Getting Started in Active Matter
Shelter terminals, Isolated raids, contracts, CAM, and a first extract that actually counts.
Active Matter drops you in the Shelter with a Body Sleeve, a cheap kit, and a time loop you cannot talk your way out of. You are an operative: enter a quantum-unstable zone, harvest active matter, loot, and extract before the border eats the map. This page is the first-hour path. Bind controls before you deploy, then treat Isolated raids as practice until the Shelter loop feels automatic.
PC is already playable through the Gaijin Store. Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 storefronts open September 15, 2026. The game is not free-to-play. Standard Edition is 29.99 USD/EUR in supported regions. Advanced, Premium, and Elite Squad add stash volume, Replicator queue slots, starting kits, and extra copies. Isolated-raid access scales with edition. Do not buy Elite Squad just to learn the tutorial — Standard is enough to raid. Full package notes live on editions. Confirm system requirements so BattlEye and the launcher are not your first boss.
Shelter terminals
The Shelter is the only room that does not try to kill you. Walk the terminals in this order so you stop opening the wrong screen mid-prep.
Missions. This is raid select. Pick Isolated until you can extract on purpose. Isolated is PvE: Distorted, Flowermen, and the zone still exist, rival operatives do not. Open is PvPvE. Nexus is a different queue entirely — see Nexus battles. You choose Investigations; other contracts fill in automatically. One primary contract is always on. It does not block extraction and it does not pay Monolith Tokens. Daily and key contracts sit under it. Operative objectives chain: finish one, get the next. They also skip Monolith Tokens.
Stash. Volume is finite. Pouches are your base inventory; backpacks are haul expansion; Body Sleeves add typed pockets. Pockets take magazines, meds, grenades, or mixed small kit depending on the slot. Shift-click moves gear onto the body. Alt-click dumps into stash. Hold Alt in menus for full tooltips. Do not fill every cell with rusty Mosins — you will fail the first extract for volume, not for HP.
Market. Credits buy shop guns, plates, ammo, and cheap consumables. Crystallised Active Matter (CAM) buys the stubborn stuff: Isolated passes, beacons, safe containers, and some Monolith shortcuts. Spend credits on a suppressed pistol, a flashlight, two AI-2 kits, and a stack of ammo. Save CAM.
Workshop: Replicator and Refiner. Replication prints unlocked blueprints on a timer. Refining eats extracted items for credits and Chronotraces — metal, composite, fiber, chemicals, energy, and idea. Chronotraces research blueprints and feed in-raid perks that drop if you die. Enriched copies pulled from a raid, Monolith unlocks, and some contracts open research. Do not refine the one copy you still need for a recipe.
Monolith. Access levels, tokens, recipes, Body Sleeves, storage expansions, and prestige. Tokens come from contracts and synchronization work. You do not have to buy every node on a level to climb. Prestige is self-sacrifice at the end of the ladder: credits, stash, blueprints, and Chronogenes reset; CAM, dog tags, self-sacrifice rewards, and edition bonuses stay. Harmonization of the Multiverse is the community-wide version of that choice. Ignore prestige until the ladder is actually finished.
First Isolated raid
Queue a small Dalniy tile — Shegolskoe or a quiet Park rotation — on Isolated. Read the enemy icons on the deploy screen. Distortion tilts toward Distorted, Mimics, and Hellhounds. Overgrowth tilts toward Flowermen and Dendroids. Unstable Zone shrinks like a battle-royale border. Map notes live on Dalniy Island and raid types.
Land, check the watch, and do not sprint at the first crate. Harvest active matter from clusters and from AM-transformed creatures. Harvested matter sits on the watch and in the mindvault logic, not as a junk stack you can drop in a bush. That is the resource the loop is named after. Credits are what the Refiner prints after you leave. CAM is a third wallet. Mixing those three is how new operatives go broke.
Contracts are optional for the portal in the current ruleset: the primary does not gate extraction. Still do the cheap ones — kill a few Distorted, photograph a wall, drop a sensor — because they pay tokens and daily CAM. Do not take Specimen Capture or Alpha hunts on hour one. When the backpack hits maybe sixty percent, walk to an extract. How to extract is the full loop. This page’s rule is shorter: leave early.
Overlooting is the default death. Extra rifles steal volume from plates you already wear. Keys and notes are light and refine well. Loose ammo is not. If a crate wants you to drop your only medkit, skip the crate. If the border is moving, skip the crate twice.
CAM versus credits, then extract
Credits are the everyday currency. Die, and the kit on your body is gone unless it sat in a safe container you chose to evacuate. CAM is not restored every wipe. You get a one-time pile from the edition (Standard starts at 300 crystals; higher editions pay more) plus daily-objective drips. CAM is not a second credit pile. Spend it on a small safe container and a beacon after you can extract, not on cosmetics and not on skipping the first Monolith rooms unless you already understand the ladder.
Extract is a portal on the map (M). Stand in it with the Robot Dog close enough that the game does not warn you it will be abandoned. If you brought a dog, the dog is extra volume — and extra pathfinding. If you die, anything not in a safe container is a gift to the next operative or to the zone. Isolated deaths still teach the loop; they just do not feed a rival’s backpack.
After a live extract, refine junk, stash what you will actually re-equip, and queue again with a kit you can afford to lose. When Isolated feels boring, read how to beat anomalies and move to Open. When you want a verdict on whether the loop is for you, the Active Matter review is the honest version.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
Which edition do I need for Isolated raids?
Standard is enough to raid. Isolated access still scales with edition, so Advanced and Premium buy more PvE headroom plus stash and Replicator slots. Compare packages on editions before you pay for Elite Squad.
What is CAM, and does it come back after a wipe?
Crystallised Active Matter is a one-time edition grant plus daily-objective income. It is not restored every self-sacrifice or Harmonization. Unused CAM and items already bought with it persist. Credits, stash gear, and Monolith progress do not.
Should I spend credits in the Market before my first raid?
Buy a flashlight, cheap meds, and ammo. Do not empty the starting credit pile on a rifle you cannot replace. The Replicator is how kits become repeatable; the Market is how you cover holes.
Where does harvested active matter go?
On the watch and through the mindvault, not as a backpack junk stack. You also take it from clusters, AM-transformed creatures, and rival operatives. Credits come later, when the Refiner eats extracted loot.
How many people can I bring into a raid?
Online co-op squads of up to three. Isolated still works solo. Nexus is a larger team PvP queue and does not use the same extraction rules.