Survival Stats

Your character stays in the world after you log off. Log out in a safe place, and if you will be gone for a while, sleep in game with strong stats so your character survives longer offline.

Bleeding is tracked by cuts. Each cut deals damage over time until treated, so bandages matter after fights and rough gathering.

Controls

Movement

Player

Move with W A S D in any of the 8 directions. While pressing one or two movement keys, hold Space to move backward in the opposite direction. Your movement direction sets your aim direction. Hold Left Shift to sprint when you have enough stamina.

Press Q to toggle slow walking. Slow walking moves at half speed, disables sprinting, and keeps your footsteps quiet when you need to approach carefully.

Doors, walls, vehicles, terrain, and placed structures block movement. Many actions require you to be close to the target and facing it.

Truck

Use the interaction list to enter a truck seat. The driver moves the truck with the same movement keys. Roads make trucks faster. The truck needs gasoline to run, and the engine consumes fuel while active.

Combat

Stamina is required for close-range fighting. If your stamina is too low, you cannot punch or block effectively, so save enough stamina before committing to a fight.

Unarmed Combat

With empty hands, left click to punch. A punch costs 25 stamina, can start once per second, and has short range. Hold Mouse 2 away from interaction targets to block when you have stamina; if stamina is empty, blocking will not be available.

Melee Combat

Equip or hold a melee weapon, face the target, then left click to attack. Hold Mouse 2 away from interaction targets to block with a melee weapon. Blocking requires stamina, just like unarmed blocking.

With a Knife or Kitchen Steak Knife equipped, you can sneak attack an unaware zombie from behind by facing it and left clicking to stab the zombie in its neck. If the zombie has noticed and is chasing or attacking you, the knife uses its normal melee attack instead.

Ranged Combat

Equip a gun or loose magazine in Holding. Use the Gear panel buttons to load or unload the held ammo item. Press R to start loading the held gun or magazine; press R again while an ammo load or unload is active to stop that action.

The Pistol and AR Gun have one-round chambers. With no magazine attached, Load Ammo chambers one loose round from inventory; firing empties the chamber, so another round must be loaded before the next shot.

Pistol Magazines and AR Gun Magazines are separate items. Hold a magazine to load or unload it, then attach it to the matching gun's Magazine slot. Pistol Magazines hold 10 9x19mm rounds, and AR Gun Magazines hold 30 5.56x45mm rounds.

For a Pistol or AR Gun with a magazine slot, Load Ammo first swaps in the fullest compatible loaded magazine from inventory if one is available. Otherwise it chambers from the attached magazine, or from loose rounds when no usable magazine can feed it. A chambered shot empties the chamber, and an attached magazine feeds the next round after the weapon is ready.

For mouse aim mode, hold a Pistol, AR Gun, Shotgun, or Sniper Rifle and press E. Move the mouse inside the forward firing area and left click to fire; the AR Gun keeps firing while left click is held. Press E again or right click to cancel mouse aim.

Most guns fire with left click. Pistols use 9x19mm, AR Guns use 5.56x45mm, the Sniper Rifle uses 7.62x54mm, shotguns use shells, and the RPG Launcher uses an RPG shell.

The Sniper Rifle uses one round at a time. Press Tab to switch between scoped and unscoped vision. Left click fires in either mode and keeps the current scope state.

The RPG Launcher uses aimed fire. Left click to bring up the target marker, then left click the valid marker location to fire. RPG range is 12 tiles and the blast is strongest at the center.

Explosives Combat

Grenade: hold a grenade, left click to aim, then left click the valid marker to throw. It has a 2 second fuse, a 12 tile throw range, heavy center damage, and lighter outer damage.

Landmine: hold a landmine and left click to place it in front of you. It arms after 3 seconds. A player can disarm a faced mine from close range, but disarming takes 60 seconds.

C4 Explosive: hold C4 and left click to open the timer. Set the timer, arm it, and clear the area. C4 does massive structure damage in a 3 tile radius.

Gear and Inventory

Gear Modal

Gear holds equipped items: Head, Chest, Hands, Legs, Feet, Back, and Holding. Holding is your active hand item for weapons, tools, food, explosives, and deployable items.

• Load Ammo and Unload Ammo manage rounds in held guns, held loose magazines, or selected ranged weapons.
• View Attachments opens attachment slots, such as worms on a Fishing Pole or batteries on powered head gear. Attaching or detaching an item in a slot takes 1 second.
• Alter starts a repair or item-work action when the right tool is held.
• Drop takes 2 seconds and puts the selected gear item on the ground.
• Unequip takes 2 seconds and moves the selected gear item back into inventory when there is space.

Inventory Modal

Inventory stores carried items in a grid. Select a slot to see item details and available buttons.

• Split separates part of a stack. Drop drops an amount. Drop All drops the whole stack.
• Put In Container moves items into nearby storage containers.
• Equip takes 2 seconds and wears gear or moves weapons/tools to the proper gear slot. Hold puts holdable items in Holding and also takes 2 seconds.
• Keybind assigns an item to a number key. View Attachments opens item attachment slots.
• Alter starts item work. Combine opens recipes you can craft from carried ingredients.
• Drag items around the grid. Hold Shift while dragging a rotatable item to rotate it.

