How does Nightmare Level work in Nightmare Frontier?

Two linked numbers: Nightmare Pressure rises as you raid, and when it crosses a threshold, the district's Nightmare Level (I to IV) ticks up — more and harder enemies, but better loot. At 1.0, level thresholds are the same across all districts and starting pressure was lowered. Press X to see levels, and V for the current Nightmare buffs.

What does Delegate do in Nightmare Frontier?

Delegating moves a Scavenger out of your raid roster and converts them into Manpower — the resource that Headquarters/Compound unlocks require. The Scavenger is gone from active duty, which the game only properly explains in a later tutorial, so don't press it early just to see what happens.

Do you lose everything when you die in Nightmare Frontier?

Falling in battle means losing what you're carrying — that's the core extraction gamble. A Headquarters upgrade tree can raise the percentage of items retained after a failed run, and since 1.0 winning battles guarantees nothing either: you only keep what you actually loot.

Can I attack any Dreadweaver with any Scavenger?

You can, but since 1.0 a Scavenger who attacks the Dreadweaver born of their own Fear gains Horror status, raising Nightmare Pressure by 1 per turn until they overcome it by slaying any Dreadweaver. Check who fears what before you assign targets.

Nightmare Frontier Beginner Guide: Nightmare Pressure, Delegate & First Raids

Quick Answer: Nightmare Frontier's combat is fully deterministic — no hit chances — so every fight is solvable if you read the board: push enemies into hazards (or, at the Docks, into the sea — instant defeat), chain kills to keep your turn going, and bounce ricochet shots off metal objects to hit enemies behind cover. The strategic layer is a risk dial: going deeper raises the Nightmare Level (more enemies, better loot), your backpack is small, and dying costs you your haul — so extraction timing is the game. Two systems the tutorial under-explains and this guide covers: Nightmare Pressure and the Delegate button (don't press it before you know what Manpower is). Written at 1.0.0.1607, July 23, 2026 — this covers your first hours, not district 100.

A battle at Nightmare Level IV: the pressure bar at the top, named enemies Cannon Head and Mr. Cactus on the field during the enemy turn The bar at the top is the Nightmare Level — this fight is at IV, the maximum. You chose this. (Screenshot: Ice Code Games)

The Loop in One Paragraph

Raid a district (a chain of map nodes — fights, facilities, anomalies, quests), loot what you can carry, and either extract with your haul or push a node deeper. Back at the Hideout — the only Nightmare-proof corner of the city — you spend loot upgrading gear and unlock trees, manage the roster, then go again. The 1.0 Prologue starts you with 3 Scavengers (up from 2 in EA) and the early-game was deliberately softened: higher max HP on every class, cheaper story quests, an easier transmitter mission.

Nightmare Level vs. Nightmare Pressure (the System Nobody Explains)

The game shows you an X-key overlay and a Tab detail view and explains neither well — a launch-week forum thread titled "unexplained things this newbie doesn't understand" is entirely about this. Here's the assembled picture (partly community-documented, flagged accordingly):

Nightmare Pressure is the rising number. Nightmare Level (I-IV) is the tier it unlocks: when pressure crosses a threshold, the level ticks up.
Higher level = more and harder enemies, better loot. At 1.0, more enemies appear at Level I but fewer spawn right at level transitions, thresholds are the same across all districts, and every district's starting pressure was lowered.
Community-documented (from the player who reverse-engineered it on the forums, not yet in official docs): finishing an expedition raises that district's starting pressure based on the Nightmare Level you finished at — so farming a district repeatedly heats it up. Treat this as the working model until the developers document it.
Since 1.0, Horror status feeds the same number: a Scavenger who attacks the Dreadweaver of their own Fear raises Nightmare Pressure by 1 per turn until they overcome it (by killing any Dreadweaver). Party composition isn't just about who you'll face — it's about who can safely fight what. Press V in raids to see active Nightmare buffs.
The Deadwood (Fear of Forests) only spawns at Nightmare Levels 3-4 at 1.0, and its Coffin interactables with it — deep raids have their own enemy roster.

Fears Pick Your Enemies

Every rescued Scavenger carries one of 16 Fears (visible on their character sheet — "Fear of Horses," "Fear of Spiders," and so on), and each Fear attracts its own Dreadweaver type. Who you bring decides which monsters and hazards the raid contains, and which resources you can harvest from their carcasses. This is the game's squad-building axis: you're not picking classes for a fixed enemy list, you're picking the enemy list itself.

