Alright, let's go. Let's start with the game features you'll need to accept once and for all:

• The game is dead. The highest player count I've seen is 10, and within one session, I rarely saw more than 3 players.
  
• You can't create your own server. Only the developer's servers are available. You can create private rooms with a password.
  
• If you die, you respawn completely naked. Your character won’t even have a knife or pants. However, you’ll have a watch, a map, and a basic backpack.
  
• The game has very poor network code. If you're unlucky, you'll experience regular server disconnects, frequent issues with loading the contents of cabinets, trunks, or bodies. Door states (open/closed) and NPC positions won’t always match.
  
• The inventory system is clunky, and you can't sort items the way you'd like.
  
• Basic items in the game, such as a map, compass, watch, and matches, take up full inventory slots. There are no dedicated special slots for them. By the way, binoculars, knives, and pistols also occupy the same single slot.
  
• When the last player leaves a location, it fully unloads. Transport despawns, all bodies and loot disappear. The only way to preserve your items between sessions is through your character's inventory or NPC traders, who also act as storage. Yes, be prepared for NPCs to respawn when you re-enter a session after it has ended, and you might find yourself in the middle of an enemy base surrounded by enemies.
  
• There are upsides to the above as well – re-entering the location resets loot, respawns enemies for farming, and resets safe contents.
  
• By the way, due to desync, your body can simply vanish when you try to loot it, and you could lose all your equipment.
  
• You can also lose your gear because your body (or weapon in hand) might fall through the textures upon death. Additionally, you could accidentally get disconnected or crash after dying – see above about the location closing when the last player leaves. Oh, and by the way, any weapon you were holding will drop on the ground (or below it) as an item, not into the corpse’s inventory. Be careful!
  
• All mob spawns are scripted. Mobs will spawn in the same locations in fixed numbers. No random encounters. The exception: quest enemies will only spawn when the quest is active.
  
• Speaking of quests, almost all quests (with very few exceptions) reset upon the character's death, and you’ll have to wait 5-10 minutes to take them again.
  
• Mobs and NPCs never fight each other. For example, soldiers won’t shoot mutant rats, even if by some miracle they spawn together. And the mutant rats will peacefully coexist with the soldiers.
  
• Mobs and NPCs will respawn right in front of you if you stay in one location too long. This can be an unpleasant surprise.
  
• Minor bleeding will kill you, as it doesn't stop on its own and only gets worse over time. Always carry cotton, bandages, or a medkit – and preferably several of each! Oh, and by the way, you can't use a medkit partially.
  
• Each settlement has a storage. Each storage has 48 slots for each item category. Items from one storage cannot be transferred to another – they are individual. Keep this in mind while playing!
  
• Weapons don't remember their firing mode. If you take a weapon out of your hands, it automatically returns to the "default" firing mode. Also, the character will holster their weapon during almost any action. Additionally, all the ammo boxes in the game are just reskins of the same box – they can’t physically be loaded into a weapon. For example, if you have a 30-round Stanag and a machine gun, you’ll load 30/100 bullets (i.e., you can load 3 magazines in a row, getting 90 rounds in your weapon). On the other hand, if you have an M4 and a machine gun magazine, you will magically transfer 30 rounds from the machine gun magazine to the rifle magazine.

When interacting with an NPC storage, you'll have the option to switch to the trading tab.
Different settlements offer different assortments (for example, at Point of Collection 12, you won’t find many high-level items, just basic gear).
The last tab in the trade screen is your inventory, allowing you to sell almost any item. The selling price depends entirely on the settlement. For instance, at Point of Collection 12, the prices for buying are the least favorable.
The selling price of an item is not affected by its condition or the number of bullets in it. For example, you can sell a weapon at a better price if you unload it first. The selling price of the weapon won’t change, but you’ll get a usable magazine for sale. Another way to take advantage of this mechanic is to load a small magazine with bullets from a larger one. For example, if you have a 100-round 7.62 ammo box, you can load your AK three times (getting 3 magazines with 30 rounds each), and sell the remaining 10 rounds in the box at the same price as if there were 100 rounds in it.
Additionally, reloading weapons can affect the price of the magazine. For example, the XM8 machine gun uses Beta-C Magazines, which are quite expensive to buy and sell but allow you to load bullets from Galil or Stanag 30 magazines. When you unload the XM8, you'll get a Beta-C Mag. In this way, you can convert a cheap Stanag 30 into an expensive Beta-C Mag, even if it only has 30 rounds instead of 100 – the selling price will remain unchanged.

