Rust originally had only one map, which is referred to as the Rust Legacy Map. The default game launch option switched to an Experimental version of the game in October 2014, which instead used randomly generated islands.

The hand-made maps are also referred to as premade maps, or (more officially) as custom maps, although some players might refer to only the hand-made Facepunch maps as Premade, and only the hand-made community maps as Custom.

Some players preferred custom maps, if only because they were used long-term, as opposed to the randomly generated ones that were used for such a short amount of time that you had little opportunity to build familiarity with them, resulting in players frequently getting lost (until a Show Map button was added).

While the random maps had a variety of different terrain (biomes), the custom maps had greater distinction by the use of memorable features like mountain ranges, although some players noted that it felt tedious to have to cross a mountain to travel from one area to another. The seed maps appeared to have less impressive (but perhaps less obstructive) mountains.

Hapis Island is one of the most popular custom maps, featuring a large mountain and multiple islands:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3349138131

The design of the random maps is an apocalyptic theme where characters wash up on a beach and have to survive by building a base, while some custom maps are designed for testing base designs (such as flat map), or PvP arenas (small or urban maps). The average custom map is around 25 MB in size. As of 2024, atleast 400 custom maps have been made by the community, and a few "official maps" have been released by Facepunch, although only a minority of servers still use custom maps.

Hapis Island
Rust Legacy map
Savas Island

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