Comforts of modern gray high-rise housing blocks are waiting for the inspector and his family in East Grestin. Shown on the intro cutscene.
The inspector's apartment is where the inspector and his family live while he is working at the Grestin border checkpoint. Their initial apartment is a Class-8 dwelling provided to them when the inspector is appointed after the October 1982 Labor Lottery.[1]
Their apartment building (or one similar to theirs) is briefly shown in the intro sequence but their own apartment interior is never seen. The apartment can be upgraded to a class 7, class 6, or class 5 apartment at various points in the game, but the upgraded apartments are never seen in game. Upgrading to class 5 will also unlock a related achievement.
Gameplay[]
The apartment affects gameplay at the end of each day, as daily rent and food expenses change depending on the class of the apartment. Better apartments have higher rent and lower heating costs, but since heating is optional and rent is mandatory, upgrading leads to a monetary net loss. Hence, upgrading provides no monetary benefit, and is only helpful when trying to unlock the Worker's Best achievement.
An exception exists in the case where the inspector accepts the gift from EZIC on day 11. Should they upgrade to a class-7 dwelling on day 12, they can downgrade the following day after their new-found wealth is confiscated, retaining 75 credits.
Upgrades and downgrades[]
Opportunities to move to different apartments are periodically offered to the inspector. The exact types and timings of these offers vary depending on the inspector's savings (opening balance) each day.
Upgrades[]
Upgrades move the inspector to an apartment of the next class, costing 100 credits each. The first upgrade is offered on day 12 if the inspector has more than 20 credits in savings; if they do not, the offer will be postponed until the first day on which they do.
Starting after this first offer, further offers will be presented after a certain number of days with more than 20 credits in savings:
- Following an accepted offer, it takes 5 days of sufficient savings to be offered the next apartment. Hence, day 17 is the earliest possible day to be offered class-6, and day 22 for class-5.
- If an upgrade is rejected, it will be offered again after 2 days of sufficient savings.
Downgrades[]
If the inspector has moved out of class-8, a downgrade will be offered on any end-of-day opening with less than 20 credits in savings. The only option for downgrading is moving back to a class-8 apartment.
Downgrades will credit the inspector with a reimbursement of 75% of the total price for all upgrades since class-8: they receive 75 credits for downgrading from class-7, 150 credits for class-6, or 225 credits from class-5.
After downgrading, 4 days of sufficient savings are required before an upgrade to class-7 will be offered again.
Available apartments[]
- Class-8 – This is the initial apartment provided to the inspector and his family at the beginning of the game.
| rent: 20 / 25 credits / day (rent increases by 5 credits at the end of day 5) |
| heat: 10 credits / day |
| total: 30/35 credits / day |
- Class-7 – Available at the end of day 12 with sufficient balance, or otherwise on the first day with such.
| rent: 30 credits / day |
| heat: 10 credits / day |
| total: 40 credits / day |
- Class-6 – Available at the end of day 17 at the earliest, if already living in a class-7 apartment.
| rent: 35 credits / day (de-facto) |
| heat: 5 credits / day |
| total: 40 credits / day |
Message on the end of day screen about a class-5 apartment being available.
- Class-5 – Available at the end of day 22 at the earliest, if already living in a class-6 apartment. Class-5 is "the best a worker can have" and moving in unlocks the Worker's Best achievement.
| rent: 50 credits / day |
| heat: 0 credits / day |
| total: 50 credits / day |