Wrench Queen asks you to complete the whole game using only the wrench, the weapon Julia starts with in the bathtub of the Floor 3 apartment. It is the rarest achievement in the game at 2.5% of players globally, and it is not hidden — it is simply demanding.
What counts as using another weapon
- Never swing the iron pipe.
- Never aim or fire the revolver.
- Never aim or fire the shotgun.
- Picking a weapon up is not the same as using it. Weapons arrive in a fixed order — wrench, then revolver, then iron pipe, then shotgun — so a Wrench Queen run is one in which the last three are never used. Picking the pipe up does not swing it, so you can still collect it and earn Classics Never Die, but you must not attack with it.
- Anything that needs a ranged option has to be avoided instead of fought. The Vorax is the clearest case: turning it red and making it charge requires gunfire, so leave it behind and take the door. What each weapon does and where it sits is in the weapons guide.
The checkpoints that break a run
- Obscuratus. The wrench is enough, and it is the right first boss to prove the rule on, since you have it from the first minute. Beating Obscuratus with the wrench alone also earns Iron and wax on the same run.
- Fumus. You can fight her with the wrench, but you cannot earn Exhaust Pipe on this run, because that one requires the iron pipe.
- Carnitos. Butcheress is available on this run: defeat her without being hit, from the same bottom-right corner you use with a gun, just swinging the wrench instead of firing. Valiant Little Taylor, three minions killed in one hit, works the same way.
- The Vorax. Without a firearm you cannot make it glow red and charge, so escape it or leave it alone.
- The three randomized puzzles. The bar bottle pitch, the elevator colour order and the fly-tile route still reroll every playthrough, so solve them by method again rather than from memory.
- Survival. With the wrench only you have no ranged answer for the enemies that are easier to handle at distance. Save often, heal with Lavendoleum, and treat every hallway as a fight you may lose.
What you still earn on a wrench-only run
One playthrough on this rule can still collect the story achievements, the exploration achievements and the endings, and it adds Iron and wax and Butcheress on top. Both main endings are on this route like any other — the choice of which final boss you meet does not depend on your weapon. The full list of the 24 achievements is in the achievements guide.
What a Tenebris Somnia wrench queen run cannot get
Two achievements are off the table on a wrench-only playthrough, because both demand a specific weapon:
- Exhaust Pipe — defeat Fumus using only the pipe.
- He Just Wanted a Hug — escape from a Vorax to another room before it explodes, which needs a firearm.
Keep a separate save or reload an earlier one to attempt them. This is the achievement that most often ends up sharing a run it should not have.