Abiotic Factor glossary: game terms, mechanics, and NPC reference

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A

Anomaly: A broad term for unusual entities or phenomena in the facility, not a combat class with one universal counter. Exors, Composers, and Pests have documented Anteverse origins, whereas Order soldiers are human adversaries. Match a defense to the specific entity rather than assuming all anomalies need X-Rays.

Anteverse: A designation for an alternate universe, not a synonym for every destination reached through a portal. Far Garden is Anteverse 2-A, Mycofields is 2-B, The Train is Anteverse 11, and Night Realm is Anteverse 39. Flathill is a town on Earth A0 where GATE's first portal experiment connected to Anteverse 1; the town itself is not Anteverse 1.

Antejuice: A liquid found in bowl-shaped plants in Mycofields. Functions like clean water and provides double the thirst fill. Safe to drink.

Armored Exor: A more durable Exor variant found in Hydroplant. Its harvest table overlaps with the regular Exor's, but its guaranteed arm drop is a Vibrant Exor Arm rather than the regular Exor Arm.

Assault Event: A random night attack where enemies spawn around a selected Crafting Bench near a player. Available event types expand after progression milestones. A scheduled assault is normally announced at 4 PM with the warning "The air feels strange. Be on your guard tonight."

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B

Benchmarks (story progression): Key story events that unlock new Assault Event types: placing your first Crafting Bench (Portal Storms), opening Silo 3 (Exor/Peccary), meeting the Blacksmith (Order Assaults), completing the furniture store (Zombie Horde).

Bio Scrap: Harvestable material from enemy corpses. Requires using a sharp weapon on remains.

Blunt damage: One of the two basic melee damage types. Increases the Blunt Melee skill. Effective against enemies that are weak to physical impact. See the enemy weakness guide.

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C

Carapace: Material obtained from Scuttlebugs in Mycofields or Village Den da'ko Yeer. Exors do not supply this item. Used in crafting and chemistry.

Carbuncle Mushroom: Collectible fungal item found in Mycofields. Used in cooking recipes.

Composer: Large Anteverse 1 creature encountered in Flathill, an Earth A0 town. It cannot hear the player, but relies on sight; running across its view is unsafe. Avoid its line of sight and use cover or a standard-size doorway to escape, staying back because it can reach through doorways.

Corpse harvest: Use a sharp weapon on suitable enemy remains to obtain additional resources, including Bio Scrap. The resulting items and their quality depend on the enemy and weapon; harvesting does not guarantee every entry in a drop table. Bio Scrap can also come from salvaging organic items.

Crafting Bench: The central workstation of your base. Must be powered. Projects the Safe Area (Home Sweet Home) radius when powered. Has an upgrade tree including Portal Suppression Field, Item Transporter, and healing effects.

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D

Dark Lens: A story-critical item located in the Residence Sector. Required for late-game progression. The sector has extreme cold and storm mechanics.

Damage types: Abiotic Factor uses four damage classes (Light, Medium, Heavy, Super) plus specific type categories (Blunt, Sharp, Bullet, Electricity, Plasma, Laser, Fire, etc.). Shields block damage at or below their class rating.

Death: On death, main-inventory items are left on your corpse at a last safe position, while hotbar items remain with you but lose durability. Choose an available respawn option: the Office Cafeteria always appears, while an assigned bed, a Portal World zone entrance, or a Check-In Terminal may add alternatives.

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E

Energy Brick: A crafting component. Used in recipes and certain tech devices. Not a power source. Frequently confused with Power Cells. See FAQ.

Exor: A mid-tier anomaly creature found across multiple sectors and portal worlds. Confirmed drop table: Raw Exor Heart (100%), Exor Arm (100%), Exor Quill (3-5), Raw Alien Drumstick (50%).

Exor Monk: An Exor variant with a long-range energy blast, a short-range melee attack, and teleportation after either attack. Its current official page recommends timed lateral movement against the blast and reacquiring the target after it teleports.

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F

Far Garden: Anteverse 2-A portal world entered from Office Sector Level 3's Silo 2. Often the first portal world reached. Its documented finds include Anteverse Wheat, Antelight Seed, a Geiger Counter, and Natural Beehives; its area listing does not promise a Jump Pad blueprint.

