Karma Gate

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Karma Gates are massive, intricate Gates that separate adjoining regions. To enter a Karma Gate, Slugcat must meet the Gate's Karma requirement, denoted by the Karma symbols displayed in the Gate's interior. Each Gate has a distinct Karma requirement to activate, which may differ depending on which region the Gate is entered from.

Activation

A Karma Gate after having met its Karma requirement as the Monk

Steam produced during the activation process

When a Karma Gate's requirement is met, Slugcat can activate it by standing still for about 3 seconds inside the chamber. Upon activation, the Karma symbols in the chambers disappear, and the shutter begins to close behind Slugcat, sealing them until the Gate's animation finishes. As Monk, a Gate's Karma requirement only needs to be fulfilled once; subsequent activations do not require a specific Karma level. Karma Gates already used within a cycle or prior to a starvation cycle are rendered inoperable for the remainder of the cycle.

If Slugcat does not meet a Karma Gate's requirement, attempting to use it causes their current Karma level to flash red on the HUD. If a Karma Gate has already been used and rendered inoperable, the Karma symbols in the Gate's chambers flash red. In either case, the Gate does not activate.

Appearance

Karma Gates comprise 2 open chambers separated by intricate mechanical shutters. When Karma Gates are idle, their chambers contain white projections of Karma symbols which represent the Karma requirement for entry. When a Gate is activated, these symbols disappear for the duration of the Gate's animation. If the player revisits a previously activated Gate while playing as Monk, the Karma symbols are replaced with light blue circular symbols, denoting a lack of a Karma requirement for the Gate's activation.

Variants

Karma Gates come in two variants: 'standard' Gates, which utilize heating elements below the Gate's chambers to heat water that falls from a reservoir above the Gate to create steam, and 'electric' Gates, which have yellow projections of Karma symbols, lack a reservoir and heating element, and release steam from an unseen source. 'Electric' Gates are located exclusively in regions that are mostly or entirely above the ground, and contain several electronic elements that standard Gates lack - namely, four signal lights indicating the stages of the Gate activation process, as well as an indicator bar that drains throughout the activation.

• 
  An 'electric' Karma Gate at the beginning of the activation process
• 
  After the activation process has completed
• 
  Resetting for another activation

Trivia

• A new region is technically entered - the map to it being made available - about a third of the way through the activation process.
• The steam produced during a Karma Gate's activation process is intended to function as a decontaminant.
• The indicator bar present at most 'electric' Gates is not present in either one of Five Pebbles' Karma Gates.

• The left side of the Karma Gate connecting Five Pebbles and Metropolis is inaccessible for every Slugcat except Artificer, who can only pass it after meeting Five Pebbles.
  • However, the right side can still be accessed using Dev Tools or by exploiting bugs. Doing so allows to enter Metropolis, although with much fewer Scavenger spawns.
  • Survivor and Monk can also randomly spawn in Metropolis during Expedition. Monk's effect of removing Karma requirements for Gates that they have passed through allows them to return, however Survivor cannot return without the use of the Passage perk once they have left.

• A Karma Gate's resetting animation after a successful activation lasts about 23 seconds, the same duration as its activation animation.
• Karma Gates can sense Monk's "balance with nature", and so "stay open for this saintlike being".
• A dev log talking about the switch from alpha Gates to the current ones
• A series of dev logs about the development of modern Gates