Surviving in Hurtworld means accounting for every situation and environment possible. Not only will you be facing off against direct threats like animals and other players, you’ve got to think about your health in terms of food supply, temperature and other harmful outside influences that could quickly spell doom for your survivor.

All of this is tracked via the status bar in the bottom left of the main screen. It can be a little confusing to decipher at first, but once you start recognizing the symbols, you’ll know what’s going on. Each symbol is a different variety of the skull and crossbones with a bar that represents the amount of time you have left until you succumb to the starvation/ radiation etc.

Hunger – You’ve gotta eat to live in Hurtworld. If you start feeling the hunger pangs you’ll get a hungry looking skull and crossbones with a roasted hotdog on it. You’ll be seeing this alert a lot, considering that the amount of food you burn increases depending on what type of task you’re doing.

If you’re running, starvation comes more quickly, stand still and you can double the amount of time you stay alive. Temperature will also affect your hunger rating. Too hot or too cold will reduce the amount of time you have in between meals.

Over Heating – A friendly sun baked skull and crossbones means you’re too hot. A lot of things can increases your temperature. Desert environments, standing too close to a fire, wearing too much clothing. Identify the source of the heat and eliminate it to prevent a painful heat death.

Burning – Similar to the heat icon but this time the skull’s on fire. This is an immediate emergency because you are literally burning. This can be from standing in any kind of fire, so get out of the fire and you should be fine.

Cold – A freezing blue skull represents this alert, which means you’re survivor is too cold and is at risk of dying from hypothermia. There are a couple of ways to prevent the cold. For one, you could stand near a source of heat, fires are a popular choice. Two, you can craft yourself some clothing. Certain clothing will be better at keeping you warm than others, so be sure to check it’s stats before crafting it.

During the nighttime, the temperature will plummet drastically, especially in the colder biomes. Be prepared to have your clothing on hand if you took it off to escape the heat during the day.

Poisoned – Certain creatures in Hurtworld are capable of shooting poisonous spit or having a poisonous bite. Dealing with poison can be tough if you don’t have enough food to keep your health up while the poison works its way through you. All you have to do is survive through the poison timer and you’ll live!

The poison symbol is a sick looking skull and crossbones with green fumes coming out of the orifices.

Radiation - One of the rarer causes of death in Hurtworld, radiation is usually found near old remnants of humanity like the aircraft carrier in the desert. The closer you get to the source of the radiation, the faster you will become irradiated and die.

The only way to safely explore an irradiated zone is by equipping a radiation suit and gas mask. Both can be crafted but require some hard to get materials.

There you have it. Survive all of these environmental threats along with the marauding players and deadly creatures and you’ll be sipping martinis from your penthouse shelter watching the sunset over the wasteland.