This week, Rocketwerkz has expanded the open map Olympus Outpost into its own game mode, the Open World survival mode. You can choose the drop zone from several options on both the Olympus and Styx maps. This is a significant step toward what fans of the survival sandbox genre have come to expect: persistent saves, unrestricted exploration and building, and challenging survival circumstances.
New Open World Mode
The new Open World mode can be accessed from the Character screen. Just select your character and choose the Open World option from the new game mode list on the left side of the screen. Like Outposts, you can host multiple Open World sessions per character, and each of your characters can work on the same sessions. The location of each character is saved when you return to the Character Selection screen, and you will resume a session from the last saved position.
Open World sessions differ from Outposts in that there is no peaceful option with no predators or weather dangers. You will encounter the same survival dangers as on any mission (weather, predators, horde mode, regenerating world bosses), and you can choose from the same difficulty levels (easy, medium, and hard). However, like Outposts, you currently cannot mine or extract exotics in Open World Sessions.
Unlike Outposts, resources currently do not regenerate in Open World sessions, so it might finally be time to dust off the Deep Ore scanner and mining drills. RocketWerkz is planning on working resource regeneration into Open World sessions. They want it to feel natural, and will continue to monitor and take feedback from the community on this feature as they plan future updates.
Olympus and Styx Maps with Selectable Drop Zones
The original Olympus outpost is no longer available. Instead, you can choose the map you want for your Open World session. For now, this is either Olympus or Styx, and expect this list to be expanded with each new DLC. The smaller Outpost maps are not available for Open World sessions.
Along with the choice of map is the choice of Drop Zone. There are several on each map distributed among the different biomes. The Drop Zone is set by the host when the Open World session is created, and it cannot be changed afterward.
Every character that joins the session will use this Drop Zone, and workshop gear can only be brought down and returned via your Dropship. Because of this, it may be best to choose a Drop Zone near where you plan to build.
When you click on a Drop Zone, a summary appears on the left side of the screen of the local resources availability, environmental conditions, and fauna dangers. Use this to help you choose your Drop Zone and initial loadout. Hover over each of the icons for an explanation of what they mean.
Comparing the Game Modes
As of now, there are three game modes:
Open World: An unrestricted and natural survival experience with persistent saves
Missions: Curated and timed survival challenges with unique items and blueprints
Outposts: Unlimited resources and an optional peaceful environment setting
The details of each mode are summarized and compared in the table below:
Dedicated Servers and DLC Plans
According to this week’s update, the next big target for the developers is to push the dedicated server feature (and decentralized data storage) into public testing. Now that the Mount and Open World systems have been deployed, hopefully we hear some concrete details on the rollout of dedicated servers in the next few updates.
RocketWerkz also provided a taste of the new plans for the upcoming DLC maps, specifically the integration of missions into the new Open World system. “We’re designing our next DLC’s map with this in mind (more details coming soon, but check the Future Content in our patch notes for a preview).”There are numerous mentions of a sequence of story missions (at least five) on the upcoming Prometheus DLC map, and there are a couple mentions of a new “Mo’s Cave” asset.
Could this be the start of an ICARUS storyline to accompany the lore scattered throughout the mission briefings, item descriptions, and Sol’s narrations? Hopefully, we’ll get more details in future updates. Let us know what you think of this update in the comments below.
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SurvivalSherpa
SurvivalSherpa is an avid gamer spending most of his time at the nexus of the survival, crafting, building, and role playing genres on any platform, especially to test indie titles in EA. AFK, life is about work and education in STEM fields, reading fantasy, and sipping great coffee in the Pacific Northwest.
they say there are no exotics in open world mode but they have a horde mode. anyone know yet in the open world if you get exotics from the horde mode or not?
I have tested Horde Mode in missions, the original Olympus Outpost, and the smaller outposts, but not yet the new Open World mode. However, since this mode is designed to simply extend the Olympus Outpost to new maps and drop zone options, I think it is safe to say that Horde Mode will not net you exotics in Open World sessions, either. By “mine exotics”, I think RocketWerkz also includes Vapor Condensers. This has been confirmed in the Discord chatter on the new Open World mode.
As was true from the outset with Horde Mode, outside of missions you can still play the minigame to practice, but you will always just net Condensed Enzymes, which can be used to craft trophies of various scenes captured in metal. Hopefully these cosmetic features will be expanded so that we have more incentive to play the Horde Mode minigame outside of missions.
