Derelict is an open-world action RPG on Roblox developed by Scrambledly Studios, heavily inspired by Soulslike mechanics and classic MMO progression systems. You navigate a fractured dystopian setting where every strike, parry, and roll consumes stamina, while progression relies on individual skill leveling rather than standard character XP.
Initial Prologue and Basic Controls
Starting a new save drops you into a narrative escape sequence. You begin trapped inside a container, punch your way free, pull an escape lever, and slide beneath obstacles to secure your first weapon before confronting an un-winnable encounter against an overwhelming enemy. Following the introductory fall, a survivor named Eggstavo rescues you and hauls you by wagon to the initial hub, Gideon's Camp.
The game requires deliberate input timing and resource management:
- Movement: W, S, A, D to move; Shift to toggle sprint or walk.
- Combat & Camera: Left Click performs basic attacks; hold Right Click (M2) to charge a heavy strike, releasing when the circular indicator aligns for bonus damage.
- Defense: Hold R or Right Click with a shield equipped to block incoming hits; tap at the precise start of an enemy's swing to deflect and parry.
- Evasion & Interaction: Q (or B depending on player keybind configurations) performs an invincible dodge roll; Spacebar jumps. Press E to interact with NPCs, loot objects, and rest at checkpoints.
- Targeting & Abilities: C or Control locks the camera onto a target. Z, X, and C activate slotted weapon arts or spell incantations.
Every swing, dodge roll, and block drains your green stamina bar. If your stamina bottoms out, your guard breaks and you are left completely vulnerable to counterattacks.
Gideon's Camp: First Quests and Crafting Loop
Gideon serves as the camp blacksmith and offers the primary starting questline that unlocks foundational tools, crafting stations, and weapons.
- Chopping Wood: Speak to Gideon to receive an axe. Locate nearby oak trees, drag the axe to your hotbar, and chop down trees to collect oak logs until you hit Logging level 3. Return to Gideon.
- Mining Ore: Take Gideon's pickaxe and head southwest to the mining deposit. Strike copper and tin nodes until you collect 3 copper and 3 tin ore.
- Smelting and Smithing: Approach the furnace next to Gideon's stall to smelt your raw ore into bronze bars. Walk over to the adjacent anvil, select the dagger blueprint, and craft your first weapon: the Bronze Dagger.
- Cooking Sustenance: Head down toward the water to fish using your starter rod. Reeling requires timed clicks when a fish bites. Forage a brown mushroom and an onion from the surrounding grass, head to the cooking campfire, and combine them into a Herring Delight to finish Gideon's errands.
Healing throughout early combat depends entirely on consumable food. You can purchase ingredients or pre-made food like bread and potato salad directly from the merchant shop in Gideon's Camp, or craft dishes at campfires.
Sir Wilhelm and the Bandit Outpost
After cooking the Herring Delight, Gideon asks you to investigate shouting coming from a nearby water well.
At the bottom of the well entrance, you discover Sir Wilhelm locked in a cell, ambushed by local bandits after a failed expedition against Avarus. Continuing through the stone corridors leads you to the bandit camp leader, Corkus.
Corkus uses sweeping sword attacks and gap-closing thrusts. Keep your distance, bait his two-hit attack pattern, roll through his vertical strike, and retaliate with charged heavy hits to crack his stance. Once defeated, Corkus drops the cell key. Freeing Sir Wilhelm allows you to open his cell, and completing his subsequent tasks rewards the Lionheart Ring (+5 health increase) and a sword tutorial.
Core Progression: Skills, Insights, and Equipment
Character progression in Derelict does not use an overall experience pool. Instead, actions level up dedicated proficiencies across 12 distinct skills:
| Progression Element | How to Level or Upgrade | Gameplay Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Vitality | Taking damage from enemies and surviving encounters | Expands maximum player health bar |
| Strength | Dealing damage with melee weapons (daggers, swords, hammers) | Amplifies physical melee damage scaling |
| Archery | Landing hits with shortbows and longbows | Increases ranged bow damage output |
| Defense | Absorbing and deflecting strikes while a shield is raised | Mitigates damage taken through blocks |
| Mining & Logging | Harvesting mineral nodes and chopping various tree types | Unlocks higher tier nodes (Iron at Lv 15, Pine at Lv 22) |
| Crafting & Smithing | Smelting raw metals and creating weapons or armor sets | Grants access to higher-tier metals and gear recipes |
| Insight Level | Overall rank raised by increasing individual skill levels | Acts as a global threshold requirement for top gear |
Before pushing deeper into higher-level zones, collect Pale Leather drops from starter bandits to assemble a full Leather Armor set at the anvil, providing immediate survivability against elite enemies.
