To The Abyss is a game about a submarine in a huge drowned caldera. You explore its biomes, go deeper and deeper, and try not to get caught by the leviathans.
First steps
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The port. You start in your home port, Coral Haven. Your sub sits in a dry dock, and you are safe here: a docked sub takes no damage. You have 500 credits.
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Dive. Press DIVE. The moon pool under the port opens and the sub drops out into the water below. You can switch PvP on before you leave — see Weapons and combat.
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Look around. The wreck of the Meridian lies right under the port, and the Sunlit Shelf starts behind you. Sunlit Shallows and Kelp Deeps are good places to begin: they are bright and there is no pressure to worry about.
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Go deeper. The deeper you go, the darker and more dangerous it gets. Your Otter leaves the dock with a hull rated to 450 m; below that, pressure starts to crush it. Depth and pressure explains how.
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Mine ore. Glowing rocks on the seabed hold ore. Hold R next to one to cut it out with the drill. See Mining.
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Come home. To dock, swim up into the moon pool of any port from below. Your ore is unloaded there, and in port you spend it with credits on upgrades: a deeper hull, a faster engine, a better drill.
Tips for new captains
- Do not ram the rocks. A head-on hit at 60 studs/s, about the full speed of an Otter, takes 82 of its 1,000 hull. Sliding along a wall costs almost nothing. Try the collision calculator.
- Stay quiet. Leviathans hear a sub that is moving, but not one that has stopped. If something big is near, cut your speed.
- Use the map. The map of the caldera shows every port, landmark and cave entrance.
- Join the group. Liking the game and joining the group gives you 250 credits and an XP multiplier of ×1.25.