Online guide
Survivor’s guide
How not to die in the first five minutes. After that you’re on your own.
Controls
| Action | Keys |
|---|---|
| Move | W A S D |
| Sprint | Shift |
| Sneak | C |
| Fire | LMB |
| Aim (hold) | RMB |
| Reload | R |
| Flashlight | F |
| Interact, take in hands | E |
| Quick slots | 1–9, mouse wheel |
| Throw a grenade | G |
| Inventory (inside: G drops an item) | Tab |
| PDA | P |
| Voice chat (hold) | V |
| Radio (hold) | B |
| Action wheel | mouse wheel to pick, E to do |
| Surrender while downed (hold) | Space |
Hub and raid
The hub is the persistent world where every player is together. Your stash is here, squads form here, and the Guide drives you to the Zone from here. A raid is a trip: its own map, its own loot, one life.
- In the hub, open your inventory (Tab) and gear up from your stash. Anything you take with you can be lost.
- Walk up to the Guide’s car and stand still next to it for five seconds. If you’re in a squad, board together.
- In the Zone, look for loot: houses, crates, corpses. Each spot is searched separately and takes time.
- Reach an extraction point alive. Everything you carry becomes yours and goes to the stash.
Your hands are the interface
To use an item, take it in your hands. Rags can be torn into bandages, magazines loaded one round at a time. While your hands are busy you’re vulnerable, so pick your spot.
Pockets, chest rigs, backpacks and corpses are searched separately. Searching isn’t instant — keep looking around.
Wounds
Wounds bleed, bones break. A bandage stops bleeding, a splint holds a fracture, morphine dulls the pain.
You can patch up a wounded squadmate: walk up, pick the aid action with the mouse wheel and hold E.
How not to die
- Sound. Mutants hunt by sound. Running on gravel carries far — walk or sneak (C) when you can.
- Light. The flashlight (F) helps you see but gives you away: at night a lit target is visible from much farther.
- Bushes. In a dense bush nobody spots you from afar if you stand still or sneak with your light off and haven’t fired. A bush won’t stop someone who is already shooting at you.
- Bottles. A thrown bottle rings out and draws the infected toward the sound.
- Campfires. They cook meat — and can be seen from far away.
- Doors. Doors open with a shove, and a running shoulder charge knocks them open. Hinges creak, and the next room hears it.
Squad and voice
Squads form in the hub. V is voice chat: whoever is nearby hears you. B is radio: whoever is on your channel hears you. Other players’ voice volume is in the settings.
Death and leaving
- If you die, everything you carried stays on your body in the Zone. Your stash in the hub is safe.
- While downed you can surrender: hold Space.
- You can safely quit in the hub: ten seconds without taking damage and your character leaves with their gear.