Most gamers are used to saving their progress in their favorite game and picking right back up where they left off later. But in Rust, a multiplayer-only survival game, every player's progress is regularly force wiped by developer Facepunch Studios to keep game servers running smooth. The next forced progress wipe in Rust happens today, so players can expect a clean slate to work with for the next month in the game.
Rust was originally released in early access in 2013. The game's full release in 2018 received mixed reception due to its lack of accessibility for new players and excessive grinding elements. However, throughout early access and into today, Rust has garnered a dedicated fanbase that praises the game as one of the innovators of early survival games. One of Rust's more confusing features to newcomers is its progress wipes. These wipes are forced and happen on the first Thursday of every month.
The forced wipes delete everything a player has created for that month, including all buildings and objects across the whole map. Every Rust server is affected by these wipes no matter if it is public or private, though private servers can often perform more frequent wipes at the discretion of the host. The exact time of the forced wipe varies based on a player's location; the Rust forced wipe based on time zones is at 11 am PT, 2 pm ET, 7 pm GMT, 8 pm CET, and 4 am AEDT. The next forced wipe will take place a month from today at the same time, so now is the perfect time for players to jump in and test out the latest Rust addition, buildable vehicles.
Though Rust has always been adored by dedicated players, the game has been catapulted into the spotlight recently because of controversy concerning a private server by YouTube channel OfflineTV. Fifty of some of the biggest streamers in the world joined the server, but relations between some of the streamers quickly went south. One early event involved a toxic chat that caused streamer Valkyrae to end her stream abruptly, leading to an outpouring of support from fans.
But the biggest controversy has been surrounding streamer xQc, who has been accused of creating the most tension in the server. Between xQc making stream sniping allegations toward fellow streamer Myth and xQc's fans sending death threats to streamer Ash after an in-game interaction between Ash and xQc, the Offline TV Rust server has devolved into what is basically a reality TV show. A second Offline TV server was recently announced that is said to be more focused on roleplay elements, and will including special features implemented by Facepunch Studios. All of this controversy has, without a doubt, brought more people to the game, which means Rust could have its best year ahead.
Though all the talk of forced wipes and streamer controversy may put some gamers off from trying Rust, it's not going anywhere. The game is only available for PC right now, but Facepunch Studios is working to bring Xbox One and PS4 versions this year. For gamers following the latest trends, Rust is the game to play, just don't be surprised when a forced wipe happens every month.
Rust is available now on PC with versions for Xbox One and PS4 in development.