Temporal Rifts a little crazy?

[COLD COCO]

I just got the game a few days ago and I'm enjoying it a whole lot. Still exploring the menu options before creating a world but in the first world I started with no changes the first few days my home was surrounded by 6 temporal rifts and became apocalyptic. Is this normal or just terrible RNG and for the standard world start, isn't it a bit crazy? Could I possibly change the the way temporal rifts spawn and am I supposed to just wait out the apocalyptic rifts? Thank yall

Edited August 16, 2025 by COLD COCO

[DFlux]

Bad luck/RNG, it can be anywhere from calm(no rifts or monsters spawning), "low"(1 rift) all the way to apocalyptic(6 and very close, and monsters with high spawn frequency).  I find the best thing is to simply be indoors at night when rift activity is higher than low, and even on low if theres a rift nearby be ready to be indoors.

Theres not much that can be done, unless you set the world to not have them, but then that can be boring as theres no monsters at night with them off entirely.  Keep a distance from them, if they are in a spot thats inconvenient, leave the area and come back after a distance.  Another thing to do is keep the area well lit; rifts cannot form where there is artificial light that is strong enough, and they cannot spawn monsters if they are themselves lit up directly if you put a torch under them(be careful/quick when doing this though and make sure rain won't put the torch out).  Be mindful that as long as the rift activity is medium or higher that your going to have more than one rift, and also higher activity can cause monsters to spawn even in daytime periodicly, so keep armed when outdoors during high activity periods.

Later in the game lanterns and torch holders can make keeping the area outdoors better lit more practical(be mindful both take metal plates and lanterns need bees wax for candles and also glass/clear quartz).  Fence it off properly and make sure every area is lit and it'll make enemy spawns easier to manage during night time.  I'd avoid trying to spam oil lamps for the job though, they are to dim to prevent mob spawns in larger areas.  Once your outdoors yards are all lit and fenced though, the rifts won't be to much of a problem most nights, so long as monsters cannot also spawn inside the fenced areas.

Rifts despawn if your far enough away and 'relocate' to be nearer your location based on activity and lighting, so you can 'reset' the positions if they are surrounding your house to much as long as everything is lit properly.  Rift on top of your farm?  Place a few packed dirt blocks down, place a torch on one and maybe have a block above it if it rains often, go about 100-150 blocks in a direction and run back, rift will likely be gone.

[Fogman]

There are going to be times when it's dangerous to walk around outside, so it's helpful on the first day to prepare either a bed, or things you can do at night. Clay forming and stone tool knapping are good ways to efficiently use the indoor hours early on, but if you cannot find clay, and you already have many extra stone tools prepared, it isn't a bad idea to pass the night by sleeping in a straw bed to save real time.

Edited August 16, 2025 by Fogman

[williams_482]

Coming from the other block game, I found setting temporal rifts to invisible gave me a better experience. The rifts are still there, but you can't see or hear them and they don't drain your stability. And unlike removing the rifts entirely, monsters still spawn on the surface in meaningful numbers come night time. 

[COLD COCO]

I don't usually use forums so it was nice to get some replies. Thanks for the replies 

[vinnland]

The forum and the discord are a really helpful bunch. Learned lots here. 

[Katherine K]

Personally, I don't feel like rifts add anything to the game, so I play with them disabled. You still get monsters spawning in caves, and it really feels like that's where they work better in the current state of the game. Ditto temporal stability. I disable it entirely, but I would prefer an option to have it disabled on the surface only. Temporal stability dropping while you're caving makes perfect sense. On the surface, it just limits where you can set up your base, and that doesn't seem fun.

Obviously, a lot of this is quite subjective, but I do think that current state of the rifts, temporal stability, and temporal storms falls short of some of the objective bars for good game design. A mechanic that becomes a chore instead of a challenge once you progress and learn how to deal with it is not really a good survival sandbox mechanic. Rifts and temporal stability limits how and where you build, but not in a way that creates an ongoing challenge. You just learn how to properly light and spawn-proof your base, and you spend more time picking a location because now you also have to make sure the gear spins in the right direction when you're there. None of it makes survival harder. It just limits player choice. Similar situation with temporal storms. Enclosing yourself in a 2x1x2 space solves the problem, but that just isn't fun.

And I get that playing optimally does not have to be the most fun way to play a game. But there is a difference between playing a fun way not being optimal and it being actively punished by the game. The boundary between the two is going to be very different from player to player, so no solution will ever be truly universal. I completely understand the players that Leeroy Jenkins into the night during a temporal storm armed with a bronze falx and adrenaline. The problem's that it's basically that or hiding in the hole. You either take an action route or you make yourself completely safe in a dirt hole and go make yourself dinner while the storm passes. Neither of these fulfill the horror aspect and that seems like the entire point of having temporal mechanics in the first place.

So I'd like to see these revised. They're great narratively and thematically, but I really don't think they're there mechanically. Until some major changes happen, my recommendation is that if it makes your experience worse, just turn them off.

[Bomboclaat]

Temporal rifts are easy to deal with as long as you got leather or better armor, a decent weapon and a flat landscape so you can see and fight baddies much easier.

Grinded a little for flax twines and gears early one morning by a desert rift portal, could have probably have done so throughout the day but I never actually tried that yet.

None the less bullying drifters is always super fun and them making a "plap" sound when you hit them never fails to be funny to me.

[Krougal]

11 minutes ago, Bomboclaat said:

Temporal rifts are easy to deal with as long as you got leather or better armor, a decent weapon and a flat landscape so you can see and fight baddies much easier.

