Spoilers: Early game
Abiotic Factor: What to Do First
A practical first-session checklist for Abiotic Factor: establish a base, prepare food and water, and avoid losing power on your first night.
First base: a Cafeteria return point
After reaching the Cafeteria, use its security office as one practical temporary base. Keep the door and a route back into the Cafeteria clear.
- Set up the work area. Collect four Duct Tape, one Power Supply Unit and two Metal Pipes for a Crafting Bench. Place it by an outlet, connect it and check that it is powered. Storage belongs nearby, not blocking your exit.
- Bring water home. Package a Water Cooler rather than scrapping it. Transfer clean water into a bottle for trips. For an exhausted supply, collect tainted water and follow the boiling steps; untreated fountain water is not a safe default drink.
- Cook a first meal. Use the Frying Pan obtained through the Cafeteria route. A knife or shiv with butchering ability lets you harvest suitable meat from a defeated alien; fry it and collect the cooked item before it burns. Soup is a later option, not a prerequisite for your first outing.
- Make a real respawn bed. Package a Long Office Couch or Two-Seater Office Couch, then combine one couch + six Cloth Scrap + four Wood Planks at the Crafting Bench. Place the Makeshift Bed and lie down to set the bed respawn point. Sleeping on an ordinary couch does not provide the same respawn function.
- Repair before another trip. Use the inventory Duct Tape repair option for immediate needs. Upgrade to the station below when its Anvil is available.
- Protect your night setup. Add charged battery backup to essential powered equipment. A bench placed beside an outlet will still lose mains power at night.
Check these outcomes before exploring farther: you can find the base again, eat and drink there, use the powered bench, and respawn at the bed.
Get the Anvil and build your repair station
You do not need to reach Manufacturing to get the first Anvil. At night, return through the starting Cafeteria vents; the stopped fan permits access to the rear maintenance area. Collect its Anvil and unlock the maintenance door from inside for easier access later. Do not try to force your way through a running fan.
At a Crafting Bench, make one Repair and Salvage Station from one Anvil, six Duct Tape, two Coils and two Metal Pipes. Coils can come from destroyed monitors. Place the station in your work area, select an essential tool, inspect its named repair material and repair it. Use salvage only on items you intend to consume.
Server respawn settings can change death consequences; do not deliberately die just to test the bed.
Before your first long trip
Prepare these essentials before leaving:
- Keep a flashlight and a sharp tool available.
- Save components for a Crafting Bench.
- Set up storage and a sleeping place near your work area.
- Bring drinking water and cooked food.
- Check your battery backup before night.
A temporary base is enough. A location you can find again is more useful than a beautiful room you cannot reliably reach.
Pick one job for each expedition
What should you collect first?
| Immediate problem | Useful target | Stop collecting when… |
|---|---|---|
| No workstation | Four Duct Tape, one Power Supply Unit and two Metal Pipe for a Crafting Bench | You can make the bench and connect it to power |
| No water to carry | A suitable bottle and clean water | You have a drinking reserve for the planned trip |
| Food supply is unreliable | Cookware and ingredients you can actually cook | You have a repeatable meal, not just an unidentified raw drop |
| Tools are deteriorating | Duct Tape for an immediate repair, then an Anvil for a Repair and Salvage Station | Your essential tools are usable again |
| Bench fails overnight | Materials for battery backup | Your isolated essential-device circuit lasts through the outage |
Use the Crafting Bench recipe to make your first station. Avoid dismantling a useful Water Cooler for scrap just because you need generic materials: bring these containers home to store water.
Write down the component or objective you are leaving for. Before departing, ask: where will the loot go, what will I eat, and how will I return? Leave space for the target item instead of filling your inventory before reaching it.
If you are already short of supplies, pause progression and use the water and cooking checklist. Repeated emergency trips make every other objective harder.
When the base does not feel safe
A powered bench reduces ordinary spawning, but raids and approaching enemies can still threaten the base. Keep an exit accessible and avoid putting every valuable object beside the entrance.
What should you do after basic survival is stable?
Return to the current objective instead of making every optional upgrade before leaving Offices. The early objective chain asks you to find Power Cells, access Silo 3, enter its portal to Flathill, and use a recovered cell to operate the forklift opening Manufacturing West.
That is a sequence of access requirements, not permission to walk directly to the final door. When stuck, note the objective text and the last character you spoke to. Use the progression checkpoints to distinguish a missing conversation, unopened route and missing crafting component.
The Office Sector guide separates supply landmarks from progression destinations. Pick the guide for the problem you have now; you do not need to clear every optional room before taking another step.
What if you keep returning home empty-handed?
Before the next trip, select one target, leave inventory room for it, check food and water, and identify a landmark on the way back. Turn back once you have that target or lack the supplies to continue safely.
If a weapon needs immediate repair, use the inventory repair option with carried Duct Tape. The Repair and Salvage Station offers material-based repairs once you can craft it. Inspect the individual item’s repair requirement; do not assume every tool uses the same scrap.
If your character’s disadvantages are causing repeated problems, read jobs and traits before restarting or attempting a respec. A later reset has consequences and is not part of the opening survival loop.
A useful first-session stopping point
You should be able to leave, gather one needed resource, return, eat, drink, and repair or replace essential equipment.