By the way, there are items that cannot be purchased – at least not from the known traders. These include the green tourist backpack and most of the UCB-1 set.

You can sell almost all items except the medium backpack, branches, berries, and pollen. The most profitable items to sell are most clothing (tops, bottoms, helmets, balaclavas, backpacks) and weapons.

The worst trader is at Point #12. I wouldn’t recommend selling anything to them. It’s more profitable to quickly finish the quest chain, become a Peaceful, and go to Dyatlovo – where the trader offers better prices.

The best-known trader is at the "Laboratory" location, accessed through the laboratory in the scientists’ camp at Deadly Swamps.

Quests at Point #12 – these are interactive tutorials. It’s best to complete them as quickly as possible and then move on to free play.

The best loot in Severoufimsk can be found in Gorshovo – be careful, there are three soldiers roaming around, so make sure to bring some firearms!
In the police station in Gorshovo (J4), you can find a lot of valuable weapons, including the SVD and ammo for it. Loot from the soldiers themselves is also quite good for the early stages.
Avoid entering the "SLBU" Collective Farm – there will be mutants and three or four traitors there.

A good place to farm is Dyatlovo – houses there spawn plenty of sellable clothing and weapons, plus you can gather honeycombs from hives and process them into honey. You can mix up your farming by heading to the factory in B2, where valuable loot spawns regularly, such as parts of the UKB-1 suit.

You could also head down to the Bunker at the Depot (F9) and shoot some soldiers, but you won't be able to carry much loot, and the trader is far away.

There are two effective farming methods here.
You can buy steel keys (they cost around 28,000 money) and repeatedly loot the safe, selling its contents to the trader at the Laboratory location (this will also reset the safe and allow you to sell the loot at the highest prices).
The second option is to take a machine gun, some armor, and go to the Laboratory for a cleanup. On all floors except the last, there will be a small group of soldiers and one boss-Defender in an exoskeleton. You can loot weapons and gear from the soldiers, and from the bosses, you'll get items that can’t be bought (UKB-1 parts, green tourist backpacks) and valuable weapons (machine guns, Gauss rifles, ammo, UKB batteries, etc.).
On the last floor, there's a toxic cloud and mutated rats, led by a boss.
For a safe cleanup, I recommend standing on the stairs and shooting through the door, retreating to heal when necessary.

For those particularly interested, there’s, in my opinion, an extremely inefficient but working farming method that requires some capital investment.
You need: an XM8 machine gun. Buy a Stanag 30 for 850 money, load it into the machine gun, unload it, get a Beta-C Mag, and sell it at the Laboratory for 1300. Profit! Just remember to load one magazine at a time (i.e., sell the Beta-C Mag with 30 rounds inside).

The most valuable loot is clothing. Bandanas, tops, and bottoms can be sold for quite decent prices, comparable to 1-2 magazines for a machine gun. Weapons and backpacks come second – they are expensive but heavy. As an alternative, you can take ammo with you – why buy what you can loot? Ammo of the same caliber can often be loaded into weapons even from the wrong magazine (for example, the RPD can load ammo from an AK-7.62 magazine).
The cheapest loot is hats (but not helmets), food (except for meat, honey, and pickles), and medical supplies (except for medkits).

Starting zone. There is an unguarded gas station near Point #12.

Vehicles (Oka or Zaporozhets – depending on luck) can be found in the garages in Kvashino (F3), or at the marauders (bottom right corner of B6). A BTR can be found at the military checkpoint near the Bunker entrance (G6). Be cautious, there are many soldiers (8-10 people) and they are deadly accurate.
Items to start a vehicle can be found in the garages in Kvashino and in the store opposite the pharmacy.

