Layers
From Rose and Maria down to the Heart — what the Dark Zone's layers are called and what each one holds.
The Dark Zone goes down in layers, from Rose and Maria to the Heart. The first two carry the names of walls that once stood there; past them each layer is mostly ground the Cascade swapped in from another world.
| Layer | What is there |
|---|---|
| Rose | The ruins of the first wall, the first caches. |
| Maria | The ruins of the second wall. |
| Ash | Ground from a world of fire. |
| Hush | Ground from a world of ice. |
| Talmora | Ground from an ocean world. |
| Xendar | Ground from all of those worlds at once. |
| Heart | Svitanok stabilisers. A party that brings them down eases the air for everybody for a season. |
Where each layer begins
The distances from the line are on the Dark Zone page on the site: the game publishes them, and the handbook does not copy them. The same page shows which filter a scrubber needs in each layer, and where it burns fuel as well. Where the Heart lies, neither the site nor the handbook will say.
In the game each layer is named in words as you walk into it, and the sign right of your hotbar says how far past the wall you stand.
What gets harder with depth
The further in a cache stands, the more it holds. What gets harder with depth is the ground and the distance — the monsters are only a little worse than at home. The air gets worse too; the mask, the filters and the sealed room are on Air.
The Heart
A party that brings down the Svitanok stabilisers around the Heart stills it, eases the air for everybody for a season and is written into the register for it. What the Heart guards is paid out only beside the Heart itself.