Stash

A Wooden Box is a portable loot container with half the storage space of a truck bed. It can be carried in Holding and built with Combine by holding a working Hammer, then using 2 Wood Boards and 2 Steel Nails for a 1 minute combine.

Hold a working Shovel while standing on a grass tile with no plant or prepared plant hole to Dig Hole. Digging takes 1 minute and removes 5 durability from the Shovel. Hold a Wooden Box on the dug hole to place it in 2 seconds, then hold a working Shovel to Cover Digged Out Hole in 10 seconds.

An uncovered hole shows a corner of the Wooden Box. Once covered, the tile looks like grass again. Dig that same tile back out to reveal the box, then pick it up with an empty Holding slot. Empty dug holes reset after 3 hours; covered Wooden Boxes stay hidden for 7 days, and placing, covering, or picking up the box refreshes that timer.

Map and Chat

Map

The map shows your position, grid labels, loot tiers, cold Tier 3 grids, town and city signs, faction flag poles, faction members, personal markers, and faction markers. Personal markers are yours. Faction markers are shared with your faction.

Global Chat

Chat supports Global, Faction, and Whisper channels. Select the channel in the chat panel before sending. Global can be seen broadly, Faction is for your faction, and Whisper is for direct low-profile messages. Messages are limited and rate-limited, so keep them short when things are hot.

You can also use chat commands. Type a normal message for global chat. Type /f message to send to your faction. Type /w username message to whisper to an online player. Type /r message to reply to the last player who whispered you.

Proximity Chat

Press P to set up or toggle proximity sharing. Press O to pause sharing. Use Arrow Up and Arrow Down to change range between whisper, talk, and yell.

Only players inside your current proximity range can receive your audio or video feed. Players outside the range cannot see or hear it. Pausing proximity stops the feed.

Fire, Alter, Combine

Fires

Camp Fires can be combined from 2 Wooden Sticks and 1 Tree Bark, then placed outside on usable ground. Fireplaces can also be fueled where the map provides them. Add fuel, then use a Lighter or Fire Starter Kit to ignite the fire. Lit fires warm nearby players and can support cooking setups.

Alter

Alter changes or repairs an item while you hold the required tool. Wooden Sticks can be sharpened with a knife. Fish can be filleted with a knife. Baked Beans can be unsealed with a knife. Clothing can be cut into Rags with a knife. Dirty water can be cleaned with a Water Cleaning Tablet. Guns and magazines use Gun Repair Kits, melee weapons use Sharpening Stones, tech gear uses Tech Gear Repair Kits, and normal clothing gear uses Non-Tech Gear Repair Kits.

Combine

Combine builds recipes from inventory ingredients. Most recipes take 10 seconds. Current recipes include Camp Fire from 2 Wooden Sticks and 1 Tree Bark, Fire Starter Kit from 1 Wooden Stick and 1 Tree Bark, Chunk of Manure from 10 Piles of Poop, Bandage from 2 Rags, Leg Splint from 2 Wooden Sticks and 2 Rags, Sack Bag from 1 Rope and 1 Cloth Sheet, and Wooden Box from 2 Wood Boards and 2 Steel Nails while holding a working Hammer.

Durability and Repair

Many weapons, tools, and worn gear have durability. Ranged weapons lose durability as shots add up, melee weapons lose durability on successful hits, knives lose durability when they finish work actions, and protective clothing or armor can lose durability when it protects you.

Broken items with 0 durability stop doing their job: guns can jam or fail, armor no longer absorbs shots, and worn gear no longer protects against the hazards it normally blocks.

Repair by holding the right repair tool, selecting the damaged item in Inventory or Gear, then pressing Alter. Gun Repair Kits repair ranged weapons and magazines. Sharpening Stones repair melee weapons. Tech Gear Repair Kits repair Headlamps, Night Vision Goggles, and Heat Vision Goggles. Non-Tech Gear Repair Kits repair normal wearable gear in Head, Chest, Hands, Legs, or Feet slots.

Truck

Fuel a truck with gasoline through the truck interaction. Enter a seat through the interaction list. Trucks have a Driver Seat, Passenger Seat, and Truck Bed. The driver controls movement, the passenger rides in the cab, and the truck bed can carry a player unless a mounted Auto Turret is using that space. Trucks move faster on roads, have 200 health, and burn fuel while running.

The truck bed can also carry useful cargo. A Barrel can be placed in the bed for hauling liquids. A Gas Powered Portable Generator can be mounted in the bed, fueled, and run while attached. The truck bed also has a container for holding loot.

Hitting solid objects damages the truck. If the truck loses all health, it is destroyed, occupants are ejected and dazed for a short time, and the truck becomes unsafe until it despawns or respawns through the vehicle system.

Interactions and Loot

Interactions

The interaction list appears when something nearby can be used. Press Shift plus the shown number to perform an interaction. Most interactions require being close, facing the target, holding the right item, and not being dead, asleep, knocked out, dazed, or hand tied.