Medications and food are easily found in Kvashino, while equipment can be found in Gorshovo. Valuable loot is in safes (e.g., in the Depot), in the police station in Gorshovo, and in square B2 on the Factory grounds.

The most profitable trader is in Dyatlovo, with the Civilian faction.

Dangerous Areas:
Gorshovo: 3 soldiers near the police station and 4 traitors in the "SLBU" Collective Farm.
CKS: Marauder base. If you decide to storm it, it’s guarded by two boss-Defenders in exoskeletons.
Gas station near CKS (D5): Two marauders. Marauders can also be found in the settlement in B6.
Bunker entrance (G6): 8-10 soldiers and a BTR.
Marauder Camp in I8: Boss-Defenders roam here too, be cautious.

Mobs encountered on the location include wolves and bears.

Also, on the location, you can easily find bushes with nuts and sea buckthorn to satisfy hunger.
Additionally, from time to time, a supply crate will drop on the location. It usually falls in a safe-ish area, making it easy to reach.

Essentially, this is a "sub-location" of Severoufimsk, with several entrances. The safest one is in square F9 at the Depot. In the Bunker, you'll encounter small groups of soldiers (2-3 people per room), except in the rooms in squares G5-G7. There, two Defender bosses in exoskeletons roam, and you'll burn through a lot of ammo. Be careful, they may move quite far from the room! For easy combat with them, use cover in squares G2 and G8.

Rooms contain plenty of loot from soldiers, and some rooms have spawns of armor, weapons, ammo, medkits, and car parts.

Dead Swamp is a treacherous location. If you enter squares H7 and H8, you’ll be attacked by a man-eating bear (boss). The boundaries of its roaming area are the pipes in square H9 and a Ural truck in square H6. Effective strategy: lure the bear and shoot it down with machine guns, best done in a group of two or three and in armor. Alternatively, you can bypass it through squares K9-K6.

If you decide to bypass the boss from the other side, in D9 you’ll meet a pack of wolves led by a two-headed wolf boss. The boundary of their zone is a wooden bridge. The strategy is the same as with the bear: lure and shoot with a machine gun.
Warning! If you enter the Catacombs (by the way, there’s a boss – a sabre-toothed rat inside), and there are no other players in the Swamps, when you exit the Catacombs, you’ll face the resurrected Two-headed wolf again. Run immediately to the Water Pump Station and climb the sand pile near the excavator – you can safely shoot the boss from there, as it won’t be able to reach you.

In the swamp near the Mill, beavers roam. They are nasty creatures – they are easy to kill but bite hard, and there’s a beaver boss with them. On one hand, this is the weakest boss, but on the other hand, their bite can be painful.

The road to the Lighthouse is almost safe, you’re unlikely to encounter mobs. On the way to the Church, you may run into wolves. Wolves can also be found in square J9.

The most profitable trader is formally at the Scientific Base, but I recommend going to the Laboratory and selling items there – prices are even higher.
All vehicles spawn at the Scientific Base, and there’s also a gas station there.

Safes: Bronze in the Catacombs, Rusty in the shed near the Lighthouse, and Steel on the second floor of the Laboratory building at the Scientific Base (don’t confuse with the Laboratory location!).

On this location, it’s recommended to wear a full set of L-1 armor and a gas mask, or else your character will start getting poisoned by toxins.

There are no bushes with berries or nuts here.

A sub-location of the Dead Swamp. Inside, there is a quest NPC, a pack of rats, a boss – a sabre-toothed rat, a bronze safe, and a small amount of loot. The entrance is near the Water Pump Station.

A sub-location of the Dead Swamp. Consists of 4 floors. The first floor has a safe zone with the most profitable trader in the game. Floors -2 and -3 are occupied by soldiers, with a Defender boss in an exoskeleton on each floor. They are easy to mow down with machine guns if you stay behind cover and don’t expose yourself.
On floor -4, there’s a contamination zone, a pack of rats, and the boss – the sabre-toothed rat.

The loot is rich, mostly from the soldiers and bosses. Many medkits, some weapons, and a bit of food are scattered around the location.

