How to Break Walls in Punch Walls To Escape (and What the Rubble Is For)

Break the prison walls by punching them. Every wall you punch through opens a path, and it leaves rubble behind: collect the rubble, sell it at the grinder, and upgrade your fists. The upgrades are what unlock the Sledgehammer, TNT and Vacuum for harder walls.

Break the wall

Watch the original gameplay video.

Walk up to a destructible prison wall and punch it. Punching through walls is the core way to open new paths, from the start of an escape through the floors above.

The opening tutorial displayed a "PUNCH THE WALL 1/5" progress prompt, so there is an on-screen count to follow while you punch. Keep going until the wall breaks — the rubble that falls is your cue that the route has opened.

Collect the rubble

Broken walls drop rubble, and collecting it is the next step rather than an optional extra. The recorded controller tutorial showed "AIM AT RUBBLE AND PRESS RT 0/5": aim at the rubble and press RT to put it in your bag. RT is a controller prompt from that session and is not confirmed on other platforms, so use the pickup control your version shows.

The bag in that session listed a capacity of 150, and the tutorial counter tracked pieces as the bag filled — a later frame showed 4/5 collected with the bag at 4/150.

Sell it at the grinder

The grinder is the station where you sell rubble from broken walls; the tutorial instruction reads "SELL YOUR RUBBLE AT THE GRINDER." Walk up and sell your bag there.

One recorded session showed a "Sold 150 rubble for $1.50!" message. That is a single observed example, not a confirmed rate, so treat it as a sign that rubble converts to cash rather than a fixed price per piece. See how to sell rubble for the selling routine.

Upgrade your fists for harder walls

In the same recorded session, the sell area showed an "OPEN UPGRADES" prompt (PRESS Y on controller there; use whatever your version shows). Upgrading your fists is the progression step that unlocks the Sledgehammer, TNT and Vacuum, and those tools help you move through harder walls.

So the routine is punch, collect, sell, then check the upgrade menu before the next stretch of walls.

Work up through the five floors

The prison is spread across 5 floors of walls to break through, and the goal is to escape all five — with a best time to beat if you want one. Work your way up through the floors toward the exit; the all five floors guide and how to escape explain the escape objective and progression loop, and the beginner guide covers the first steps.