Should you feed the coworker in Abiotic Factor?

Abiotic Factor coworker by some blood
(Image credit: Deep Field Games)

You'll remember the first time you encounter the coworker in Abiotic Factor, as a fully grown man crawls out of the darkness on all fours and starts begging for treats. My colleague was relieving herself when this entity first scurried into the bathroom and you can bet she jumped out of her skin. Despite his appearance, it's safe to assume that he isn't human, though I, too, have been known to crawl around in the dark looking for snacks.

The coworker—or Jerome as the community has lovingly dubbed him—won't attack you, so rest assured that you'll be safe, albeit unnerved, when he's hanging around. Here I'll explain exactly how to feed him, what that does, and what you'll get in return.

Should you feed the coworker in Abiotic Factor?

The coworker will give you a stapler or pens if you feed him (Image credit: Deep Field Games)

The coworker first starts to randomly appear at nighttime in the Office Sector (when the area is powered down and robots start patrolling), though he can appear in other places later on as well. Honestly, it'll be a bit of a shock, as an office employee crawls out of the darkness on all fours, with an option to "feed" him appearing above his head.

First off, despite potentially giving you a heart attack, the coworker won't harm you. In fact, you can actually kill him if you want, though you won't get anything except his own skull (and he'll respawn in future). He can also be attacked by patrolling robots.

You can feed the coworker a variety of food, provided it's not something that causes sickness or death—that means all that irradiated monster meat you've hoarded is no-go. If you haven't got anything, I recommend heading to a vending machine and grabbing snacks there. The coworker loves vending machine treats.

Feed the coworker a few times and he'll drop either a stapler or pens before scurrying off into the darkness. Since neither of these items are particularly hard to find or useful, it's not really worth feeding him unless you want him to stop pestering you; he'll follow you around when close by if you don't give him a snack. Since the coworker is afraid of light, he'll also disappear when morning comes at 6 am and the facility powers back up again.

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Sean Martin
Senior Guides Writer

Sean's first PC games were Full Throttle and Total Annihilation and his taste has stayed much the same since. When not scouring games for secrets or bashing his head against puzzles, you'll find him revisiting old Total War campaigns, agonizing over his Destiny 2 fit, or still trying to finish the Horus Heresy. Sean has also written for EDGE, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, EGMNOW, and Inverse.

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