Active Matter maps and zone variants

The short answer

Active Matter does not ship a fixed list of maps in the way a round-based shooter does. It ships a set of zones, and each zone can appear in several variants — the same place under a different modifier. A variant can add weather or darkness, change which creatures dominate, or turn the raid into one with a collapsing boundary that shrinks the playable area and forces everyone toward extraction.

Which mode a zone belongs to is a separate question, and it is the one we cannot answer: the developers confirm that some locations are PvPvE-exclusive, some are PvP and some are PvE-only, but they have not said which. Every row below therefore shows the mode as Pending rather than a guess.

How a zone is structured

← Swipe the table sideways to read every column

The variant idea, in practice

Community guides describe the variant system the same way the developers' own year-in-review does, which is the reason we are confident about the mechanic even where we are cautious about names:

• Growth or seasonal variants. A zone can be overgrown, which shifts the creature mix — one community guide describes an overgrown state where the plant-like creatures dominate in larger packs while the tree-like ones become rarer.
• Collapsing-boundary variants. Some raids end with a shrinking safe area, closer to a battle-royale closing circle than a traditional extraction timer. Community reporting describes this as attached to a specific hard-zone variant rather than to every raid.
• Darkness variants. At least one variant is described as effectively pitch black, which changes how you navigate and how visible you are.
• Density variants. At least one variant reportedly spawns its heaviest enemies already in place, so the raid opens with a fight rather than building to one.

Officially named raids

Two raid names are printed by the developers themselves in the 2025 year-in-numbers post, which is why we use their spelling here:

• Shegolskoe — the most popular raid of 2025.
• Cargo Port: Darkness — the raid the developers describe as the luckiest of 2025.

Community guides spell these names inconsistently (Shegolskoe appears as "Shigoloske" in at least one widely watched guide). Where an official spelling exists we use it; where it does not, we describe the variant instead of transcribing a name we cannot verify.

How many players are in a raid

Sources disagree, so here is each figure with its origin rather than an average:

• The PlayStation Store listing states 16 online players.
• Community reporting from the early version describes raids ranging from about 4 to 20 players depending on the zone.
• Open Raids can also contain bot versions of enemy operatives alongside real players, which affects how populated a lobby feels.

Extraction

Extraction is the goal of every raid, and the mechanics around it are more active than the "walk to a green smoke" model:

• Extraction points can be dynamic rather than fixed, so the exit is not always the same one.
• At least one developer answer describes invisible entities near extractions, a deliberate counter to players who camp the exit.
• Community PvE guidance treats the area around an extraction as a fight in itself and advises keeping a grenade back specifically for it.

How new zones unlock

Zones are not all available from the start. Investigations — the end-of-raid quest line, unlocked through the Monolith progression track — are the route to additional zones. Community guides specifically list a park, a downtown area and a large structure among the zones unlocked this way, alongside character shells and crafting recipes. Spending Monolith tokens can also be used to skip certain progression requirements.

Which zones are easiest

Community guides rank zones by difficulty, and the ranking is broadly consistent: a large headquarters-type zone is described as the hardest and the richest, small dark industrial zones as the most PvP-heavy, and mid-sized port and factory zones as the middle ground. We publish this as community consensus rather than as a verified tier list, because no official difficulty ranking exists and the roster is still growing.