Common interactions include picking up ground items, opening containers, looting zombies and corpses, entering and exiting trucks, fueling trucks, drinking or filling liquid containers, opening and closing doors, locking, unlocking, picking, or breaking doors, gathering sticks, bark, and worms, chopping trees, preparing plant holes, applying manure, planting seeds, watering plants, fishing, lighting and fueling fires, cooking meat, sleeping, tying or freeing players, moving tied players or corpses, using faction flag poles, and working with deployed structures.

Loot

Loot is found in towns, cities, major cities, military areas, containers, zombie drops, and dead player corpses. Higher tier areas have stronger loot and more danger. Tier 3 areas are cold grids, so prepare warmth before searching them.

Factions and Bases

Factions

Open the Faction panel to create a faction, invite members, accept invites, manage roles, remove members, leave, or disband by leaving as the last member. Leaders can invite and manage the faction.

Faction Flag Poles claim territory for the faction. Base structures inside controlled territory, including buildings with doors and wall gates, are faction controlled while the faction controls that area.

Lowering an enemy faction flag pole takes 10 minutes from close range while facing it. When the flag is lowered, that faction is disbanded and its claimed territories are marked disbanded. Disbanded territory structures lose faction control and are cleaned up by the world over time.

Base Building

Equip a working Hammer in Holding, then open the Builder with B. Building requires the hammer, the right materials in your inventory, and usually faction land for base structures. Place the ghost where it is valid, then confirm placement.

Base Raiding

Wooden walls and wooden wall gates have 1000 health, while plywood walls and plywood doors have 500 health. Wood and plywood barriers can be damaged by pistols, shotguns, rifles, axes, sledge hammers, RPG blasts, grenades, and C4. Steel walls and steel wall gates have 2000 health and are C4-only raid targets. Steel cages have 2000 health, cement steel bunkers have 3000 health, medium built structures use 1000 health, small utility structures use 500 health, and large generic structures can reach 4000 health. C4 deals 1000 structure damage and is the main tool for breaking heavy bases.

Sleep, Knocked Out, Death

Sleep

Press Z to sleep when the action is available. While online, sleep restores health and energy. If you log out while sleeping, it does not heal you, but your calories and water drain on the much slower offline sleeping interval. A deployed sleeping bag gives you a safer place to sleep. Your body remains in the game after logout, so sleep only when hidden, protected, and stocked with food, water, warmth, and health.

Knocked Out

Player or zombie damage that drops you below the knockout threshold can knock you out instead of immediately killing you. Knockout lasts 30 seconds. You drop what you are holding, fall down, and cannot act until you wake.

Death

At 0 health, you die. Your gear and inventory become loot on your corpse. The death screen starts a 60 second respawn timer. When the timer finishes, you can respawn with restored health at a spawn location.

Zombies and Locked Doors

Zombies

Zombies do not see behind them. They notice targets in front of them and chase faster than they wander. Once chasing, a zombie will keep pursuing until you stay out of its line of sight for 30 seconds.

If you run into a building and shut the door while the zombie cannot see you, it can lose you and stop chasing. If the zombie sees you enter and close the door, it will attack the door, break it open, and continue the chase.

Locked Building Doors

A Lock Pick can lock and unlock shut building doors and can be used several times before it wears out. Picking a lock takes 10 seconds. Doors can also be broken down with force, but the noise and delay can cost you.

Fishing and Gardening

Fishing

Attach an Earth Worm to a Fishing Pole. Stand on shore, face an adjacent water tile, and left click to cast. A bite can happen after a wait. When the bobber bites, press F during the yank window to catch the fish. Hold a knife and Alter the fish for 10 seconds to cut it into fillets.

Gardening

Use a Garden Hand Trowel to prepare a plant hole on grass inside faction land. Apply a Chunk of Manure to the hole, then plant a Tomato Plant Seed. Water the plant and protect it as it moves from prepared dirt, to planted seed, to growing plant, to mature harvest. Mature plants can be harvested; neglected plants can rot away.

Hand Tied Players

Use Rope or Handcuffs from close range while facing a player to tie their hands. Rope takes longer to apply than handcuffs. A hand tied player moves slower and cannot use normal inventory, gear, or combat actions.

Hand tied players can be pulled or controlled through available interactions. Rope can be undone with an interaction, and handcuffs require a Handcuffs Key to unlock quickly.

Day, Cold, Line of Sight

Day and Night

The server day/night cycle is 6 hours long: 5 hours of day and 1 hour of night. The last 5 minutes before night darken gradually, and the last 5 minutes before day brighten gradually. Night applies a chill effect that lowers temperature over time.

Cold Grids

All Tier 3 grids are cold grids. Cold grids constantly apply chill. At night inside a cold grid, the night chill and cold-grid chill stack, so temperature drops faster.

Line of Sight

Your frontal vision cone controls what active things you can see. Players, zombies, game objects, loot, and other vision-limited objects must be inside the cone and not blocked by walls, closed doors, terrain, or other blockers. Outside the cone, you can still see static map assets that do not require frontal vision, such as the permanent buildings and scenery around you. At night, the cone is shorter unless powered night vision gear is active.