Archetype Routes: Warrior, Archer, and Sorcerer
Once comfortable with basic combat, choose a starting equipment route that aligns with your desired playstyle:
Melee Warrior
Stick to swords, daggers, or heavy greatswords. Defeating bandits gives you Pale Leather for armor, while gathering extra bronze allows you to forge a Bronze Sword to replace the starter dagger. Upgrade your weapon grades at Gideon's anvil using Forging Stones. Keep your shield equipped so your Defense stat naturally climbs alongside Strength and Vitality.
Archer
To craft your first bow, gather 4 Oak Logs and 6 Pale Leather. Firing arrows requires craftable wooden arrows (1 Oak Log yields 33 arrows at the anvil) and an equipped quiver. The intermediate upgrade path requires Pine Logs (Logging level 22, located in Hollow's Pass) and Tough Leather from higher-tier insurgents. Archery levels quickly when safely plinking high-health slow targets like the giant snails in feeding grounds.
Sorcerer
Magic users require an equipped staff to open extra ability slots. You can buy a starter staff from Gideon or craft an Oak Staff using 6 Oak Logs and 8 Pale Leather. To cast spells without a staff, you can only equip up to two spells alongside standard melee weapons. Pick up your first offensive fire incantation, Crashing Embers, by heading toward Subjugation Stronghold and climbing the cliff path to retrieve the scroll. Interact with any unlocked Bonsai, navigate to the abilities tab, and slot Crashing Embers to spend Souls on ranged casts.
Early-to-Mid Game Route and Boss Checklist
Always interact with every Bonsai tree you encounter. Bonsais serve as permanent checkpoints, healing sites, and fast-travel teleport nodes across the map.
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Gideon's Camp
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Dominion Pass (Vagrant Sigvard)
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Feeding Grounds
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Subjugation Stronghold (Avarus Captain)
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Hollow's Pass
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Hollow's Arch
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Vagrant Sigvard (Dominion Pass Bridge): Guarding the grand bridge out of the starting area. Bait his swings, step past his weapon reach, and strike his back until his stance breaks. Defeating him opens the Feeding Grounds.
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Feeding Grounds: Meet Baldwin for gathering tasks involving crops, chicken eggs, snail eggs, and defending against nest lizards. Locate the hidden iron mine cave here. Ensure your Mining skill is level 15 to mine raw iron ore for Iron Pickaxes, Iron Greatswords, and Steel prep.
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Subjugation Stronghold: Locate Sir Wilhelm to destroy three Avarus drills. Farm coal deposits near the Bonsai to mix with iron ore for Steel Bars. Defeat tough armored underlings to harvest Titanium Fragments.
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Avarus Captain (Subjugation Chamber): The primary mechanical boss of the second region. Watch his high-damage laser routines and sweeping strikes. Defeating him unlocks passage into Hollow's Pass.
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Hollow's Pass and Hollow's Arch: Clear the insurgent camps for Tough Leather and Rogue Hide. Here you can gather materials to craft the high-damage Ranger Armor set (requiring 80 Vitality, 25 Archery, and 25 Crafting) and push toward late-game zones like Baron's Town and the Veiled Cathedral.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my charged attack not work?
Charged heavy strikes (holding Right Click/M2) require you to unequip your shield or map a dedicated heavy strike input, as holding Right Click with a shield raised defaults to blocking.
How do I cure pitch-black darkness in caves and night cycles?
You can buy a portable Lantern directly from Gideon's tool shop in the main camp. Equip it in your accessory or quick-slot inventory to illuminate dark caverns and dungeons.
Do I lose my items or gear when I die?
Derelict does not drop your equipped weapons, armor, or hotbar inventory upon death. When defeated, you respawn back at the most recent Bonsai tree where you rested.
Why can't I mine Iron Ore in the cave?
Mining nodes are locked behind exact skill levels rather than pickaxe types alone. Iron nodes require a minimum Mining skill of level 15 before they yield ore. Practice on copper, tin, and stone nodes at Gideon's Camp until your skill meets the requirement.
