Hello everyone!

I noticed this game does not have much info on mechanics, so I want to make a guide that goes over helpful tips and information that is not covered by the in-game manual. More info and sections will be added over time, and I will gladly take any tips or suggestions on improving this guide or anything I got wrong here.

This guide is currently aimed for Ver. 0.6 of the game, although I hope to update it as more content/changes from the roadmap are implemented.

Edit: As of Ver. 0.8 these tips still apply, although a new enemy type was added and more upgrade options such as van attachments, character upgrades, and new exotecs. To my knowledge, no existing content has been changed besides melee using less stamina, the Sergeant character getting small nerfs, and pistols being buffed.

Sample drop count from uber enemies has also changed, supposedly increased from before, I will eventually check what the numbers are if they affect what is mentioned here.

As of version 1.0.2, these tips still work, and I added additional notes in some categories for reworked items (like relics spawning anomalies). If something is not mentioned here, then I would recommend checking the manual in the game lobby area, as this covers enemies, basic anomalies, and other helpful info.

There are 15 difficulties total in the game, with the major changes occurring when the symbol changes to look more demonic. The symbol changes could be considered sets of 5, and can be considered stages.




Stage 1: Starting area with basic zombies and eventually lower level enemies, may have low level anomalies.
Stage 2: Anomalies appear, new major enemy variants
Stage 3: Different, more extreme anomalies appear, Kogerton can appear (on relic 'Heart of Darkness) and more uber enemies

As the difficulty increases, so too does the enemy variety, frequency and quantity. The biggest changes occur on the symbol changes.

Major enemies such as the Kogteron and Koldunak appear on symbol changes, while smaller ones like basic mobs and ubers will appear in between the sets.

Note: Thanks to the comments, on death, you only lose:

Current mission acquired resources like samples/scrap
Spent ammunition, bandages, and grenades
Current mission objective progress

You keep:
Any unused equipment you brought with you. (i.e. Guns, exotecs, unused ammo, bandages, etc.)
Newly acquired ammo, bandages, and grenades.

Otherwise, there is no loss if you die during a mission, so you can experiment with higher difficulties to see if you can handle it.

There are many different enemy types in this game ranging from zombies to tree monsters and other creatures that make the game more complex. The enemies are covered in the lobby's manual quite extensively, however in this section I want to make some tips about them that the game may not cover or is vague about. NOTE: the current names will be revised when I log into the game next, so I am sorry about the vague names.

Drevnid (Tree guy)
Acts the same as standard zombie, but when close will sprout Caltrop trees which damage the player.

Krivak
Faster and stronger enemy that does a lot of damage to the player, dodging when they are close is your friend here.

Gnilokost
Juggernaut-like enemy, moves slowly and is tanky. Be careful when near, as they have a ground stomp attack that will disorientate you and drain stamina. Can be countered by timing dodge roll with stomp, completely dodging the attack.
Drops 5 low Samples and 1 high Sample

Koldunak (tree cultist dude)
He has a giant glowing red ball above his head, and will call tactical airstrikes on your location in a yellow sigil. When "close" (like the same street) he will slowly drain nearby players' health by 5 HP per second. When they appear, kill first. Appears on Stage 2 difficulties.
Drops 10 low Samples and 1 high Sample.

Kogteron "Hunter"
Only appears when you steal the relic on the final five difficulties. He appears quickly, is the fastest enemy in the game, and 1-2 shots you in 1 second on contact. Unless you have a full squad or come prepared to kill it, don't bother touching the relic in higher difficulties. That is unless you want to experience first hand a Sea bear attack from Squidward's POV.

HOWEVER, if you really want to fight it, then you will need to prep. I recommend using:
- TAIGA-12F Shotgun with damage and rate of fire upgrades,
- Exotec with 2 turrets (The healing exotec is optional).
- I also had a purple modifier equipped that increased my damage and damage resistance by 10%. If you need it, the perk 'Lucky Break' will auto-revive you to max health if you die.
- If you need additional revives, one of the van upgrades supposedly provides 4 remote revives, which can apply in solo play too.
- If you equip the Chernozem's Guard, then along with any damage resistant modifiers (I had 40% damage resistance total, 30% from character, + 10% modifier), you can survive a few hits.

Once you grab the relic, the Hunter will spawn, making loud rapid stomps towards the relic holder. Once seen, unload into it until it disappears into black smoke, where you will need to fight it a total of 3 times. When it disappears, it will do the same thing of spawning kinda far away and charge the player. When shot, it will stagger a bit, but if it gets to close, try to dodge the attack (1 dodge if timed right should be enough), then continue firing.
An achievement will pop once it dies on the third fight.
Drops 30 low Samples and 3 high Samples.

Uber variants
These are the standard enemies, but are usually stronger or have a new effect. Some include debuffs, increased health, exploding when killed, and having a cannon for an arm with armor. Generally not not hard to handle besides the higher end of difficulties, where the large quanities can be overwhelming. Although the Uber big guy has an armored helmet and fireball cannon, which can be annoying to deal with.

New enemy: Airship
This enemy appears when the side objective is present in your selected mission, and will only attack when you are close enough. The damage and arsenal of the airship scales with difficulty, and will inflict massive damage to you when hit by its missile on higher difficulties. It is extremely advised to always be moving if you chose to attack it, and a shotgun or automatic weapon would be best to attack it. It has a lot of health, but the exact health can be tracked on your HUD. I personally found this to be the toughest enemy, and with multiple players it won't be hard to do, but in solo, it can be rough.

