The Riftbreaker: Complete Guide

A practical guide to The Riftbreaker's campaign, base building, defense, co-op and endgame, written for new players and for returning players catching up on the 2.0 and World Expansion IV updates.

Researched September 2026. Current as of the World Expansion IV free update (March 2026) and the April 2026 hotfix. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Where the Game Stands in 2026

The Riftbreaker came out on October 14, 2021 (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S). It is still being updated:

Co-op is PC-only. The paid World Expansions are Metal Terror, Into the Dark and Heart of the Swamp. They add the Metallic Valley, Crystal Caverns and Fungal Swamp biomes plus new creatures and tech. The base campaign is complete without them.

Quick Start

1. Play the Prologue. It's the tutorial, and it covers the full loop of mining, power, defense and research in a short mission.
2. Carbonium comes first. Carbonium is your first building material and effectively your early currency. Put an extractor on every deposit near your HQ right away.
3. Power is the real bottleneck. Every miner, tower and research building uses energy. Build more power than you need so a small drop doesn't shut off your defenses.
4. Energy connectors carry power. A building that isn't linked to the network shows no blue line in build mode and won't work.
5. Research all the time. Keep the research queue full. Idle research is wasted time, and the tech tree is how you get stronger.
6. Build an Armory early. It keeps refilling your ammo for weapons like the minigun, flamethrower and rocket launcher, so you can use your best guns freely.
7. Clear nests. Destroying creature nests removes spawn points and drops rarer resources and loot.
8. Wall in and put towers behind the walls. Attack waves get bigger over time. Walls hold enemies in place while towers deal the damage.
9. Use outposts. Resource-rich areas elsewhere on Galatea 37 become outposts that send their output back through the rift network, so your main base doesn't have to hold every deposit.
10. Pick your difficulty on purpose. Difficulty mostly changes attack strength and how often attacks come. There is also a permadeath option if you want a hardcore run.

The Core Loop

Each mission follows the same rhythm:

1. Land and scout. Drop in, find nearby ore deposits and liquid sources, and note where attacks are likely to come from (open ground, nest locations).
2. Extract. Put mines on ore and connect them to power.
3. Power up. Early power is usually solar and wind. More efficient generators unlock later through research.
4. Research. Research buildings unlock weapons, towers, better generators and refining.
5. Defend. Walls, gates and towers go up before the next attack wave.
6. Expand. Open outposts in other regions for resources you don't have at home, then work toward the campaign's goal, the rift station back to Earth.

Resources

Rules of thumb:

• Put down storage before you need it. World Expansion IV added a Large Energy Storage and a Large Solid Material Storage, each with three upgrade levels. Large Energy Storage is volatile when damaged, so keep it deep inside your walls.
• Wind turbines are cheap early power. In the Cryo Fields, wind picks up during attack waves, which boosts turbines exactly when your towers draw the most power.

Power management

• Group power producers near the core of the base, not on the edge where the first attack will hit them.
• Before placing a large block of towers, check that your energy surplus can cover them.
• When the base browns out, defenses fail first in the ways that hurt most. Treat a power deficit as an emergency.

Mr. Riggs: Combat and Loadout

Captain Ashley S. Nowak fights inside the Mecha-Suit Mr. Riggs. He carries weapons in each hand plus equipment and skills.

How weapons and upgrades work:

• Loot matters. Since the 2.0 update, weapons and upgrades drop from enemies and caches. Better rarities scale up damage and add modifiers.
• Mass disassembly. Also from 2.0: break down unwanted items in bulk for materials instead of scrapping them one at a time.
• Match the damage type to the biome. Some creatures shrug off certain damage types. If a weapon feels weak somewhere new, swap it instead of forcing it.
• The Armory is not optional. Ammo-based weapons are only as good as your supply, and the Armory keeps them topped up.

Survival tips in fights

• Kite swarms along your wall line into tower range instead of fighting them in the open.
• Hit nests from range with explosives or fire, then finish them up close.
• Use your dash constantly. Standing still against large waves is how Mr. Riggs dies.

Base Building and Defense

Layout principles

Towers added in World Expansion IV

• Icicle Tower: fires cryo projectiles that break apart on impact and slow enemies in the area. Low damage, so pair it with high-damage towers.
• Inferno Tower: lobs cluster fire projectiles that split mid-air and set the ground alight. A cheaper, shorter-range alternative to the HCM artillery. Good at chokepoints.
• Shredder Tower: rapid acid projectiles that split on impact. Strong against swarms.

