Active Matter launched on Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on 15 September 2026, consoles at 04:00 UTC and PC five hours later. This is the launch in one place: what 1.0 shipped with, what the updates since have changed, what to do with your first hour, and how to fill the third seat in your squad.

What's changed since launch

Seven updates in the first twelve days, most of them fixes. The ones that change how you play:

  • 17 September, 0.4.0.115: periodic performance drops fixed, several animations reworked (reload interruptions among them), and changes to how the Replicator is loaded.
  • 18 September, 0.4.0.122: an experimental appearance-correction mode for Body Sleeves.
  • 21 September, 0.4.0.132: more of the stronger Distorted variants in areas marked with a Distorted threat, more places the final zone can close in on Military Base: Unstable Zone, gamepad hotkeys for Isolated and Open raids, and Shelter build previews that say why an item can't be placed. Level 2 to 5 rewards no longer depend on your edition.
  • 22 and 23 September, 0.4.0.135 and 0.4.0.137: better raid reconnection and a round of bug fixes.
  • 24 September, The Fundamental Protocol: Cycle 0, a Harmonization Cycle you can spend Merits in independently of the others, plus a setting to reduce walking camera sway and weaker motion-sickness effects near portals.
  • 26 September, 0.4.0.156: more Active Matter from the big monsters (3 to 4 times from Shy Girls, about 10 times from Alpha Mimics and Alpha Flowermen), equipped gear now survives a new Personal Timeline in a temporary stash, fusion moved to its own tab with multi-run crafting, and less aim-punch from Flowermen.

For what the raid list looks like now (which raids are Isolated only, which Open raids run on a schedule, and every raid's extraction rate) see our Active Matter Raid Guide.

The Steam download is about 45 GB, and the listing asks for an SSD and means it: zones stream in as you move, and a hard drive hitches at exactly the wrong moments. PC also installs BattlEye, which is kernel-level and needs removing by hand if you ever uninstall.

What 1.0 ships with

Version 1.0 is the early version with everything since folded in. The big one was "250 Shades of Liberty" on 27 August, which added the third region and most of the arsenal you'll meet on day one:

  • Downtown, a decaying North American city, in three raids: the standard raid; an Unstable Zone, where you survive a collapsing zone until an extraction portal appears; and Collapse, an Isolated-only raid built around defending beacons. It joins Dalniy Island (the Soviet original) and the African quarantine zone, which gained an Airport with military hangars and a plane suspended in mid-air.
  • Eleven new firearms, among them the RSh-12 revolver, MAC-11, SCAR-H, M14 and DP-12 shotgun, plus a crowbar, pry bar, baseball bat and police flashlight for melee, and a batch of variable optics and suppressors.
  • Pouches reworked. They no longer add raw capacity; they add typed pockets, and the layout depends on your Body Sleeve. Carry volume is now a function of the sleeve and pouches you wear, not a number to max out.
  • Tier III chronogenes hold up to 10 charges and burn one per death.
  • Medicine starts healing on a single use instead of needing repeated applications.
  • Vehicles: six Soviet cars, an American armoured car and a 1978 off-roader.
  • Quality of life: matchmaking into several raids at once, a 20-raid archive, and a 20-second window to get credit for a kill.

Then came the economy. Update 0.4.0.84 on 12 September repriced the shop (uncommon gear roughly doubled, rare gear two to three times) and changed the Refiner to pay on an item's market value rather than its size, so a rare rifle is worth far more dismantled than a backpack of junk. Our currencies guide covers Credits, Crystallised Active Matter, Monolith Tokens and Chronotraces in full, including which ones survive a wipe.

Screenshot: Gaijin Entertainment / Matter Team · Open full size

Editions, and the early-version transfer

Standard Edition is US$29.99, and it's the whole game: every map, mode and weapon is reachable from it. Advanced, Deluxe and Elite Squad buy storage, a starting arsenal and, in Elite Squad's case, two extra Standard keys to fill a squad. We've compared them in Active Matter Editions Compared; the short version is Standard for a solo player and Elite Squad for three friends buying together.

If you bought the early version on the Gaijin Store, the same edition unlocks on Steam for free and your progress comes with it. Gaijin's FAQ gives you until 23 November 2026 to make the transfer. Console players start fresh, since there was no console early version.

Your first hour

The first hour of an extraction shooter is where most people lose the most, so spend it deliberately.

  1. Settings before raid. Motion blur off, film grain off, and on an RTX card install driver 616.92 or newer, the one with the Active Matter profile. Our graphics guide has a pass for every hardware tier and the two settings that hide the operative about to shoot you.
  2. Spend your starting CAM on the safe container. Whatever is inside it survives your death. Every edition starts with some Crystallised Active Matter (300 on Standard) and this is the purchase it exists for.
  3. Run Isolated raids first. They're PvE: you, the anomalies and the Turned Soldiers, and no other squads. Learn one map's extraction points on Dalniy Island before you queue for an Open raid, where the loot is better and so are the people hunting you.
  4. Take in what you can afford to lose. The starter Vepr or MP5, shop plates, shop ammo. Your good finds go in the safe container, not on your back.
  5. Refine, don't hoard. Since 0.4.0.84 the Refiner pays on value, so dismantle the rare drop you can't use yet and bank the Credits and Chronotraces.

Squads are three, and the third seat is the hard part

Active Matter is built around squads of three operatives. Solo is possible, and Open raids will teach you quickly why it isn't recommended. The hard part isn't the game, it's finding two people who are online when you are and already know where the extraction is.

That's what our Squad Carry is: one of our pros joins your squad on their own account for the hours you book, from one hour up, runs the map with you (Isolated or Open, your call), and the loot you extract is yours. Nobody logs into your account.

It is still against Gaijin's rules. Section 3.2.6 of the EULA bans paid carry services outright, Squad Carry included. What it avoids is account sharing, which section 3.5 bans separately, so the risk is narrower, not absent. Our boosting explainer sets the risk out in full.

Console players can squad with a PC pro in Isolated raids; for Open raids, say you're on console in your ticket and we'll confirm the cross-platform setting before the clock starts.

It's from A$15.75 an hour, and the hours are what's guaranteed, not a result. If you only need one raid done, every playable raid also has its own raid clear.

Is Active Matter worth it?

At US$29.99, with nothing gated behind a higher edition, the question is only whether you want a squad extraction shooter where anomalies bend the physics and Gaijin's Dagor Engine makes a ruined high-rise look better than most games' showpieces. If the answer is yes, buy Standard, spend the CAM on the safe container, and run Isolated until the map stops surprising you. If you're still deciding, Steam's refund window covers the first two hours of play, and two hours is about how long it takes to know.