- Home
- Wiki: Game modes
Wiki
Game modes: how hard the planet fights.
Every world has a mode. It sets how hard the planet hits back, whether you must eat and drink, and what happens to your bag when you fall. You choose it when you start a world and can change it later from the pause menu.
Choosing a mode
From the main menu there are two ways in. Survival has four levels, from gentle to brutal. Free Roam is the whole game with no pressure, and has a tick box for Builder's powers. Each level has a short line of its own on the menu, and a row of pips that shows how dangerous it is.
The mode is saved with the world. Changing it later is done from the pause menu (Esc), on the Game tab, under Game mode. In a friend's world the host sets the mode, and the Game mode choice is greyed out for you.
The modes at a glance
| Mode | Danger | Hits taken | Food and water | Your bag if you fall | Most one knock can take |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Relaxed (Free Roam) | None | Light: 40% of normal | Off | Kept | About 5% an ordinary hit, never more than 10% |
| Tea and Biscuits (Survival, level 1) | Gentle | 70% of normal | On, drains at 75% | Kept | No cap |
| Proper Explorer (Survival, level 2) | Fair | Normal | On, normal drain | Lost | No cap |
| Bring Spare Pants (Survival, level 3) | Hard | 150% of normal | On, drains at 150% | Lost | No cap |
| Absolutely Not (Survival, level 4) | Brutal | 220% of normal | On, drains at 200% | Lost | No cap |
| Builder (Free Roam with powers) | None | None | Off | Kept | No cap |
The game's own names for the modes are the ones in the table's first column: the menu and the pause menu use them.
Relaxed
The whole game as it always was: mine, craft, build, explore, tame, sail and fly to space, with no food or water to keep up. Knocks are light, and an ordinary hit takes about 5% of your health. You keep your bag when you are knocked out. This is the mode to pick if you want to build and explore without a clock on your back.
The survival levels
In survival, your belly and throat run down. An empty belly or a dry throat hurts you, so eat and drink. Things that bite do so harder the higher the level, and the drain on your food and water rises with it.
- Tea and Biscuits is survival with the kettle on. Things bite, but softly, and you keep your bag.
- Proper Explorer is the planet as it was meant to be: fair, wild and hungry for explorers. This is the default for a new world.
- Bring Spare Pants means everything hits harder and your bag stays where you fell. Make sure you can get back to it.
- Absolutely Not is the planet wanting you gone: twice the hurt, twice the drain, and no mercy.
On the two harder levels, a knock is not capped, so a long fall or a boss can take a large part of your health in one go.
Builder
Builder is free roam with builder's powers. You can fly, break anything instantly, and your blocks never run out. You keep your bag, and nothing hunts you. Builder is the place for big projects. Flying in Builder is part of the mode; in the other modes you fly only with the game's own flight gear, such as a jetpack, hang glider or rocket.
Tips
- Try Relaxed first to learn the crafting and the map, then move up one level at a time.
- If you pick a survival level, carry a pickaxe, an axe and some food before you go out. The first hour is the most dangerous, because you have the least.
- In Relaxed or Builder you never need to worry about dying with your bag, so these are the modes for building a base at your own pace.
- Changing mode in the pause menu takes effect straight away, so you can switch to Relaxed for a build and back again.
- New players cannot be attacked until they hold their first tool, in every mode.
See Getting started for your first hour, and Saving and worlds for how a mode stays with its world.
← Back to the wiki · Last updated 25 October 2026. Mantlenaut is in alpha, so things change.