Your first Active Matter raid: prepare before you deploy.
Choose the encounter format, check your loadout and identify the objectives that control your exit. The steps below use the launch FAQ and updates through October 5, 2026; they do not require a particular weapon or map route.
1. Choose the mode and the purpose of this run
| Your purpose | Preparation decision | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Learn without hostile players | Choose PvE; use co-op if you want teammates. | The FAQ supports PvE and solo play, but calls solo harder than co-op. |
| Advance an Investigation | Check whether Provided Equipment excludes your selected Investigation; use your own gear if it does. | 0.4.0.173 lists excluded selected Investigations in Loadout Check; see the current loadout check below. |
| Try a run with Provided Equipment | Check whether the five-minute reuse restriction has expired. | The restriction starts when the previous Provided Equipment raid begins, not when it ends. |
Sources Official FAQ: solo and PvE (external) ↗ · 0.4.0.93: Provided Equipment rules (external) ↗.
2. Check ammunition, protection and medical supplies
In Inventory, use the equipment check panel above the Body Sleeve image. It covers ammo resupply, armor repair and medical refills. The medkit icon also has a recharge button.
During raid preparation, check warnings for empty armor, helmet or flashlight slots. These warnings appear when suitable equipment exists in your storage; the absence of a warning is not proof that every slot is equipped.
The “+” control beside backpack, pouch and safe-container headings suggests items from storage while you are in the Shelter. Use it to find items that fit rather than guessing which container can hold them.
Keep storage transfers separate from refining
Update 0.4.0.84 notes that one-click return sends items to Quick Refine instead when that tab is open. Close that tab if your intention is simply to return gear to storage.
Sources 0.4.0.93: Inventory equipment check panel (external) ↗ · 0.4.0.84: slot warnings and inventory suggestions (external) ↗.
3. Read the objective list before choosing an exit
- Open the raid map and find your objective in its list.
- Match its icon and color to the map marker.
- Look for corner marks on mandatory or extraction-required objectives.
- Read the early-extraction and extraction-requirement tips below the list. A nearby marker alone does not establish that you can leave.
These interface cues were documented in 0.4.0.76; 0.4.0.93 restored matching objective colors on the map and compass. Follow the requirements displayed for your particular raid.
4. Check protection before risking valuable gear
Steam’s equipment notice identifies safe containers and personal equipment as exceptions to ordinary death losses. Do not treat every item outside a container as automatically lost, or every carried item as protected. Container activation and squad recovery are separate decisions.
Before departure, identify which items are personal, which are inside a safe container, and which are ordinary carried equipment. Do not assume a respawn beacon secures the contents of a backpack.
Official references
These are instructions based on official notes through October 5, 2026, not an independently recorded playthrough. Use the labels and requirements in your installed build. A fixed exit location, universal key binding or extraction countdown is not supplied here.
For the value of active matter and what happens after a raid, continue to Extraction Raids Explained.
Current preparation and control changes through 0.4.0.137
If you were following the Extended Choice Investigation’s “Extract with Provided Equipment” task, update 0.4.0.115 replaces it with collecting a marked item. Read the revised task in your current build; completing the old instruction is no longer the documented requirement.
Update 0.4.0.132 adds a current-ammo slot to the equipment check area. It shows the equipped ammo count and can prompt you to add magazines and ammunition from storage. The same update adds a separate “reload all magazines” action, but leaves it unbound by default; assign it in Options before expecting a key or button to work.
When changing controls, the updated OK button saves pending changes. The binding screen now previews new assignments and separates true conflicts from controls that merely share a button. An “Unassigned” prompt still means no control is bound.
Update 0.4.0.135 improved raid reconnection and fixed a container bug where items occupied space but were not displayed. If you experienced disconnections or could not retrieve loot from containers, check whether the current build resolves those obstacles.
Update 0.4.0.137 improved overall game stability and restored the ability to zoom on the map with controllers. This describes the developer’s fix, not a guarantee that every controller problem is resolved.
Verification 0.4.0.115 Investigation changes (external) ↗ · 0.4.0.132 equipment and controls (external) ↗ · 0.4.0.135 reconnection and looting fixes (external) ↗ · 0.4.0.137 stability and controller fixes (external) ↗.
Check the contract before packing extras
The September 24 update supplies sensor-placement and monster-capture contract items at raid entry. Vehicle Transfer now supplies a working vehicle and removes nearby repair-kit and fuel-can spawns. An older walkthrough asking you to find those supplies describes an earlier task.
Check Investigation eligibility and spawn lights
When you choose Provided Equipment in the 0.4.0.173 Loadout Check screen, it lists your selected Investigations that cannot be completed with that gear. Check the actual list before deploying: if your intended task is excluded, change the loadout or choose another task. General raid entry and Investigation eligibility are separate checks.
At raid entry, activating an equipped flashlight, a weapon tactical flashlight or a laser sight immediately ends the brief spawn invisibility period. Do not switch one on while assuming that protection is still active; the notes give no universal duration for that period.
0.4.0.173 loadout eligibility and spawn protection (external) ↗.
Find the selected contract’s current map markers · Check what happens when Distorted start pursuing you.