Flathill: An Earth A0 destination accessed from Office Sector Level 3's Silo 3. This fog-covered South Dakota town was GATE's "Perforation Site Zero," where a portal to Anteverse 1 once opened. It contains the NPC Marion.

Fog Brain: A positive exit buff from Flathill's end portal. For 10 minutes it slows stamina drain by 25%; it is not a debuff.

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G

GATE: The research organization that operates the GATE Cascade Research Facility where the game takes place. This glossary does not expand the acronym because the current cited reference does not establish the speculative full name previously shown here.

GATEPal: A player device that functions as an in-game compendium. Unlocked early in the game. Used to track objectives, read compendium entries, and check game progress.

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H

Home Sweet Home: The buff name for the Safe Area created by a powered Crafting Bench. Suppresses enemy respawns within the radius. Does not prevent Assault Events.

Hotbar: The equipped item slots in the UI. Items in the hotbar remain with the player on death but lose durability.

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I

IS-0017: A machine in Cascade Laboratories that allows job and trait changes. Resets all skills to level 3 when used. The only way to change your job after character creation.

Item Transporter: A Crafting Bench upgrade that lets crafting use items from storage inside its documented range. The current Crafting Bench reference says it detects inventories in deployable objects, including Fridges, Toolboxes, and Medkits, and can link to nearby Repair and Salvage Stations for repair materials.

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J

Jobs: Character classes selected at creation. Provide skill bonuses, XP rate modifiers, and trait point allocations. Some jobs force specific starting traits or provide starting items. Changeable via IS-0017.

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K

Keypad Hacker: A tool used to bypass locked keypads on doors and panels. Multiple tiers available; higher-security doors require higher-tier hackers.

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L

Lab Rat (INQUISITOR): A neutral Order soldier that usually flees on sight, but can retaliate with a Blunt melee strike. Its current reference also documents 1 r/sec radiation in a small nearby radius. This is not a claim that it releases a separate spore-cloud attack.

Leyak: An anomaly creature probably linked to Anteverse 33 (the Flesh Dimension). Moves only when not in direct line of sight or when beyond a certain distance. Repelled by X-Ray technology (X-Ray Tower, X-Ray Lamp, OX Lamp variant).

Night Essence: Dropped by the Reaper in the Security Sector when struck by Laser or Holy damage, or exposed to X-Rays. It also has placed, fishing, and Inkfish sources in the Night Realm. The Reaper page lists an approximate 2.5-minute drop cooldown.

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M

Makeshift Bed: A craftable respawn anchor. Place and interact with it to assign a bed option; when you die, select the bed from the available respawn choices. The Office Cafeteria remains an option even when a bed is assigned.

Medi-Shroom: Exit buff applied when leaving Mycofields. Provides healing effects.

Mycofields: Anteverse 2-B portal world with intense heat, lava, and fungal life. A Fire Proximity Suit or enough alternative gear for +3 heat resistance is recommended; an Airtight Seal headpiece helps against spore-releasing creatures. These are separate hazard preparations, not one mandatory equipment combination. Documented finds include Anteverse Gel, Scuttlebug Carapace, Carbuncle Mushrooms, and an Exor figurine.

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N

Night Helmet: Optional head armor that reduces Fatigue drain by 10 percent, increases the normal Inkfish catch chance, and enables Sable Inkfish catches. It is not required to survive in the Night Realm.

Night Realm (The Night Realm): Anteverse 39 portal world reached through Reaper-created gateways or a Reaper grab in the Security Sector. The current realm reference lists no hostile entities inside; it contains fixed Night Essence locations, Inkfish fishing, Shades, and Nightsphere objectives.

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O

Order soldiers: Human members of the Order, a hostile militant faction with more than four ranks and combat roles. The named ranks include Triarii, Legate, Exsurgo, and Inquisitor; the Lab Rat is an Inquisitor that generally flees and emits nearby radiation, not a generic spore-dropping soldier.

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P

Peccary: A boar-like creature from the Anteverses. Multiple variants including standard, Alpha, Snow, and Mushroom Peccary (Mycofields). Primary meat source for cooking.