Sentinel Towers and the other early towers need power. Check your energy surplus before you add a whole row of them.

Reading attacks

• Attacks get stronger over time, and the more you disturb the planet, the more it notices you.
• Weather is a threat too. Watch for disasters such as tornadoes and other biome hazards, and don't build your only generators in their path.
• Look at the map after each attack wave. Repair and reinforce the side that took the most damage.

Campaign Structure and Modes

The Cryo Fields opens in the Story Campaign through the Mission Generator after you research Palladium Handling. It is also available in Open Campaign and Survival. Resource deposits there are much larger than usual but spread far apart, so plan long power and connector runs.

Endgame (2.0 Update)

• Megastructures: very expensive buildings with powerful passive bonuses. Aim for these once your economy runs itself.
• Omega-strain creatures: tougher enemy variants (73 forms, each with up to four special abilities). Expect them in the endgame and bring upgraded towers.
• 15 outposts: the outpost cap was raised to 15, so build a real planet-wide supply network.
• Orbital Scanner: finds points of interest across the planet. Use it to plan new outposts.
• Extra story content: 2.0 added around 40 minutes of new dialogue with the original voice cast.

Co-op (PC)

• Up to 4 players online or on LAN, in Campaign, Survival and the Prologue. Use the server browser or host a private server.
• Difficulty scales with player count.
• Downed mechs can be revived for a short time, 30 seconds according to the patch notes. Stay close enough to get to each other.
• Teammates can teleport to each other, and groups get a temporary power boost when they fight together.
• Split jobs: one player builds the economy while another handles defense and nest clearing. Communicate with chat and the emote wheel.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Letting research sit idle. Losing ten minutes of research early costs you far more than ten minutes later.
• Building towers without the power to run them. An unpowered tower does nothing.
• Putting walls right against your factories. Leave a gap.
• Ignoring nests. They keep spawning. Clear the ones near your base early.
• Running out of ammo. Build the Armory before you start relying on ammo weapons.
• Overexpanding without defense. Each new outpost needs at least basic protection.
• Keeping every loot drop. Disassemble the junk and put the materials into upgrades.
• Putting volatile storage on the wall line. Large Energy Storage can blow up when damaged.

Advanced Tips

• Set up redundant power. Split generators into two clusters so one breach can't black out the base.
• Use chokepoints. Rivers, cliffs and rock walls cut down how much wall you need. Build in natural bottlenecks.
• Plan outposts by resource. Before expanding, figure out which rare resource you're short on and open an outpost where it's plentiful.
• Crowd control plus damage. Icicle Towers slowing enemies inside Inferno or Shredder coverage beats either one alone.
• In Survival, snowball fast. The tech tree is faster there, so rush economy in the first minutes, then defense before the waves ramp up.
• Look at mods. The in-game mod browser supports community mods. REDI (Rift Exploration Defense Industry) by Killtech almost completely overhauls the economy and campaign pacing, and EXOR featured it in August 2026. Try it after you've finished the base campaign.

FAQ

Is The Riftbreaker multiplayer? Yes, since the 2.0 update on August 25, 2025: up to 4 players in online or LAN co-op on PC, in Campaign, Survival and the Prologue. Console versions do not have co-op.

Do I need the DLC? No. The base game has a full campaign. The World Expansions (Metal Terror, Into the Dark, Heart of the Swamp) add biomes, creatures and tech. World Expansion IV and the upcoming World Expansion V are free.

What is Open Campaign? A mode added in World Expansion IV that skips the story. You pick any starting biome and build toward the Prime Rift Station with no scripted guidance.

How long does Survival last? A standard Survival mission is 90 minutes. EXOR has said World Expansion V will focus on Survival and is considering ways to extend runs.

Will there be more updates? World Expansion V (free, Survival-focused) is confirmed but not dated. EXOR says it will be the last major content update, delayed while the studio moves to its Schmetterling 3.0 engine and works on a new game.

How do I unlock the Cryo Fields in the story? Research Palladium Handling. You can also go straight there in Open Campaign or Survival.

Sources

• The Riftbreaker on Steam
• Steam news API feed for The Riftbreaker (2.0, World Expansion IV, "What's next for EXOR Studios?")
• The Riftbreaker on Wikipedia
• Official site
• TheGamer: The Riftbreaker beginner tips