Signal → what to do
- A loud sound somewhere below, on landing 10—Creak broke through the gate on landing 0 and is coming after you.
- A hand on the left side of your screen means a sneak attack. Turn around and look at it.
- Standing straight with its hands raised means low aggression. Hunched over with its hands down means it’s angry.
- Its hands are hanging very low—don’t come any closer until it raises them.
- Its footsteps get louder—its aggression is rising.
- It’s lying on the floor, twitching, with smoke above it—it’s stunned and harmless for now.
How to climb the stairs with Creak behind you
Keep moving like it isn’t there, but check where it is every now and then. Looking at Creak makes it back off, but staring for too long or getting too close raises its aggression. It rises slowly at first, then faster and faster if you keep looking at it or stand nearby.
Here’s what I do on each landing: 1. Take a quick look to see where Creak is, then look away right away. 2. Keep your distance: its aggression slowly drops when you’re far away. 3. See a hand on the left? Turn around and look until it backs off. 4. Turn on the fire alarm as soon as you reach it. It stuns Creak and resets its aggression on that landing.
The main thing is not to mix up “looking” and “staring.” If you look for too long, it may attack. At half its maximum aggression, Creak charges at you and kills you on contact.
Don’t let your guard down, even when its aggression is low. Creak slowly creeps closer to set up an ambush, and sometimes sneaks up outside your line of sight no matter how angry it is. Its hands don’t lower smoothly—they drop in jumps, and can suddenly dip lower at the threshold. And if it suddenly starts stomping loudly, it’s sped up.
Where Creak lives
Only in The Stairwell. It was kept behind blast doors near the entrance to the subfloor. It appears after the tenth landing and chases players throughout the subfloor.
On the stairs, Creak only backs off a limited distance. So keep your distance on narrow stairways. You won’t be able to make it back off very far there.
How to lose your run to Creak
- Staring right at it while you walk. Its aggression rises until it snaps.
- Going back down the main stairs. You’ll have to pass close to it, and being nearby makes Creak angry fast.
- Trying to walk past it after it stops backing off. That’s a death sentence.
- Walking behind it while it backs away. It kills you instantly.
- Pushing Noise’s TV into Creak on a flat floor. It’ll stop the TV, and Noise will get you.
- Staying on a landing after the fire alarm. You might run into it again farther up the stairs.
What is Creak?
Creak is made of rebar and concrete. The red spots and cysts on it aren’t its flesh—they’re Meld, which it carries on its body. According to The Journal, it got its name from the creaking sound of rebar rubbing against its concrete skin. You can use that sound to tell where it is. Players sometimes call it “the creaker” in chat.
The Journal has a theory that Creak is very smart, but acts this way because of its long isolation. It was first planned for DOORS’s release. Its early model was called Abraham and served as a prototype for Figure. It became an official entity in The Archives Update.
The fire alarm and Meld
The fire alarm is your best tool. The siren stuns Creak if it’s outside the fire exit. While stunned, it can’t kill you on contact and wakes up after about 90 seconds. Its aggression resets afterward.
Burning Creak’s area doesn’t kill it; it just disables it temporarily. The fire alarm switch in Cobbler’s room burns the rest of The Stairwell, so Creak won’t chase you any farther.
Closed Meld won’t stop it: Creak forces its way through, and Meld closes again soon after it passes. It also opens Meld when backing away. If an attack has already started, there’s only one known way to survive: make it into the fire exit before the door closes.
If Creak corners you
Sometimes you’re stuck in a dead end with Creak between you and the exit. The safe option is to move far away and look away until it calms down. It takes a while, but it works.
The risky option is to back right into it: that’s guaranteed to make it back off. I only do this when I’m short on time, and even then, I avoid getting too close. You can also stand your ground and refuse to back away—sometimes you can scare Creak off by standing firm.
On the stairs, Noise’s TV can help. Push it into Creak, and it’ll fly back to the previous landing. Crushers can also trap Creak for a short time, even though they destroy everything else and leave it alone.
Creak in co-op
In co-op, Creak picks one random player and ignores the rest. Even if it corners two of you, the other player can keep doing their thing.
So here’s a simple strategy: the player Creak is chasing keeps an eye on it and stays back, while everyone else turns on the alarm and looks for a way forward. In co-op, I agree on this plan before Creak breaks through the gate—not when the hand is already on the screen.
Creak badges
- Paparazzi — scare off the “big watcher”. Don’t look at Creak; let it get close. When a hand appears on the left side of the screen, quickly turn around. This is a medium-rarity badge, and its text says, “I didn’t realize someone was watching me.”
- Emancipation Customization — put a weird hat on an important person. The person is Creak, and the hat is Damaged Hat. This is a new badge, released on 02.10.2026. It’s hidden and secret.
It’s best to get Paparazzi early, while Creak’s aggression is low. Waiting for the hand to appear when it’s angry is a bad idea.
Fun facts
- Creak’s mechanics are a lot like Bracken from Lethal Company, and Fallen from Endless Doors.
- Its concrete body and neck-snapping death are reminiscent of SCP-173.
- Its face appears in the Face painting in The Outdoors. It was a teaser before The Archives Update.
- The trailer only showed Creak’s legs on a metal floor, and only after the The Archives title card—a hint that it isn’t from The Archives.
- One of the Starlight death messages references YouTuber KreekCraft.
- Creak’s model has a Crucifix animation, so maybe it’ll be possible to crucify it someday unconfirmed.
- Rumor has it that sprinklers sometimes stun Creak inside the fire exit, but this could be a bug unconfirmed.
Where it appears
all locationsRelated badges
all badges
Frequently asked questions
How do you beat Creak in DOORS?
Can you look at Creak?
What does a hand on the left side of the screen mean?
How much damage does Creak deal?
Where does Creak appear?
Can you banish Creak with a Crucifix?
How do you get the Paparazzi badge?
See also
What’s Still Unconfirmed (2)
This information comes from announcements and rumors, or is outdated. The label will disappear once it’s confirmed.
Discussion
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