The entrance is in the building of the laboratory at the Scientific Base.

A location you’ll want to visit last, as it’s unclear what it’s for. Most likely, the first time you seriously decide to explore Primorye will be after receiving the quest to return the Toxic AK.

The transition points to the location are nasty – right next to the Military Base.
Quest NPCs (for the quest to return the Toxic AK) will be located near it – in H8 or J8, and don’t approach them closer than 150-200 meters – they’ll shoot you on sight!

Loot is unknown. You can take down the Military Base if you shoot the snipers and rush the checkpoint – the checkpoint building can be used as cover, and you can systematically mow down all three defenders and other soldiers with a machine gun. You might even manage to hijack a BTR from the base.

In the area of K8/K7, a two-headed wolf roams with a pack of wolves. Somewhere in the area of C9-D9-E9, a bear roams, respawning either at the Civilian Camp or in Pirogovo – and you’ll likely die near the Military Base.
Be cautious, at the E9 bridge (according to unverified information), soldiers may be waiting for you! Also, a small post is set up at H10 near the Base. However, the gas station (G10) and J9 are relatively safe.

Also, from time to time, a supply crate is dropped on the location.

This location may make you lose all desire to play, so this segment of the guide may never be updated.

There are 4 and a half factions in the game.

Generally, newbies, as killing any NPC will immediately switch your faction.
They are not attacked by Civilians or (unverified) Marauders, but will be attacked by Traitors and Soldiers.
Respawn: Neutral Base.
They have the fewest quests and essentially serve as a tutorial and a way to choose your faction.

Civilians are players with a positive reputation. They are enemies to Marauders, Traitors, and Soldiers.
The most profitable traders are found at Civilian bases (except for the Laboratory). Additionally, in the Civilian Base in Dyatlovo, players can farm efficiently at the start of the game.
Civilians can respawn at both Civilian Bases and Neutral Bases.
They have a long quest chain.
To become a Civilian, kill any Marauder, Soldier, or Traitor.

Marauders are players with a negative reputation. They are enemies to Civilians, Traitors, and Soldiers.
The profitability of Marauder traders is uncertain, but there’s unverified information that traders at Civilian bases are more profitable.
Many Marauder bases (and, therefore, respawns) are located near good farming zones, especially in Severoufimsk.
They have a sparse quest chain.
To become a Marauder, kill a Neutral or Civilian. Be careful, as killing Soldiers or Traitors may accidentally turn you into a Civilian and cause you to lose access to your stash!

Traitors are players who accidentally or intentionally killed a member of their own faction.
No NPC, except for Neutral traders, will speak to them.
They are enemies of all NPCs, except Neutral ones.
Traitors have unique respawn points – they cannot respawn at the Neutral Base and always appear at respawn locations in remote parts of the map.
Traitors have no quests available.
A Traitor’s mark disappears after 90 minutes (real-time) in a game session. After that, the game will automatically assign you a faction based on your remaining reputation.

You gain the most reputation for killing a Traitor.

The "half-faction". They cannot be players, only NPCs. They have a base in Primorye.
Killing Soldiers grants a lot of reputation, and they drop good loot.
Soldiers are enemies of all factions.

In Severoufimsk, at Point #12, there is a quest to reset your reputation. This quest allows you to change your faction without going through the Traitor phase.

These are introductory quests, mainly teaching you how to interact with the game. They are mostly safe, with the main threats being wolves or bears, which are easy to handle with any firearm (or even melee, though a medkit might be required).
The final quest in this chain will have you choose between becoming a Civilian or Marauder through a task that requires killing members of either faction - it's best to take an assault rifle or, if you've already looted Gorshovo, a sniper rifle.

The quest chain here is primarily focused on gathering information about stolen supplies.
Most quests are safe, and if combat is required, it will be clearly stated. The hardest ones are the last three.

First Quest: Retrieve an item from a Marauder base at Locator. Stealth is recommended, involving climbing over a fence using crates. However, stealth mechanics are not very reliable in this game, so you might need several tries - sometimes it's easier to clear the Locator base.

