Base building survival with NPC residents

A survival loop built around the camp

Leave the settlement to gather food, medicine, parts and building materials. What you carry home shapes the next day: feed residents, repair gear, strengthen defenses and choose which route to risk next.

The current game systems include hunger, thirst, health, stamina and carrying weight. Fish, hunt, farm, cook and preserve food. Rain collectors and wells help sustain the camp.

Weather changes the expedition

Rain fills collectors and waters crops while dampening sound. It also leaves you wet as colder nights arrive. Fog shortens sight and sound range. A trip that seems safe in daylight can change sharply at dusk.

Noise matters during combat. Gunfire and sprinting draw nearby undead; quieter weapons, suppressors and distractions offer different ways through an area.

Base building: shelter and camp defenses

The camp is a working settlement. Build shelters and workstations, upgrade walls, place traps and turrets, and run generators for lights and electric fencing. Rescue residents, give them beds and daily meals, then assign them as farmers, guards, cooks, scavengers, medics or engineers. Their morale affects whether they stay.

Cook and preserve food, repair gear and turn salvage into ammunition, medicine and stronger defenses. Camp tiers open more Keeper stock and room for residents, while higher tiers can bring larger scavenger raids. The current guide says the camp is not attacked while you are away; holding a raid means staying to defend it.

Explore beyond the walls

Explore the valley for supplies, take jobs, answer rescue calls and hunt threats that grow more dangerous at night. The sewer, catacombs and bunker each lead deeper into the lighthouse route. Weapon noise, weather, equipment wear and carrying weight make each expedition a choice about what to bring home.

Story, Survivor and Hardcore modes offer different death rules. This page describes systems represented in the current game guide; the game itself remains in development.

Survival crafting: turn supplies into equipment

The current game guide separates what you can make on the move from what needs a station. Bandages and barricades can be crafted anywhere. A workbench makes medkits, ammunition and turrets; the campfire turns ingredients into meals, including stew and grilled fish.

Bring wood, scrap and cloth back from expeditions to support the next round of building, repairs and equipment. These are documented development systems; the linked building video shows placement and snapping, not every crafting recipe.

NPC residents: beds, meals and useful jobs

Rescued survivors make their way to camp. Each resident needs a bunk and a daily meal from camp storage. Hunger, losses and failed defenses affect morale; unhappy residents can leave. Talk to residents to assign their work.

• Farmer: Waters and harvests crops, then plants seeds from camp storage.
• Guard: Patrols the walls and uses ammunition from camp storage to defend them.
• Cook: Turns stored ingredients into meals for the camp.
• Scavenger: Leaves to gather supplies and returns with loot; expeditions carry a risk of loss.
• Medic: Helps with healing and makes bandages from stored cloth.
• Engineer: Repairs camp structures overnight using stored wood.

These roles come from the current game guide. The building reel below demonstrates placement and snapping, rather than the resident AI or every camp system.

From an expedition to the next day at camp

1. Prepare: Check food, water, equipment and room in your pack before leaving.
2. Gather: Bring home supplies for meals, repairs and construction, balancing the trip against carrying weight and danger.
3. Restock: Put supplies into camp storage so residents and workstations have what they need.
4. Improve: Add beds, assign jobs and repair defenses before choosing your next route.

The guide distinguishes nights at camp from nights away: raids threaten the camp while you are there to defend it. This is a development overview, not a promise of unattended online base raiding.

See the base-building footage

The 22.6-second development reel shows wall placement and snapping on a wooden platform, with the building interface visible. It was published in September 2026 and is not a recording of every system described here.

Watch the base-building gameplay reel ↗ · Compare gameplay footage and development studies ↗