Pest: Common early-game creature with several variants. Electro-Pests have electrical attacks, while Volatile Pests can explode on impact during a lunge. Do not assume the Volatile Pest only explodes on death.

Plasma damage: A damage type effective against certain high-tier enemies including the Tarasque.

Plug Strip: Expands one power source into three cable slots. A live wall outlet has unlimited throughput according to the current Mechanics reference. During an outage, battery runtime depends on how many downstream devices each battery is powering and whether batteries are wired in series or parallel.

Portal Suppression Field: Crafting Bench upgrade that closes Portal Storm portals soon after they appear and automatically kills Power Leeches that contact the protected power network. It does not cancel non-portal Assault Events.

Portal World: A destination accessible through a portal in the facility; not every destination is a different Anteverse dimension. Natural resources are scheduled to reset at Wednesday and Sunday midnight, but an occupied or newly discovered world may not refresh at that window. Player structures persist.

Power Cell: Radioactive resource item found at documented facility locations and through Radioactive Waste fishing. It is used in multiple crafting and upgrade recipes; it is not interchangeable with an Energy Brick.

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R

Reaper: The anomaly entity that creates gateways to the Night Realm in the Security Sector. Drops Night Essence when struck by laser, holy damage, or X-Ray exposure. Drop cooldown: ~2.5 minutes.

Rise: An Anteverse portal world accessed through the Cascade Labs laser puzzle. Primary farming target for medkits and healing items.

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S

Safe Area: See: Home Sweet Home. The radius around a powered Crafting Bench where enemies do not respawn.

Sharp damage: One of the two basic melee damage types. Increases the Sharp Melee skill.

Souper Satisfied: A buff from eating soup. Reduces hunger and thirst drain by 20% for 10 minutes. Available from 26 different soup recipes.

Symphonist: A hostile Anteverse 1 creature found in Flathill and, after Flathill is completed, during Fog Phenomenon events. It drops a Symphonist Head and Porcelain Shards used when crafting Maestro Armor; it does not drop the finished armor set.

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T

Tainted Water: Contaminated water found in pools, puddles, and containers throughout the facility. Can be boiled at 4:1 ratio to produce clean water. Drinking it raw causes negative status effects.

Tarasque: A boss-tier Anteverse 42 anomaly contained in Cascade Laboratories. Its current combat reference lists electrical and fire damage as vulnerabilities.

Traits: Character modifiers selected at creation alongside your job. Affect fitness, speed, crafting, and combat. Changeable via IS-0017 at the same time as job changes.

Tram: The facility's internal rail transport on fixed lines. Three documented stations require a crafted, one-use Tram Station Key; other connections do not all use this key. The key recipe unlocks after meeting Frake and then speaking to the Blacksmith.

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U

Ulrich Thule (Dr.): The first NPC encountered. Located in the cafeteria. Speaking with him triggers the initial objective chain.

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V

Voussoir: An Earth A0 portal destination entered through the Neutrino Detector in Hydroplant. Reach the detector by its underwater tunnel with diving preparation or by Jetpack; it is not entered simply by crossing any flooded corridor. The route beyond involves climbing and fall hazards.

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W

Water Cooler: Deployable liquid container with 4,500 mL capacity. It can hold Water, Antejuice, or Radioactive Waste, one liquid type at a time; check the contents before drinking. It does not produce clean water by itself and must be refilled from a suitable source.

Warren (Security Officer): NPC located in the Office Sector. Part of the initial objective chain. Points players toward Manufacturing West.

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X

X-Ray Lamp: A portable device that repels Leyaks and triggers Night Essence drops from the Reaper when aimed at it. The portable version of the X-Ray Tower defense structure.

X-Ray Tower: A powered placeable defense that repels a Leyak when it enters the tower's range. It can support a Leyak containment or Essence-collection setup, but it does not choose or control where the Leyak spawns.

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About This Glossary

Game-specific definitions were checked against the linked community Wiki pages, while brief route choices are editorial synthesis. There is no separate (community) marker on every entry, so do not treat this page as official game documentation. Recheck a mechanic after major patches.

If a term is missing, submit it via the Contact page with a brief definition and a wiki or community source.

See also

• Abiotic Factor FAQ
• All Bosses and Enemies Guide
• Beginner First Day Survival
• Portal World Resource Comparison