In the Crafting section there is a section dedicated to Exotecs, which act as backpacks that provide a strong passive boost to you.

Currently there are:

Standard Backpack (BA-001)
Provides a weight capacity increase, and is used as the basis for all other exotecs.



Stamina Regen (ST-003)
Provides a constant quick stamina regen.




1 turret (AT-004a)
Attaches an infinite ammo OSA smg that auto-targets the closest enemies.



Health regen (HP-002)
Provides a constant health regen that heals at 2-3 health every second.
Note: It provides healing instantly upon equipping it, so spamming equip will provide rapid 2-3 health regen.



2 turrets (AT-004b) (Sorry, this is the wrong picture, imagine the 1 turret, but now with 2)
Attaches 2 infinite ammo OSA smgs that auto-targets the closest enemies.



MD-005A

Player can equip an additional modifier.

MD-005B

Player can equip an additional 2 modifiers.

SK-006

Store 2 ability charges and charge it 25% faster

Despite the descriptions not mentioning it, all exotecs provide the benefit of increased weight capacity, so there is no reason to keep the common starting exotec. Also, while you can only equip one exotec at once, you can carry multiple exotecs at a time and swap them out quickly in the inventory.

Personally, based on usefulness, the Health Exotec is the most useful, with the 2 turrets being second. I did not use the stamina exotec yet, but the health counters some anomalies and helps to recover from chaotic situations in later difficulties. The turrets are great at clearing out the basic weaker enemies, and while perks don't seem to stack with it, it will recharge your character's ability.

After you pass the first five difficulties, the map you load into will have an "anomaly" which tends to be an environment modifier. The in-game manual describes them, however there are some tips that can help make dealing with them more easily.

Stage 1 Anomalies (Low Tier)
These anomalies are quite easy to deal with, such as faster enemies, floating crystals that shoot at you from the sky, and large circles that can hurt you when you touch them. As long as you keep moving, this shouldn't be an issue.

Stage 2 Anomalies (Medium tier)

Darkness:
The map will be covered in complete darkness for the entire match.

This one is simple, just be careful where your walking (avoid cliffs and jagged geometry) and use the built-in flashlight on your character.

Poison: "Dangerous Zone"
The player will lose 1 health point per second for the entire match.

The best way to counter this one is to either stock up on bandages (or play scavenger character to get bandages from every ability supply drop) or work towards crafting the Exotec that provides healing. The exotec is the better option, as this will entirely negate the anomaly due to 2-3 health regen every second vs. the 1 loss every second.

Floating discs "Electro Rune"
An additional enemy will spawn in, which sends targeted ground strikes on the player.

This is the easiest one to deal with, as you can kill the floating discs and avoid them by constantly moving. NOTE: The turret exotec does not attack these discs, and only the standard enemies, so you will need to damage them personally.

Bombs "Exploding crystals"
When an enemy is killed, there is a chance for a floating bomb to spawn that will detonate when shot or when close to the player for too long.

The bombs are not too threatening, as they instantly spawn on an enemy's death and with automatic weapons will be shot anyways. As long as you don't go near enemies when killing them and shoot the bombs as soon as you see them, then this is won't be a problem.

Stage 3 Anomalies (High Tier)

Blood Obelisk
Will constantly drain health by 1 HP per second permantently unless player kills enemies to slow down the effect.

This one is rough and it is best to have the turret exotecs so you are constantly killing enemies and to speedrun the main objective.

Malignant 'star'
At certain intervals, the sun will inflict extreme burn damage on players, and can be avoided by hiding in the shade. A warning by the chief will be heard a few seconds before the Sun lights up.

Some maps will make this difficult, as the Sun creature is constantly revolving around the map, however, some missions such as Beast Core make this not too serious as indoor environments are unaffected.
Note: Currently you can rapidly heal by spam equipping the Health exotec, and at least with some damage resistance can completely counter this anomaly.
Also, the new relic system rework makes relics more dynamic than before, so some of the relics can spawn an additional low, medium, or high tier anomaly into the map.

- Dodge rolling in this game provides I-frames, which is very useful at dodging some of the more annoying enemies (I am looking at you big guy!). However, this applies to any damage, including falling damage. As another guide mentioned, if you dodge roll off a cliff and land while still doing the animation, you can survive any fall.

- Some objectives can be started and then abandoned, as to my knowledge, there is no mission that requires defending something. Essentially, this means that if you interact with an objective, and it normally does not stop (i.e. Scanners side objective w/ modifier, the 3rd injector on Beast's Core mission), you can leave and start heading back to the van. One Red/ultra modifier ensures the Scanner side objective never fails, so here and other similar objectives you can start it and then leave it.

Thanks to this guide I learned the dodging technique:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3435749446

- To earn learn more about Exotec crafting and how to get resources, I followed this guide:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3442054059

I also found modifiers that helped with looting resource boxes in a level such as a Resource Scanner to increase detecting range of the boxes and the Lucky Find to increase resource gain of opening them.

Low Samples are currently only used for gambling low-tier modifiers so you can craft them into highers rarities via Customization menu. Usually gotten from killing enemies randomly, with a larger quantity given to stronger enemies.

High Samples are used for finalizing the crafting of 5 modifiers, upgrading your character's ability, and to craft 2 specific exotecs. Usually only given when killing stronger enemies (i.e. Gnilokost, Koldunak).
Note: Ver 0.7 added new Exotecs that require 100 and 200 High Samples for crafting.
Ver 0.8 added the ability to upgrade character's abilities, which require high samples to upgrade.