Grinded a little for flax twines and gears early one morning by a desert rift portal, could have probably have done so throughout the day but I never actually tried that yet.

None the less bullying drifters is always super fun and them making a "plap" sound when you hit them never fails to be funny to me.

Maybe for the first few storms, but they get harder as time goes by. I was mighty glad to have steel chain in December when a storm loaded with t3 and 4 baddies came. It was good fun, but the double headed didn't drop anything good for me  It also seems like it gets a lot darker, I could barely see in my lit base, even if I threw a lantern down next to me. I really hate the visual effect of the storm. It is just headache inducing cringe.

As far as regular nights, calm nights you should absolutely go out and do stuff. Low is usually fine too. Medium you need to maintain situational awareness. High I wouldn't bother. Apocalyptic? Fah'get'aboudit!

If you are just going to run non-stop from point A to B though, pretty much anytime is fine, just keep moving and don't fall off cliffs or into deep holes.

Edited August 17, 2025 by Krougal

[Bomboclaat]

16 minutes ago, Krougal said:

Maybe for the first few storms, but they get harder as time goes by. I was mighty glad to have steel chain in December when a storm loaded with t3 and 4 baddies came. It was good fun, but the double headed didn't drop anything good for me  It also seems like it gets a lot darker, I could barely see in my lit base, even if I threw a lantern down next to me. I really hate the visual effect of the storm. It is just headache inducing cringe.

As far as regular nights, calm nights you should absolutely go out and do stuff. Low is usually fine too. Medium you need to maintain situational awareness. High I wouldn't bother. Apocalyptic? Fah'get'aboudit!

If you are just going to run non-stop from point A to B though, pretty much anytime is fine, just keep moving and don't fall off cliffs or into deep holes.

I figured out how to survive and thrive outside during temporal storms without even taking any damage, although it's quite cheesy, it works.

Just hop in a large lake or the ocean or any large wide body of water and any enemy AI in the water will be confused and janky. Almost every enemy won't even go after you they will just swim around. Anyone who do come after you will be super slow as well and if they get close just swim left or right to dodge or let yourself sink and stab or slash them from below. You do have to watch your back for shivers and bowtorns are still the biggest threat, though they hardly attack either they still will every once in a while so watch out.

In my second playthrough I'm in I went out during a heavy storm and the only reason I died was not due to any rift enemies, but close to the beach behind a birch bush near the sand a fucking GRIZZLY BEAR appeared out of the corner of my eye and tore me a new one, couldn't even swim away because water slows me down and didn't want to face the horrors back on land, I'm using the Rust and Rot mod to add more enemy types so shit's even freakier out there .

[CastIronFabric]

In my personal opinion the best way to start playing the game is to play about 20-30 hours in Explorer mode. Then later go back and play the full experience.

Why? because its a bit hard to learn how clay forming works, what materials are most important first, how to build a starter base, how to prospect, etc without the distraction of monsters and storms.

I personally do not play with those things on at all, that said I still think its wise to play to about midgame with it off as a first time experience, unless you like stress and being overloaded.

[Toroic]

I'm not sure what the ratio is, but a lot of players find temporal storms annoying and don't engage with the mechanic, and everyone who has found an otherwise cool base location that has low temporal stability on the surface has found it an annoying mechanic.

On 8/17/2025 at 1:03 AM, Katherine K said:

Personally, I don't feel like rifts add anything to the game, so I play with them disabled. You still get monsters spawning in caves, and it really feels like that's where they work better in the current state of the game. Ditto temporal stability. I disable it entirely, but I would prefer an option to have it disabled on the surface only. Temporal stability dropping while you're caving makes perfect sense. On the surface, it just limits where you can set up your base, and that doesn't seem fun.

Obviously, a lot of this is quite subjective, but I do think that current state of the rifts, temporal stability, and temporal storms falls short of some of the objective bars for good game design. A mechanic that becomes a chore instead of a challenge once you progress and learn how to deal with it is not really a good survival sandbox mechanic. Rifts and temporal stability limits how and where you build, but not in a way that creates an ongoing challenge. You just learn how to properly light and spawn-proof your base, and you spend more time picking a location because now you also have to make sure the gear spins in the right direction when you're there. None of it makes survival harder. It just limits player choice. Similar situation with temporal storms. Enclosing yourself in a 2x1x2 space solves the problem, but that just isn't fun.

And I get that playing optimally does not have to be the most fun way to play a game. But there is a difference between playing a fun way not being optimal and it being actively punished by the game. The boundary between the two is going to be very different from player to player, so no solution will ever be truly universal. I completely understand the players that Leeroy Jenkins into the night during a temporal storm armed with a bronze falx and adrenaline. The problem's that it's basically that or hiding in the hole. You either take an action route or you make yourself completely safe in a dirt hole and go make yourself dinner while the storm passes. Neither of these fulfill the horror aspect and that seems like the entire point of having temporal mechanics in the first place.

So I'd like to see these revised. They're great narratively and thematically, but I really don't think they're there mechanically. Until some major changes happen, my recommendation is that if it makes your experience worse, just turn them off.

This basically sums up my thoughts about temporal storms.

I also find the "surface" tier of rust enemies to be a net negative nuisance because they rarely drop anything of value (and usually nothing at all) while also not being remotely a challenge to defeat.  Like temporal storms, I generally don't want to engage with the content and don't feel there's a reward when I do.

While I don't enjoy getting jumped by a bear within a couple hundred blocks of spawn, killing a bear is actually rewarding in terms of the resources you get from them.  Getting randomly oneshot by a high tier enemy that spawns inside your base (ignoring the light levels because of a temporal storm) isn't fun.