Built from the 1.0 launch announcement and patches through 1.0.15. Where the developer has not published a requirement, such as the boat repair materials, this page says so instead of guessing.
Stage 1: Land on the main island
A Standard Mode run starts with you crawling out of a crashed helicopter on a quarantined island. New Standard worlds include a tutorial, and the area around the spawn point is laid out for it. Your job here is food, water, tools and a shelter you can return to.
NoteStuck here? The beginner guide covers the first trips in order.
Stage 2: Build a base that can support longer trips
Longer trips are easier with somewhere to store supplies, craft and recover. The launch notes add voxel building, farming with 12 crops, and auto turrets unlocked through the skill tree. Farming means food no longer has to come only from scavenging.
NoteSee base building and crafting. Horde pathfinding looks for open doors first and attacks the weakest wall when everything is sealed.
Stage 3: Repair the boat and sail to the Far Island
The launch announcement says to repair the boat on the main island and sail to the Far Island. After that, you can sail between the islands at any time, and items in the boat’s cabin travel with you.
NoteThe developer has not published the repair materials. The boat repair guide collects the parts and the only known list. Patch 1.0.14 fixed the boat sailing over land on the way back.
Stage 4: Restore the railway by defeating the Area Guardians
The Far Island has ten areas, including the port, the RNA Lab and an automated factory. Each of those three holds an Area Guardian: the Augmented Security Captain, the Corpse Amalgam and the Factory Warden. Each guardian you defeat restores power to another section of the railway, and each drops an access device. Defeating the port boss also earns the White Falcon exoskeleton gear.
NotePatch 1.0.15 buffed the Far Island bosses, so older fight videos may look easier. Call trains at a station and pick a stop on the route map; see the Far Island guide.
Stage 5: Plan around radiation near the power plant
Radiation storms cover the area around the nuclear power plant. The longer you stay, the higher your dose, until you get radiation sickness. Gas masks, the Radiation Cloak and Heavy Radiation Armor block part of it; Iodine Tablets and Anti-Radiation Medicine help you last longer. Starting the plant’s backup cooling weakens the storms.
NoteThe official notes describe the plant as one of the Far Island’s ten areas. They do not say it is required before Area 61, so treat this as preparation, not a confirmed step.
Stage 6: Open Area 61 and reach the ending
Spoiler: the three access devices from the guardians open the gate to Area 61. Inside are surface and underground facilities and a three-phase final boss, followed by an escape aboard a submersible.
NoteThe gate’s card reader, and what to check if it stays locked, are covered in the Area 61 guide. You can keep playing the same save after the ending.
After the ending: Cataclysm Mode
Finishing Standard Mode unlocks Cataclysm Mode. It traps you on an island with a horde night every 5 days and cataclysm-class enemies every 7 days that must be killed within a time limit. Death respawns you where you fell, and leaderboards track the most consecutive days survived.
NoteHorde Mode is a separate camp-defense mode with its own waves and rewards. See the Horde Mode guide.
Sources & references
- Official 1.0 launch announcement
- Beta 0.9.99.9.7: tutorial and horde pathfinding
- Patch 1.0.14: boat route fix
- Patch 1.0.15: Far Island bosses buffed
Reviewed against published documentation on 12 Nov 2026. Advice is editorial unless identified as a documented game behavior; no in-game testing is claimed.