Second Quest: Go to the Bunker. You’ll be shown a safe entrance, but you’ll need heavy firepower to get through, as there are two bosses in exoskeletons. A good tactic is to enter through the B2 exit and clear rooms. In the hallway from G2 to G5, you'll face a larger group of soldiers and two exoskeleton bosses. Take cover in G2 and deal with the bosses one by one.

Final Quest: Storm Locator. A good approach is to come from the helicopter side (squares E5/E6). You’ll find a destroyed tank near the entrance - use it as cover and snipe everything in sight. A large group of Marauders will be there, including two exoskeleton bosses. Be sure to bring plenty of ammo, but the loot from the exoskeletons will be worth it. Also, if you have a steel key, you can open a safe near the storage area.

This quest chain is not yet fully explored.
Quests are obtained from the Duty Officer at the Scientific Base.

First Quest: Collect 10 pollen samples from flowers scattered across the map. This is easy and can be done in one location if you find a cluster of flowers. Just make sure you have 10 free inventory slots.
Subsequent quests are more difficult as you'll face military units. The easiest strategy is to take a BTR from the Scientific Base and run over the soldiers. I recommend only sniping small groups.
Alternatively, sneak up close and use a machine gun - armor is highly recommended.

Warning! One of the quests will take you to E9, where you’ll encounter two soldiers. The quest may seem too easy, but there's a boss nearby - the two-headed wolf - and you’ll be ambushed. Another similar issue occurs at the Water Pump Station.

If you're using a BTR for quests, make sure to empty it before leaving the location, as the vehicle and its contents will despawn.

Catacombs: In addition to military units, you’ll encounter a pack of rats led by a sabertooth rat boss.

We haven't completed this quest chain yet. We are stuck at return the Toxic AK quest. The main problem with this quest is that the soldiers you're supposed to eliminate don’t wait for you to approach - they start shooting at you from 150-200 meters away, even through trees and bushes. What's worse is that they haven't even loaded in properly yet (no joke, enemies can shoot at you from a distance before you physically see them). And they're shooting with some seriously powerful weapons, which can penetrate your UKB-1 with just a few shots.

A working strategy is to clear out the Military Base and steal the BTR. Attention! The BTR will be almost out of fuel, so take not only a full repair kit but also a fuel canister with you! By the way, the third Defender on the Military Base uses a Gauss rifle and can penetrate the UKB-1 in just a couple of shots. The safest way to clear him without dying is to equip an Exoskeleton, but be careful about overheating! This Defender can overheat a UKB-1 Exoskeleton in just 2-3 shots! Alternatively, you can bring a bunch of medkits with you.
By the way, the gas station near the Military Base is safe, except for the occasional bear (not a boss) wandering in attracted by the scent of players. Also, the nearby transition leads to Point #12, where you can buy a fuel canister in case you forgot to bring one.

There seems to be a quest chain for Marauders as well. Additionally, there are some quests available at the Neutral Base in Primorye.
If you have experience with Marauder quests, feel free to share it in the comments. We’re still aiming to complete the Neutral Faction quests in Primorye.

The game has a very strange equipment system.
All items are divided into the following categories:

• Top (shirt/jacket/armor vest...)
  
• Bottom (pants + boots)
  
• Hat (also helmet)
  
• Mask
  
• Suit
  
• Backpack

Protection (with rare exceptions) is only provided by the Top and Bottom – but you can only check the level of protection in your inventory. You won’t find these parameters with the vendor.
The best civilian gear are shirts with armor vests. The only thing better than them is UKB-1.

In the mask slot, you can equip a respirator or gas mask. The gas mask conflicts with most hats, but the respirator offers very weak protection against toxins (for example, in the swamps of Severoufimsk wearing L-1 with a respirator, you can die quite quickly).

The game has a flashlight, but it counts as a hat and cannot be used with a gas mask or helmet.
I recommend replacing the gas mask and helmet with the UKB-1 helmet as soon as possible, even if you don’t have the rest of the suit.

