Dirty Business Beginner Guide — July 2026 | Dirty Business Wiki

Welcome to Dirty Business, the underground crime simulation from Plan Dirty Games. Whether you picked up the full Early Access build on Steam or you are working through the free demo’s fourteen levels, this guide walks you through your first hours without spoiling every late-game system. Think of it as a roadmap: you will learn where to stand, what to click, and which mistakes cost you the most time and heat.

What Dirty Business Is About

You inherit a hidden facility beneath the city and turn it into a multi-product criminal enterprise. The core loop is simple to understand and difficult to master: produce illegal goods, fulfill buyer orders, expand your base, and stay ahead of evidence and police pressure. Early Access launched with weed cultivation, weapon manufacturing, counterfeiting, and LSD production, plus cooperative play for up to four players. Solo is fully supported, but many tasks run faster when roles are split.

Before you chase every upgrade, read the controls overview so movement, interaction, and inventory feel natural. If you prefer a step-by-step campaign path, the walkthrough hub lists mission order and common blockers.

Your First Session Checklist

When you load into a fresh save, prioritize clarity over greed. Run through this checklist before accepting large orders:

1. Tour the base — Locate production rooms, storage, disposal points, and the order terminal. Note which areas are locked until you upgrade.
2. Check starting supplies — Seeds, chemicals, printer stock, and weapon parts do not magically restock. Know what you actually own.
3. Learn the store tablet — Order pots, soil, seeds, and lights via the store tablet guide; deliveries arrive at the elevator.
4. Read pending orders — Small, single-product jobs teach timing and payout without risking a failed batch.
5. Assign one production line — Weed is the gentlest onboarding product. See the dedicated grow weed guide for room setup and harvest timing.
6. Plan evidence handling — Trash bags and loose material generate heat. Skipping disposal is how beginners lose runs. The evidence disposal guide explains bins, burners, and risk.

Production and Orders

Production is not instant. Each product chain has inputs, intermediate steps, quality checks, and packaging. Weapons need machined parts and assembly stations; counterfeits need ink, paper, and drying time; LSD requires careful chemical staging. The production hub summarizes every line and links to focused guides.

Orders are your primary income and progression gate. Buyers specify quantity, product type, and sometimes purity or condition. Accept what you can finish on time. Failed or late deliveries hurt reputation and can trigger harder scrutiny. The complete orders guide covers acceptance rules, loading deliveries, and how to recover from a partial batch.

Workers, Co-op, and Scaling

You can operate every machine yourself early on, but that does not scale. Hiring NPC workers automates repetitive tasks like watering, packaging, and hauling. Workers cost wages and need clear assignments; idle staff still consume money. Read how to hire workers before you expand headcount.

If you are playing with friends, co-op changes pacing dramatically. One player can run cultivation while another handles weapons and a third manages orders and disposal. Voice coordination beats silent multitasking. The co-op guide covers session hosting, role splits, and shared resource etiquette.

Base Upgrades and Long-Term Planning

Your starting layout is a tutorial space, not a finished empire. Upgrades unlock new rooms, faster machines, better security, and larger storage. Spend early cash on bottlenecks: power, raw material storage, and disposal capacity before cosmetic walls. The upgrade base guide lists priority purchases for Early Access.

Heat and evidence are the hidden timers on every plan. Producing more without cleaning up creates compounding risk. Balance growth with evidence disposal the same way you balance supply and demand.

Demo vs Full Early Access

The free demo includes fourteen levels that introduce core systems without the full tech tree. Use it to practice controls and co-op. The full game adds deeper production, more base expansion, and ongoing updates documented on the updates page. For a broader look at strengths and limitations, see our review.

Recommended Learning Path

Follow this order if you want the smoothest onboarding:

1. Controls and keybinds
2. Grow weed for your first reliable income
3. Complete orders to learn delivery flow
4. Evidence disposal before scaling output
5. Hire workers when micromanaging hurts
6. Co-op if playing with a group
7. Manufacture weapons and other advanced lines from production

Tools and External Resources

Use the tools hub for checklists and calculators as the community builds them. Join the official Discord linked from the game page for patch-day coordination. When something breaks after an update, start with controls troubleshooting before reinstalling.

Dirty Business rewards patience and clean operations. Rush orders, ignore trash, and skip tutorials, and the simulation pushes back. Take one system at a time, cross-link your knowledge across guides, and your underground business will grow faster than any single lucky shipment.