Test out Horde Mode if you have time. It is a fun minigame and takes about 2-4 hours to prep, deploy, and play several rounds depending on the difficulty level. Let us know how it goes!
Robbie
1 year ago
What exactly occurs in Open World? Is there any overall goal? Is it like minecraft where you just explore and build? Are you constantly attacked by wildlife (kind of like Zombies mode in CoD)? Just curious if anyone had more insight into it.
Great question! Open World is similar to the Outpost mode from before the update. Minecraft is a good comparison: craft, build, and survive. In other ways, it is like Ark: you can select from a list of dropzones. The difficulty setting is adjustable, but there is no “peaceful” option without predators like in the smaller outposts.
In ICARUS terms, it is like a CONSTRUCTION-type level, but the goal is your own! You can receive “dynamic missions” by crafting the short-range radio, or challenge Horde Mode (but not for exotics rewards). There is unrestricted travel (as long as you have opened up certain passages in by completing the Expeditions) and unrestricted building. Resources do not respawn as in the smaller outposts. You will encounter the normal prey, predators, and roaming World Bosses as you would in a normal mission.
For some survival-sandbox streamers, the debut of open world mode is when they got really interested. It’s definitely a popular addition to the game, and worth checking out.
Lasse
1 year ago
Ores in our open world have started to regenerate… This is really not a good gameplay feature, as you might aswell just leave a chest full of ore for the player.
Also, what is the point of the thumper now? You are not going to use it during timed missions, because who is going to do all that work, just to have it deleted after the mission? It faster just to travel to more caves then…
It seems so obvious. But it guess it isnt… Please consider at least creating an option, to turn ore regeneration on/off for open world…
they say there are no exotics in open world mode but they have a horde mode. anyone know yet in the open world if you get exotics from the horde mode or not?
Hi KD4718. Thanks for your question!
I have tested Horde Mode in missions, the original Olympus Outpost, and the smaller outposts, but not yet the new Open World mode. However, since this mode is designed to simply extend the Olympus Outpost to new maps and drop zone options, I think it is safe to say that Horde Mode will not net you exotics in Open World sessions, either. By “mine exotics”, I think RocketWerkz also includes Vapor Condensers. This has been confirmed in the Discord chatter on the new Open World mode.
As was true from the outset with Horde Mode, outside of missions you can still play the minigame to practice, but you will always just net Condensed Enzymes, which can be used to craft trophies of various scenes captured in metal. Hopefully these cosmetic features will be expanded so that we have more incentive to play the Horde Mode minigame outside of missions.
Test out Horde Mode if you have time. It is a fun minigame and takes about 2-4 hours to prep, deploy, and play several rounds depending on the difficulty level. Let us know how it goes!
What exactly occurs in Open World? Is there any overall goal? Is it like minecraft where you just explore and build? Are you constantly attacked by wildlife (kind of like Zombies mode in CoD)? Just curious if anyone had more insight into it.
Hi Robbie,
Great question! Open World is similar to the Outpost mode from before the update. Minecraft is a good comparison: craft, build, and survive. In other ways, it is like Ark: you can select from a list of dropzones. The difficulty setting is adjustable, but there is no “peaceful” option without predators like in the smaller outposts.
In ICARUS terms, it is like a CONSTRUCTION-type level, but the goal is your own! You can receive “dynamic missions” by crafting the short-range radio, or challenge Horde Mode (but not for exotics rewards). There is unrestricted travel (as long as you have opened up certain passages in by completing the Expeditions) and unrestricted building. Resources do not respawn as in the smaller outposts. You will encounter the normal prey, predators, and roaming World Bosses as you would in a normal mission.
For some survival-sandbox streamers, the debut of open world mode is when they got really interested. It’s definitely a popular addition to the game, and worth checking out.
Ores in our open world have started to regenerate… This is really not a good gameplay feature, as you might aswell just leave a chest full of ore for the player.
Also, what is the point of the thumper now? You are not going to use it during timed missions, because who is going to do all that work, just to have it deleted after the mission? It faster just to travel to more caves then…
It seems so obvious. But it guess it isnt… Please consider at least creating an option, to turn ore regeneration on/off for open world…