Active Matter Beginner Guide: Your First Five Hours
Learn the three shelter systems, use the free provided loadouts, start in Isolated Raids, and avoid the four mistakes that empty a new player's stash.
If you only remember one thing
Don’t take a gun you paid for into your first raids.
The game hands out free gear sets, which players call scav runs. Take those into AI-only Isolated Raids and practise one thing: extracting alive. Once you can survive several runs in a row, start bringing your own purchases.
That is not timidity, it is arithmetic. Every death costs you gear plus time, and both have to be earned back.
Walk the shelter once
The Shelter is the only safe place you have, and it is where junk becomes firepower. You only need to know three things in there.
The Monolith Access Terminal is your progression hub. Quests, spending Monolith Tokens to raise your access level, gear purchase permissions and base upgrades all run through it.
The Refiner processes the materials you haul back and turns raw salvage into usable parts.
The Replicator copies items you recovered from other realities. Its real value is that you never have to carry your only good weapon outside.
Those three close the economy loop: bring it home, process it, replicate or upgrade, go back in stronger.
Key point: The safe container is the centre of this whole system. On death, only items inside a safe container — or marked personal — stay with you. Count those slots before anything else.
Start in PvE, not in Open Raids
Isolated Raids have no other player squads, only AI and the environment. Gaijin is explicit that this is the mode for people who don’t want to fight players, and it works solo or co-op.
Its value for a beginner is that it separates the learning cost from the financial one. Creature behaviour can be learned and drilled; real players cannot. By the time you know the map layout, where the anomalies sit and how to handle each creature, Open Raids will kill you far less often.
Four mistakes that empty your stash
| Mistake | What happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Taking a purchased gun into an Open Raid on day one | You die fast and the gear is gone | Use provided loadouts in Isolated Raids first |
| Looting first, finding extraction last | You run out of time and have to force it | Check extraction on landing, then plan the route |
| Putting valuables in a normal backpack | They are lost on death | Use a safe container or leave them at home |
| Relying on footsteps to locate players | Directional audio is unreliable | Confirm visually; treat sound as a bonus |
The last two aren’t skill issues, they are the current state of the game. Several creators who played it publicly flagged the footstep and gunfire direction cues as poor, and the developers acknowledged in an official Q&A that they are still working on audibility and directional cues.
Two things worth knowing up front
First, the head bob is pronounced. Testers reported motion sickness when running on walls and ceilings. If you are sensitive to first-person movement, spend two minutes on FOV and sensitivity before you start, not after you feel ill.
Second, supplies are handled inside the raid. Medkits and ammunition need reloading, and that interrupts you mid-fight. Pack “enough for one firefight” before you go in rather than improvising on the ground.
A first-session checklist
- Enter the Shelter and take every low-barrier quest at the Monolith Access Terminal.
- Go through your stash and safe container and note which slots are protected.
- Select Provided Equipment, not a purchased gun.
- Queue an Isolated Raid and locate extraction on landing.
- Carry one set of meds and a single firefight’s worth of ammo.
- Back off from any sound you don’t recognise. Extracting once beats carrying out one more crate.
- Back at base, process the haul with the Refiner and Replicator.
- Only consider Open Raids after three clean extractions in a row.
Frequently asked
Which edition should a beginner buy?
The Standard Edition is enough to play everything. All four editions play identically; the pricier ones add starting resources, slots and cosmetics. Edition differences are here.
Do I have to squad up?
No. Gaijin says solo is supported, but also says solo is more hardcore than co-op. Solo Isolated Raids are the steadiest path for a new player.
How long until I start making money?
There is no fixed answer. It isn’t about hours played, it’s about whether you can stop dying in streaks. Once you can, income turns positive on its own.
Keep reading
Want the full raid breakdown first? Read gameplay. Want to pick a mode by risk? See the game modes comparison. Wondering if your PC can run it? Check the system requirements.