rounds. One streamer's broadcast overlay covered that corner and he played a whole session without noticing his total, so glance at it before you shop.
• Loadout — the lobby loadout shows how many gear slots you have and what's equipped; going from one slot to two is the clearest early milestone.
• Perks tab — open it after a round; owned perks like the speed burst appear there, ready to equip.
• Most escapes — check it after escaping; your escape counts accumulate into a standing.

There's no level number anywhere in the game's official copy or in observed play. When your money total, loadout, perks and escape standing all move, that is your progression.

Coming soon, and where to follow it

The only announced content beyond Survival Mode is a single line on the official page: "Story Mode Chapter 1 coming soon." There are no dates or details yet, so nothing about Story Mode progression can be planned — though it may eventually add progression forms beyond the money-and-gear loop. The Updates page tracks changes as they land.

Once you've picked your goal, the step-by-step work lives on its dedicated pages: how to unlock gear walks through acquiring specific items, starting with that Extra gear slot.