Road to Vostok

Road to Vostok is a hardcore single-player survival game set in a post-apocalyptic border zone between Finland and Russia. You scavenge, trade, craft and prepare to cross the border into Vostok, where every map is a permadeath zone and one mistake can cost you everything.

The road to Vostok

Your journey starts in Area 05, an evacuated zone in southeastern Finland with shelters, traders, tasks and starting loot. Hostile Bandits, an anarchist group taking advantage of the lack of authority, often disrupt life there. Once you have gathered enough loot and equipment, you can head east to the Border Zone, a guarded line between Finland and Russia.

Each Border Zone map has a crossing point with its own challenges. You may encounter mines or physical obstacles, or need to travel by boat along waterways. The Guards, foreign border guards who are armed and corrupt, protect the zone and often use air support to stop people crossing.

Beyond the border lies Vostok, in Russia. It offers the most valuable loot, but every Vostok map has permadeath: dying in Area 05 or the Border Zone costs you the equipment and loot you carry, while dying in Vostok means losing everything. The Military, an armed faction with heavy weapons and armored vehicles, controls the zone and aims to push you back.

Survive a changing world

The world runs on a 24-hour day-and-night cycle, with lighting that changes according to the sun and moon. You can change the time by sleeping, but when exploring you often need to prepare for darkness. Randomized weather ranges from sunny conditions to dark skies and thunderstorms; on clear nights, you may see the northern lights.

The seasons can shift from summer to winter over the course of a long enough survival, bringing snow and cold. You can also choose a playthrough with constant summer or winter. Dynamic events range from ambient sounds to airdrops, crash sites and special faction events.

Scavenge and trade

Loot and luck shape each playthrough. You scavenge, trade and craft hundreds of unique items based on real-world parameters and progressive loot tiers. Loot and containers are physics-based, and items do not spawn in the same places each time. Each map holds hundreds of items, including consumables, clothing, medical supplies, tools, electronics, weapons and attachments. Anything that looks like storage can be searched as a loot container.

You manage items through Tetris-style inventories with dynamic icons, item combining and stacking, and quick actions. Traders specialize in areas such as tools, medical supplies, weapons and furniture. Their bartering system uses no money: items are valued by their usefulness in the post-apocalyptic world, so medical supplies, food and even toilet paper can be valuable.

Traders also provide services such as medical care and weapon maintenance. Their task system is based on trader levels; completing tasks can earn rare items, unlock shelters and provide clues to lore-related questions.

Make shelters your own

Shelters are safe zones where you store loot, and the only places where you can save your game. You may need to use several shelters as you travel east. They vary in size and customization options, from small cabins to large concrete bunkers. Some are available from the start, while others require keys earned through trader tasks.

Each shelter has default furniture that you can rearrange in decoration mode. You can catalog, move and rotate existing furniture, and acquire more through crafting or trading. For storage, you can use furniture containers or place individual physics-based items wherever you want. Their positions are saved automatically when you leave the shelter.

Choose your own approach

The game does not require a particular playstyle: you do not have to enter the permadeath zone or follow the lore, and your character is not tied to a specific role or theme. You might play a combat-focused character in military gear in one run, then become a solitary fisherman playing harmonica on a remote island in another. The game provides the tools, while you shape your own story.