Casualties: Unknown Beginner Guide — Walkthrough & Controls

What should a brand-new player do first?

Complete Basic Training, then survive the opening minutes without rushing straight down. The Steam description frames the game as an unforgiving cave-exploration survival simulator with simulated limb and cardiovascular damage. Community references checked on 2026-11-10 state the developer recommends the built-in tutorial and shows a warning if you skip it. After training, your first real run should prioritize light, footing, and bleeding control before chasing depth records. The full release spans eleven layers; the demo only includes the first five.

What are the first five minutes on layer 1?

These steps synthesize official survival themes (adapt per layer, craft to survive) with community getting-started advice checked 2026-11-10—not a fixed map route, because caves are procedural:

1. Look before you drop — Circle the starting pod for ledges, crates, and plants you can reach without breaking through the floor into an unseen pit.
2. Assign a light — Put a flashlight or other light in a hand slot you can swap quickly (Q). Official footage shows dark green caves where visibility is a resource.
3. Scavenge lightly — Grab rope-relevant foliage, plastic chunks, and any dressings or bags within safe reach. Favourite (F) critical bags once you have them so crafting does not consume them (community-reported mechanic).
4. Open the health panel early — Press R and learn the body diagram layout before you are bleeding. The medical guide explains triage order.
5. Descend only with a plan — Move to Deeper Gravel Lands when you can heal basic wounds and carry water or soup plans; starving subjects complain loudly when hunger hits.

What survival priorities beat raw depth?

Use this “stay conscious → stay fed → go deeper” stack. It mirrors Steam’s stated mechanics (bandage, infection, blood loss, mood) without inventing thresholds:

Push depth only when the top two rows are stable. The cave does not reward marathon descents while your ECG is screaming.

What are the default controls?

The table lists default keyboard bindings quoted in the Basic Training course text preserved by community tutorial mirrors (demo 7.0.1) and aligned with the Getting started control groups on 2026-11-10. Treat as community-reported for the 1.0 retail build until you confirm in Settings; rebinding is supported but not documented here.

Inventory uses six main slots (two hands, mouth, three back slots) per training text summarized on GuideWiki 2026-11-10. Right-click drag moves items between slots and containers.

What common mistakes end runs early?

• Dropping straight down without scouting returns, losing loose gear to physics.
• Ignoring bleeding while sorting loot—official copy ties blood loss directly to consciousness failure.
• Crafting without favouriting your only bag, then ripping it for canvas (community-reported crafting pitfall).
• Skipping food and mood until hunger moodles stack; subjects become harder to control when miserable (store mood mention).
• Treating the demo as the full eleven-layer ruleset — see how many layers before assuming layer-6 mechanics exist in the demo build.

When injuries spiral, retreat toward safer pockets, craft dressings, and read symptom pages instead of guessing drug doses from screenshots. Beta-era injectors like the combat pen appear in official imagery with warning text about overdose; treat exact milliliter limits as screenshot-era references, not verified 1.0 balances.

Where should you go next?

After a few layer-1 exits, read Gravel Lands for biome-specific hazards, keep the medical guide open during fights, and use system requirements before long PC sessions. Story runners can preview outcomes in the endings guide once they are ready for spoilers.

Sources checked

• https://store.steampowered.com/app/4576490/Casualties_Unknown/ (survival feature bullets, mature content notice)
• https://casualtiesunknown.miraheze.org/wiki/Getting_started (opening priorities, control groups)
• https://guidewiki.gg/casualties-unknown/beginner-guide/ (tutorial recommendation, control table from demo 7.0.1 training text)
• https://casualtiesunknowndb.com/tutorial (Basic Training step text for movement and inventory keys)

Last checked 2026-11-10 against the sources above, game version 1.0.

Screenshots and trailer frames: official Steam store page and trailers, © Orsoniks / Oro Interactive.