The equipment screen: Brawler "Shrapnel Sid" with Fear of Horses listed under active effects, stash and party bar below Every Scavenger's Fear is on their sheet — it decides what hunts you. The 1.0 Transfer Items button (bottom) finally makes gear shuffling painless. (Screenshot: Ice Code Games)

Deterministic Combat: the Three Tricks

No dice means the puzzle is the whole game. The three mechanics that separate a cleared board from a dead crew:

Push everything. Melee attacks displace units (a signature the developer carried over from Rogue Waters). Shove enemies into burning stoves, into each other, into your partner's line of fire — and at the Docks, into the water, which is instant defeat for any unit. Positioning your own crew away from the waterline matters for the same reason.
Chain kills. Kills extend your turn (the store page's own phrase: "chain your kills to keep the turn going") — the achievement stats show this is core skill expression: killing 3 enemies in one turn is an achievement 11.4% of players have, 7+ in one round 5.4%.
Ricochet. Bounce handgun shots off metal interactables to reach enemies behind high cover — some ricochet objects add Burning, Plague or Stun to the bullet. Only handguns and handgun-like pocket items ricochet, at appropriate upgrade levels. Since 1.0, hover-highlighting shows Line of Sight (white highlights) and a Line of Fire indicator, so you can read what's actually reachable before committing.

And check Dreadweaver susceptibilities (1.0 feature) in enemy tooltips: susceptible enemies take significantly more damage from specific effects — Burning, Plague, Push or a damage type. The tooltip tells you the answer to the puzzle; read it.

Extraction Math: When to Leave

Backpack space is limited and death costs you your carried haul. Since 1.0, winning a fight guarantees nothing — you keep only what you loot, so looting the board matters as much as clearing it.
Scrapping (dismantling items into components mid-raid) unlocks after the Prologue — but it's less efficient than salvaging back at the Hideout. Scrap to make space, not to optimize.
Early on, extract early and often. The achievement funnel is blunt: 10.8% of players have extracted safely once, 4.4% have done it ten times, 1.5% twenty-five times. Consistent modest hauls beat one greedy dead run — especially before you've bought the Headquarters upgrade that raises the % of items retained on a failed run.

The Victory screen after a fight: loot to grab, backpack contents, and the three-Scavenger party Winning shows you the board's loot — since 1.0 there's no separate victory reward. What goes in the backpack is what you keep. (Screenshot: Ice Code Games)

Delegate, Manpower, and the Hideout

The Hideout's tabs (Map, Quarters, Equipment, Compounds, Compendium) hide one trap for new players: the Delegate button in Quarters. Delegating a Scavenger converts them into Manpower — the resource that Headquarters/Compound unlocks require (a change from earlier builds where Manpower simply equaled rescued Scavengers). The Scavenger leaves your active roster. The game explains this in a tutorial that, as one launch-week player found out after four hours, arrives well after the button does. Rule of thumb: rescue surplus Scavengers first, delegate the ones whose Fear you don't want defining your raids.

Also worth knowing early:

Upgrades go multi-level at once since 1.0: with enough resources, the upgrade popup lets you jump an item straight to any unlocked level.
Rested characters (left in the Hideout during at least one victorious raid) show a "Resting" status — the tooltip tells you who's been sitting out.
Pocket knives and pocket pistols now have limited uses (a 1.0 change) — they're consumables to budget, not free extra actions.

FAQ

Which district should I raid first? The Slums is the story's starting district and 1.0 gave it a distinct character: more Safe Passages than anywhere else (Chinatown got more Cinderlights and Anomaly Fields, the Wealthy District more Lost Souls, the Docks the overboard mechanic). Between that and the easier 1.0 transmitter mission, the Slums is the intended on-ramp.

Can I quit mid-raid without losing progress? Yes — the game autosaves at the start of every combat turn; ignore the scary quit dialog. See Bugs & Fixes for the details and the launch-day issues worth knowing about.

What's worth looting beyond gear? Jars of Essence (5 Nightmare Essence each at 1.0, 10 with the corresponding HQ upgrade) and Piles of Junk (convert to 10 Parts after a victorious run) are the compact value carries. Monster parts fuel equipment upgrades — which since 1.0 cost by rarity and are cheaper overall.

Sources: the official 1.0 patch notes (version 1.0.0.1607) and Steam store page for all mechanics labeled as 1.0 features; Steam global achievement percentages (captured July 23, 2026); and launch-week forum threads for the Nightmare Pressure model (community-documented, flagged above) and the Delegate confusion. We haven't documented every district and Fear yet — this page covers the systems that decide your first hours. Written July 23, 2026.