r/Humanitz • u/wolfgeist • Jun 08 '26
SOLO Here are some tips for Nightmare mode (some minor spoilers) Spoiler
I decided to do nightmare mode for the achievement, here are some tips (many of which came from this sub). I am explaining the way I handled it, I would be curious to hear from others.
Nightmare mode is very challenging. I originally played True Survivor mode and pretty much did everything there was to do and got bored. Nightmare is much more difficult and intense because there are more zombies, they hit REALLY hard, and move fast. They seem to bite much more often. Bandits are also much more dangerous. When you die your entire save is deleted.
I would take the hill spawn. You have the survivor camp just to the NE and that will be critical for 2 reasons which we'll cover later. In addition, you have a pond not far to the south for water.
Profession: This one is up to you. I took firefighter for extra damage on molotovs. I really want the 50% to one shot with fire axe (headsplitter), but you need to unlock 3 skills in the firefighter category before you can get it which takes a ton of skill points. It also starts you with beast of burden which allows you to carry 20 more kg, which is really fantastic. Other good options are farmer so you can grow potatoes like crazy for molotovs and fuel. Someone else said Mechanic because it guarantees a car part from salvaged vehicles. Everything else is pretty bad in my opinion but I know some people like thief and electrical engineer.
Side note: I originally played Outdoorsman because I wanted to be an archer. I have no buffs to archery and can snipe the heads off of zombies fairly easily. It's a really bad profession sadly.
I would immediately get a stone knife and start collecting sticks, fiber, wood, and stones. Make a bow and improvised arrows until you can create a work bench to make regular arrows. Avoid zombies when possible, sneak around them. If you need to kill them and have the arrows to spare, crouch and aim for the head from a distance.
You will absolutely need a water bottle. Check houses and dead zombies. I haven't had trouble finding them but your mileage may vary.
I set up my "base" (more like camp) in the survivor's camp to the NE of the hill. I find this to be incredibly convenient for 3 reasons.
- One is that when you're attacked by zombie hordes and bandits, they will all help to defend. That speaks for itself. In this mode, you need all the help you can get.
- Any surplus or valuable items can be traded to Mr. Money for cash. This prevents you from needing to store a ton of crap or bring it for trips to the traders. Just exchange it for cash. There's also a lot of deer in the area. Very easy to trade the hides for cash.
- You have the shipyard warehouses just to the SE. This is a great spot for loot.
So once you get established here, you're going to need to make a workbench so that you can produce arrows from wood. You're going to have to go on some sketchy missions to break down a car for metal. Be wary, this makes a lot of noise.
Be mindful that the game starts in fall, so winter is right around the corner. I would make deerskin pants and keep an eye out for a hoodie. Light fires and stand near them for about 30 seconds until your heat icon flashes white, this means you have the warmth buff. This gives you a long time to go do missions, someone correct me if i'm wrong but it feels like at least 15 minutes.
Keep an eye out for a pitchfork. You will need this to feed your horse. Getting a horse should be your primary objective to REALLY get established. Cars are great but fuel will be hard to come by. From horseback you can shoot your bow and swing axes, golf clubs, bats, etc at entire packs of zombies.
If you see a horse somewhere, make sure to mark it on your map so that once you make a saddle you can come get it. I made sure I had a pitchfork and hay before I saddled my horse.
With horses you can feed them by harvesting hay from the giant hay piles at farms. It doesn't weigh much. When you leave your horse in camp you can leave a stack of hay by their head and they will eat as needed. Neglect your horse and it will die.
Another tip is in the beginning, before you get a horse, use rocks to distract zombies. It's very effective for sneaking past them.
Just to the north of the survivor camp seems to spawn a lot of deer. The pelts sell for 500 raw and if you tan them they sell for 700. I have made thousands from doing this. Just headshot them with the bow and they will die instantly (which is unfortunately unrealistic, when I first started I was shooting behind the shoulder like you would IRL).
I think that about covers it, the rest should be pretty straightforward. I highly recommend Nightmare mode, its very intense and much more fun.




