Despite being fully released, the game continues to receive updates. The game also introduced immutable, predetermined skin colour and biological sex tied to players' Steam account details.

While in Early Access, Rust was ported to the Unity 5 game engine, providing substantial graphical changes. Dangerous wildlife replaced zombies as the primary environmental threat and several fundamental revisions to the crafting system were released, along with general improvements and feature additions. During this period of development, the gameplay was changed significantly. Rust was first released in December 2013 to the Steam Early Access program. Rust supports modded servers which can add additional content. To stay protected, players must build bases or join clans to improve their chance of survival. Rust features crafting, though initially limited until the discovery of specific items in the game's open world. In addition, vehicles controlled by non-player characters will occasionally roam, attacking armed players. Combat is accomplished through firearms and various weapons, such as bows.

Despite the presence of hostile animals such as bears and wolves, the primary threat to the player is other players due to the game being solely multiplayer. Players must successfully manage their hunger, thirst, and health, or risk dying. The objective of Rust is to survive in the wilderness using gathered or stolen materials. Rust was initially created as a clone of DayZ, a popular mod for ARMA 2, with crafting elements akin to those in Minecraft. Console versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One developed in conjunction with Double Eleven were released in May 2021. Rust was first released in early access in December 2013 and received its full release in February 2018. Rust is a multiplayer survival video game developed by Facepunch Studios.

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