Getting lost is the most common way a run ends.
It is not a monster, it does not chase you, and it never shows up on the scanner. It just quietly consumes the clock until the day is over, and then it costs you the run with scrap still in your hands.
The fix is a set of habits, and they are all things you can do without buying anything.
The one-wall rule
Pick a wall — left or right, your choice — and keep it on the same side as you move through the facility.
A facility you explore with one wall consistently on one side is a facility you can retrace in reverse. A facility you explore by following whatever corridor looks interesting is a facility you are now lost in.
This single habit prevents more deaths than any piece of equipment.
Count your turns
At every junction, count the turns you have taken since the entrance: first left, second right, straight on.
Numbers survive darkness and noise in a way that memories of what a room looked like do not. On the way out, you are looking for the fourth left, not “the corner near the red thing.”
Mark the junctions, not the route
Paint or memory, either works, but only mark decision points.
A mark at every corner you passed is a lot of paint and not much information. A mark at each place where you could have gone two ways is enough to walk yourself all the way back to the ship.
Read the doors
Facilities reuse the same corridors, so look at what makes a door memorable rather than trying to remember the door itself.
Note the direction it swings, whether it is a fire exit or a security door, and what is on the other side when you open it. A door that opens toward you is a different landmark than one that opens away, and you will recognise it instantly on the way back.
Set a turnaround time
Decide, before you go in, how long you are staying.
The number does not matter as much as the fact that it exists. A crew with a turnaround time walks out when the time is up. A crew without one keeps finding “just one more room” until the light is dying and nobody remembers the route.
Turn around when any of these happen
- The light is low and you are not near the exit.
- You have taken more than two turns since your last marked junction.
- Something is chasing you and you do not know which way is out.
- Your hands are full and the route back is longer than the route in.
Each of those is a signal that the cost of continuing has gone up. None of them requires you to be lost already to act on.
When you are already lost
Stop moving. Panic-running is how crews walk deeper into a facility and lose the thread entirely.
Then work backwards: last marked junction, last counted turn, last recognisable door. Pick one and commit to it. A wrong guess you follow confidently gets you out faster than three right guesses you keep second-guessing.
If the ship has a player on the monitors, this is the moment they earn their seat — they can see the facility and the exit while you cannot.
What to buy if you keep getting lost
Spray paint, at 50 credits, is the direct answer. It turns the junction-marking habit into something physical that survives a bad light and a long day.
Otherwise, the answer is not gear. It is the one-wall rule and a turnaround time, both of which are free.
Related guides
- Map guide — planning the route before you land.
- Spray paint guide — marking decision points on the way in.
- How to survive the night — why the turnaround time is set before landing.