There is only one suit in the game – the L-1 in different colors (gray, green, and orange). You can wear it over any clothing, including UKB-1, until you equip an exoskeleton. By the way, while the exoskeleton conflicts with the suit, it slots into the backpack slot (and is a rather bad backpack, by the way, with very few slots).
The best backpack in the game is the green tourist backpack (or the regular tourist backpack, but the green one is less noticeable). The tourist backpack can be bought from vendors in Dyatlov or at the Science Base, while the green tourist backpack drops from safes/bosses.
By the way, you can’t buy UKB-1. It also drops from safes/bosses.

Weapons – the optimal choice is any machine gun (XM8, despite the exorbitant ammo price, is IMO the best of them, with the RPD in second place) and the SVD (if you don’t have an SVD, take any sniper rifle). Also, a sniper rifle can be used as binoculars. Both machine guns and sniper rifles are easy to obtain from safes or by farming military NPCs. You can also find a sniper rifle at the police station in Gorshovo.
In the small weapon slot, put a knife or machete – this will serve as both a backup weapon and something to butcher with.

The game has a severe lack of special slots for items like a compass, watch, map, binoculars, and knife, so take only the most essential items – the map. You can discard the binoculars, compass, and watch. The knife goes in the small weapon slot. The map is the one thing you can’t do without. You can also discard matches – they are only needed for starting a fire, which is really not that useful in the game. It’s better to take a couple of extra medkits. There’s no need to carry too much food and water – one or two pieces of meat and one water bottle are enough. Yes, the water flask is better than a bottle because it weighs a bit less (l - logic).

P.S. There’s a suspicion that loot generation for NPCs, bosses, and safes is tied to the character’s level – the higher your level, the better the loot that will be generated.

The game features functional vehicles.
To start a vehicle, you need a screwdriver or keys, spark plugs, and a battery. To repair a damaged vehicle, you need a toolset. To refuel, you need a fuel canister (which weighs 10kg even when empty). You cannot refuel without a canister, and you can’t drain fuel from a car. One fuel pump is enough for 4 canisters (40 liters). The fuel consumption of vehicles is quite low.

To start a vehicle, you need to equip it.
Keys/screwdriver, spark plugs, and the battery are inserted through the inventory. Enter the vehicle and drag the items into the corresponding slots.
The fuel canister and tools are used outside the vehicle. You need to find the correct spot where the "enter vehicle" option changes to "refuel" or "repair". In the same way, you can open the trunk.

If a vehicle is fully damaged, all players will be automatically ejected from it. The vehicle will be instantly and completely destroyed if the game determines it’s submerged in too deep water. Be careful in the swamps! A BTR is like a cat – just a little water on the paws and it’s dead.

When exiting the vehicle, your weapon will always be on your back, and you will need to manually draw it. You cannot shoot from the vehicle. However, you can eat, drink, or heal while moving – just open your inventory and switch from the vehicle tab to the character tab at the top.

All vehicles, except for the BTR, are bulletable. There are rumors that the UAZ is bulletproof, but we haven’t tested it.
Vehicles almost always spawn with a small amount of fuel (enough to get to a pump), but very rarely contain a full set of starting equipment (keys, battery, spark plugs). Vehicles almost always have full health.

Attention! There are rumors (which we haven't confirmed) that if you shoot near a vehicle, the casings ejected from your weapon can count as a collision if they hit the vehicle, causing it to lose durability.

(This list may be incomplete)

Severoufimsk: Oka or Zaporozhets in the village of Kvasino, in the garages. You can also find part of the starting equipment here, and a fuel pump (G2) is nearby.
Severoufimsk: Oka or Zaporozhets at the marauders' settlement (B6).
Severoufimsk: BTR at the entrance to the Bunker, surrounded by military forces (F5).
Dead Swamp: BTR and UAZ at the Science Base.
Dead Swamp: A strange armored truck in the swamp near the ruin (H7), where a boss bear spawns. This truck almost always spawns fully broken.
Primorye: BTR (does not always spawn) at the military base, near the barracks.

This guide was translated from https://steamproxy-script.pipiskins.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3375350520

Feel free to point me at the typos and errors. There may be some naming errors (mobs, vehicles and locations names, map tiles).