Stage 1 of Alley Cats: Cheese Run is a 20-level sprint against a swarm of mice that ends with Tank the bulldog. Your cat auto-fires — so winning is all about positioning, dodging, and picking the right power-ups. This guide is interactive: play the demo, study every enemy, and build a loadout right on the page.
In this guide
Try it right now
No download, no sign-up — Alley Cats runs in your browser on desktop and mobile. Hit play below to watch the game in action (attract mode), then jump into the real thing.
The 5 rules that keep you alive
Alley Cats is a bullet-heaven survivors-like — think Vampire Survivors, but as a cartoon cat. Your job isn't aiming (the cat targets the nearest enemy automatically); it's staying alive long enough for your build to snowball. Internalise these five rules and Stage 1 stops being scary:
Never stop moving. Standing still lets the swarm collapse onto you — and on Alley Rat / Feral difficulty, idling too long triggers a lethal anti-camp strike. Circle-strafe the arena; let your auto-fire do the killing.
Grab every Cheese. Cheese is your XP and your permanent currency. In-run it levels you up; after the run it buys the base-stat upgrades that make a fresh cat feel godlike.
Bank your Shield for emergencies. Press E or Space for a 3-second bubble (~16s cooldown). Don't burn it on stragglers — save it for boss lunges and moments you get boxed in.
Zoom out to read waves. Ctrl +/− on desktop or a two-finger pinch on mobile. A wider view spots incoming formations (and dive-bombing canaries) seconds earlier.
Kill the thief first. The Con-Artist mouse pickpockets your Cheese and runs. Prioritise the runner or you'll bleed currency all run.
Enemy bestiary
Every enemy in Stage 1 (and a preview of the Stage 2 Dog Clan) with its role, HP and contact damage. Tap a tab to filter.
Best powers & the synergy explorer
Each level-up offers three power cards, and the game guarantees no two cards do the same job. The trick to Stage 1 is committing to a lane instead of grabbing one of everything. Here are the twelve core powers — click any of them below to build a loadout and see how they combo. It uses the same coaching logic the game shows you after Level 10.
The three proven Stage-1 builds
- Piercer (recommended for beginners).
Needle Claws+Cat Eyes+Slingshot. Long-range shots that skewer entire lines of mice. AddFat Hairballsand this same build melts Tank. - Wall of hairballs.
Hairball Volley+Quick Paws+Alley Instinct. Maximum crowd control — you fill the screen with shots. Weaker single-target, so play it safe against the boss. - Bruiser-safe.
Full Belly+Catnap+Sharper Claws. The most forgiving route: survivability first, damage second. Perfect if you keep dying at L15+.
Don't overthink the timer. Each level-up has a 30-second auto-pick that grabs the recommended card for you (look for the green ★ badge). If you're mid-dodge, just keep moving — the game won't punish you for it.
Which cat should you play?
You start as Tom, the balanced all-rounder — the right pick for your first clear. The other three cats unlock with Milk (dropped only by bosses and mini-bosses) and each rewrites how Stage 1 feels:
- Tom — balanced, no downside. Signature powers add shots, then damage + fire rate. The safest learning cat.
- Bruiser (3 Milk) — +30% damage, −10% speed. Hits like a truck but you must dodge more deliberately. Great once you know the waves.
- Patch (5 Milk) — +1 starting shot, +20% range. The natural home for the Piercer build; his signatures pile on shots and range.
- Gums (8 Milk) — +25% fire rate, −15% max HP. A glass-cannon machine gun. Highest damage ceiling, lowest margin for error.
Chase the 1-Star. Max out all of a cat's Cheese-bought base-stat upgrades to earn its Star. It's deliberately grindy — but a 1-Star cat is what makes Stage 2's ranged Dog Clan survivable.
Difficulty & the anti-camp rule
Pick your difficulty after starting a new game:
- Appetizer — relaxed. Enemies are ~35% weaker and the anti-camp rule is off. Learn the ropes here.
- Alley Rat (default) — the real deal. Idle more than ~5 seconds and a converging wave warns you, then a lethal strike lands. Keep circling.
- Feral — for the nine-lived. Tougher, faster, denser spawns, but pays 60% more Cheese. The idle window drops to ~3 seconds — treat standing still as instant death.
New players: clear it once on Alley Rat with Tom and the Piercer build. Then farm Feral for Cheese to 1-Star your favourite cat.
Beating Tank the bulldog
At Level 20 the Stage-1 boss arrives: Tank, a bulldog with 1,500 HP that charges across the arena for 40 contact damage. Here's the kill:
- Give yourself room. Fight Tank in open space, never a corner. Zoom out so you can see his charge line.
- Bait the charge, dodge sideways. He telegraphs before lunging. Strafe perpendicular — never backpedal in a straight line, he's faster than he looks.
- Shield the lunge. Pop your Shield the instant he commits to a charge; walk through it and keep firing.
- Pierce + big shots melt him. This is where
Needle Claws+Fat Hairballsearn their keep — piercing damage ignores his bulk. - Out of HP? Whiskers revive. You get one free Whisker every day; a revive brings you back to finish him (but you only keep one pause afterward, so play clean).
Down Tank and you clear Stage 1, unlock the Shadow Stray skin, and open the gate to Stage 2: The Dog Clan — a ranged, bullet-dodging gauntlet that's a whole different game. Bring a 1-Star cat.
Ready to run it?
Alley Cats: Cheese Run is free, runs in your browser, and has global leaderboards. See how deep your build can go.