A Quarry survey drone mapped three exotic ore signatures in the flooded swamp-caves of Planet A, then something in the water pulled it under. The tunnels are littered with the bones of whatever lived here before. You are Specialist Jon. Bring back physical samples.
Why it matters: Ferro-lattice ore knits itself back together: bridges and seawalls that mend their own cracks after storms and earthquakes. Violet chondrite drinks sunlight and gives it back as power for decades: clean light for towns the grid never reached. Cryo-silicate turns seawater fresh and cold as it passes through: drinking water for drought-hit farms and coastal cities.
Field intel: the cavern swimmer has no eyes. It hunts by feeling vibration — strongly through water, faintly through ground. Wading is loud. Crouching is quiet. Standing still is silent. Watch the water for its wake.
Also: four-winged flyers roost on the central island and the north-east rocks. These can see — stay low and out of their line of sight.
W A S D move · Shift sprint · Space jump · C crouch
Crouching is quiet and ducks a diving flyer. Standing still is silent. Wading is loud. In deep water, hold W at a bank to haul out.
1 pistols · 2 rifles · 3 energy · 4 heavy · 5 flame · 6 e-blade. Press a number again to cycle that slot. Z X or wheel steps through everything.
F e-blade, or the bayonet on the battle rifle · Tab toggle aim, or hold Option / Right click (red dot centred; sniper: scope) · Pistols go two-handed when creatures are near.
Click fire (hold to charge plasma) · R reload or vent heat
Flyer seeker: keep the crosshair near a flyer. The diamond turns red when it locks; then shots home in.
Press Q to throw one. It bursts after about 1.6 s and freezes every creature within 5.5 m for a few seconds. Frozen creatures take extra damage, and the big brutes hate the cold. On water it leaves an ice sheet you can stand on. You carry 2.
Flash cannon: blinds every creature in the beam for 30 s; they wander, lost. Stun pistol: locks a creature in place. Icer rifle: hold the beam on a creature to seal it in ice. Napalm keeps burning after you stop.
B seeker disc (Ryan only, 8 of them): thrown backhand, homes on a creature up to 75 m away, beeping faster until it blows. N proton mine: arms after 1.5 s, explodes when something walks over it.
V Bloom armor on/off. Sealed, it blocks the brutes' secretion. Hold Right click to lock onto a target (uses the armor cell).
G fire a thumper lure from a rifle: the swimmer goes after the vibration. E (hold) extract a sample.
T first person → third person → front view · M music