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Scavenging and Crafting
September 9, 2026 at 01:09 AM
Initial version (2026-09-08)
Nothing in DUST: Origins is issued to the player. Limbo-6 does not give, as the studio puts it, so everything has to be taken from a station that is already picked over and falling apart. Scavenging and crafting together form the supply system that keeps a run viable, and they are the direct counterweight to how little ammunition the game hands out.
Three broad categories of pickup are distributed through the station, and the studio has described all three.
Category | Notes |
|---|---|
Ammunition | The scarcest resource in the game, and the one that drives combat pacing. |
Crafting materials | Raw scrap and components. Every scrap of metal is described as valuable in a situation this desperate. |
Secrets and hidden items | Concealed caches and finds tucked away from the main route, rewarding players who search rather than rush. |
Equipment improves with depth. The further into the station the player pushes, the more gear becomes accessible, which ties supply directly to exploration rather than to a shop or a currency.
Collected materials are spent at the player's discretion, and the studio frames that spending as a strategic decision rather than a menu chore. Three output types have been described.
Output | Effect |
|---|---|
Health and ammunition consumables | Immediate, expendable supply. The obvious sink for materials, and the one that competes with everything else. |
Permanent stat upgrades | Lasting improvements to the character rather than to a single item. |
Specialty mods | Modifiers that slot into the loadout alongside weapons and armour. |
Because materials are finite and all three outputs draw from the same pool, crafting is a budgeting problem. Spending on consumables keeps a run alive now; spending on permanent upgrades and mods makes later sectors survivable. The studio has stated that how the player spends crafting resources is up to them and their strategy for survival, which implies there is no single correct allocation.
Carrying capacity is limited, so scavenging is not simply a matter of taking everything. The player has to be mindful of what they are hauling, and leaving something behind is a real cost. Capacity upgrades exist and can be found during exploration, which loosens the constraint over a run without removing it.
Scavenging feeds combat, because ammunition scarcity is the whole reason positioning and restraint matter.
Crafting feeds progression, since permanent stat upgrades and mods are the main way a character gets stronger.
Exploration feeds both, since better equipment is gated by how deep into Limbo-6 the player has reached.
New Game Plus changes the starting position, because unlocked stash items carry into later runs and shift what the early game looks like.
Any recipe, material name, or crafting cost.
Whether crafting happens at fixed stations or anywhere in the world.
Which stats can be permanently upgraded, and by how much.
The number of inventory slots, or how much a capacity upgrade adds.
Whether materials can be broken down from unwanted equipment.
Whether resources respawn, and whether a sector can be exhausted.
