Surgeon Simulator 2 is out in the wild and people are intentionally sabotaging surgeries en masse by now. It’s got some major differences and brand new mechanics, so here are some tips to get you more accurately stabbing hearts out of chests. Just try not to scream. You have neighbors.

Keep things at arm’s length

It’s extremely important to make sure that your arm is extended the correct amount. Holding left shift and moving your mouse back and forth will change how much your arm is extended. You want to be mindful of exactly where your arm is, as one slip-up will see you restarting story levels. Having the arm extended too much when you’re attempting to grab something will result in it hitting the wall. Similarly, not having it extended enough can end up bumping the item so far away that you might have trouble reaching it, even with your arm fully extended.

Twist and shout

Holding down the right-click on your mouse turns your hand. It’s kind of a nightmare to use correctly. Certain items, like saws, need to be held in very precise ways, and adjusting once you’ve picked them up can feel borderline impossible. The easiest thing to do is to simply drop things on the floor, adjust so your hand is in the most neutral position you can, and then try again. For saws, you’ll want them flipped in a way that’s more natural to hold left-handed, otherwise rotating just enough can be hard to do correctly.

Use blood-stopper after every removal

It doesn’t matter if you’re playing with friends or by yourself, you’re going to want to inject blood-stopper whenever you excise an organ or remove a limb. The best thing is to have an assistant inject some immediately after you’re done, but you can’t exactly do that solo. Therefore, you’re always going to want to have a couple of syringes close at hand and in an easily-grabbable position.

Even then, actually using the syringe is trickier than you’d think. You’ll want to position it downwards and go for a safer spot. The thigh is a great place for this. But if you’ve removed the patient’s legs, you’ll want to go for the sides, which requires different syringe positioning. The neck seems like a good choice as well, but pressing against it without having the syringe go in can result in heads popping off. So, yeah, don’t do that.

Keep ’em full of blood

Patients will often not be at their maximum blood level when you find them. It’s a good idea to use blood syringes to get their blood levels up as high as you can before you get to work on them. That way you’ll have a greater margin for error. Bleeding out can happen very quickly and the extra blood can make all the difference in the world.

The hammer isn’t the best way

Surgeon Simulator 2 teaches you to use hammers to break rib cages. But they’re not actually the best tool for the job. Using a hammer requires careful positioning and will take multiple whacks, so I try not to use them unless I have to. So, what’s the best? Flat, metal pans. You can usually find them around the levels. Pick them up and keep them flat. Then slam them repeatedly and quickly into the rib cage. It should break almost the entire cage, meaning you’ll just need to move the pieces out of the way.

Well, that’s it for our Surgeon Simulator 2 tips. These should help a little, but the greatest challenge is simply keeping that arm in check, so you just gotta go with the flow. As always, if you have any tips of your own, feel free to add them in the comments below.