Objective and NEW Game Mode: Survival

Objective is the original CRC mission type. Up to eight players run a linear task chain on a large map and then hold a high-stakes extraction window. Permadeath still fires at extract or total fail. The published maps for this mode are Lewiston, Broadway, Beaulieu Hospital, Pottsville, Power Plant, and Raven Rock. Steam’s about page still describes six richly crafted Northeast maps; Armageddon adds Raven Rock as the new bunker Objective.

Play Objective when you want a task list and a single final window. Supplies collected on the chain convert to Credits only if you take that final extract. Early extract is available as a safety timer with no character XP. The street-helicopter still on this page is the official extract image bound to the mode.

Bring a Rescue Beacon if the Responder matters. Objective maps end in a window that can delete the character even after the tasks are done. Private matches since 0.2.1 let a 2–8 squad learn that window without a public lobby.

NEW Game Mode: Survival is the Armageddon addition. The squad defends speaker systems for three five-minute waves. Fail two waves and early extraction opens. That is the entire published loop. The 1.0 Survival maps are Flooded, Lighthouse, and Night of the Living Dead. Filter those three on the map index.

Survival is not a horde score attack with a published high-score table. It is a speaker hold that can dump you into an early extract with no character XP. If you are trying to level a Responder, two failed waves are a failed character-XP run even if everyone lives. If you are trying to keep the body, two failed waves are the designed escape.

Three waves of five minutes is fifteen minutes of speakers if you never fail. Two fails open the early door. Play Survival for the hold, not for character XP, unless the squad is actually clearing all three waves to a final extract.

The compare board loads two of the eight sealed records at a time: Objective, Survival, Solo Mode, Tutorial, Beginner, Normal, Hard, Nightmare. Shared fields are party, permadeath, loop, former name, respawn, zombie HP, UI, account XP, character XP, Credit XP, horde, and notes. If Torn Banner did not publish a field for that row, the cell is an em dash. Switching a third record closes the oldest selection so the board never invents a third column.

Use the board to answer one question: which pair are you actually queuing. Beginner versus Nightmare is not a vibe check. Beginner respawns on a one-minute timer with −30% zombie HP and always-on hints. Nightmare pays 200% account XP, 300% character XP, 200% Credit XP, and adds more Runners and Primes. Casual and Classic are former names only; the 1.0 labels are Beginner and Normal.

The official Armageddon (1.0) Update Overview is the first-party video bound to this route. It is the studio’s own pass over Survival, Raven Rock, Solo, Merits, Tutorial, and achievements. Play it after you have compared two records so the video is a recap, not a replacement for the table. The gym still is the poster; the iframe loads only after you click. No player request leaves this page before that click.

The overview is the studio’s own 1.0 recap of Survival, Raven Rock, Solo, Merits, Tutorial, and achievements. Watch it after you have compared two records so the film is a stamp, not the only source. The iframe loads only on click, same as the hub trailer. The gym still is the poster bound to this route. Raven Rock and the Survival trio stay on the map index, not inside this player. Merits and Tutorial details stay on their own chapters.

Play overview

Beginner was Casual. Normal was Classic. Hard and Nightmare keep those names and publish XP multipliers. The 13 August hotfix adds extra Normal respawns before extraction. None of those rows change the extract-or-fail permadeath rule except Solo, which disables it, and Tutorial, which is training. If a lobby advertises a custom rule set, this manual does not have official numbers for it.

Pick Beginner for the first public extract after Solo. Pick Normal when you want 125% character XP and the hotfix respawns. Pick Hard when the squad can hold speakers or an extract window without the −30% HP crutch. Pick Nightmare when you want the 300% character XP and you have already accepted more Runners, more Primes, and a Beacon in the loadout.

Do not mix former names into a lobby call. Say Beginner or Normal. Hard and Nightmare publish XP multipliers and, on Nightmare, more Runners and Primes. The hotfix extra Normal respawns are a 13 August fact, not an Infection 0.2.1 leftover.