- starting scenarios at 1.0
- 9
- difficulty options
- 4
- Steam achievements
- 21
- latest patch checked
- 1.0.0.6
Guides
Pure Water & Purification
Check purity thresholds, Quality and Performance modules, overnight results and the portable purifier’s limits.
Aquaculture & Aquafarmer
Unlock fish farming, prepare a RAS tank and separate breeding, harvesting and expansion checks.
DNA Manipulator
Unlock Plant Genetics, extract seed traits, install them from disks and check overnight power.
Eleanor & Care Package
Recognize the package trap, use the report control and separate this branch from Eleanor’s later story.
Lou & Security
Understand the report decision, the two bomb events and the box you are asked to keep.
Cadet Serpico
Deliver food at the Dumping Grounds, check the Maimed restriction and compare evidence destinations.
Lottery & Scratchers
Reveal and redeem scratch cards, read the prize table and distinguish the weekly lottery.
Beginner Guide
Pick a starting trade, inspect before you pay, keep rent money aside and get nightly production running.
Crafting & Machines
How machine slots, reusable recipe chips and overnight work fit together, with selected 3D Printer recipes and a fix-it table.
What kind of game it is
You play a former scavenger who got a storefront on a loan. Rent keeps going up, and the developers' pitch is that most of the good margins sit in legal gray areas. The game's loop is one counter, one customer at a time: buy, sell, haggle, refuse, report or look away. Factions and Security notice what you do, so reputation opens doors and also attracts trouble.
- Every product needs checking. The Steam page gives examples: cigarette packs need a visual check, water must be tested and filtered, weapons need permits, and rare items need appraisal so you don't overpay.
- Production is part of the shop. Machines such as the 3D Printer, hydroponics and chemistry equipment turn materials into stock, mostly while you sleep. See Crafting & Machines.
- Augs. A rogue AI chip took over some people. The store page says you have to spot the signs, and misreading them costs you.
- The goal. At 1.0 the ending is buying the store from the landlord. You then see run stats such as days survived, total worth and your most profitable sale.
The nine starting scenarios
The 1.0 launch post lists nine starts. The developers flag Apprentice as the generalist start for beginners and Rock Bottom as maximum difficulty. The other seven each build the shop around one trade:
- Apprentice
- generalist
- Water Merchant
- water
- Fence
- stolen goods
- Gunsmith
- weapons & mods
- Chemist
- chemicals
- Hydroponic Farmer
- crops
- Aquafarmer
- fish
- Rat Wrangler
- rats
- Rock Bottom
- start with nothing
The beginner guide compares what each trade needs and which risk the developers attach to it. Difficulty is a separate choice with four levels, and the developers suggest pairing the hardest one with Rock Bottom only if you want an extra challenge.
Current version: patch 1.0.0.6
We checked these pages against PC patch 1.0.0.6. The post-launch patches that change how you play:
- 1.0.0.2 Water became cheaper to start: Moisture Farm 650 → 350 credits, Water Filter 50 → 25. The Gunsmith start's 3D Printer now comes with its instruction note.
- 1.0.0.5 Water Purifier 300 → 250 credits. The counter bell has a hotkey, B by default, and you can rebind it. A fix for evaporator leftovers means trace moisture no longer blocks dry-input chemistry recipes.
- 1.0.0.6 A modding security change: some mods break until their authors update them. Adds a second “Menu / Back” key binding.
Patch details are paraphrased from the official Steam announcements. The beginner guide lists the save and quality-of-life fixes.
Announced, not yet in the game
The launch post promises free content updates, naming three more starting scenarios (Junker, Organ Trader and Street Food Vendor), Expeditions that send recruited people on runs, new appraisal items and more main story. There are no dates, and we'll cover each one after it ships.
About this wiki
We don't publish a full recipe database, profit figures or a "best" build. Some of these change between patches, others we can't verify yet. The overview uses official Steam information; crafting and story pages identify their own dated guides, player reports and developer replies. Static game-file research is labeled separately from observed play. Where a patch replaces older advice, we follow the patch and say so.