Rust was initially created as a clone of DayZ, a popular mod for ARMA 2, with crafting elements akin to those in Minecraft.

Dangerous wildlife replaced zombies as the primary environmental threat and several fundamental revisions to the crafting system were released, along with general improvements and feature additions.

The game also introduced immutable, predetermined skin colour and biological sex tied to players' Steam account details.

As a multiplayer-only video game,[1] Rust pits players against each other in a harsh, open world environment with the sole goal of survival.

[3][15] There are a number of different types of bullet for each gun, including high velocity and explosive,[16] thus allowing for more diverse strategy.

These player-controlled vehicles, and unlike the offensive AI entities, can be destroyed by surface-to-air missiles that players can position outside bases.

The Chinook additionally travels to a randomly picked monument—automatically generated structures guarded by violent NPCs[25]—found in the game world and drops a locked supply crate that opens after a length of time, inviting PvP interactions.

[26] Compounds are safezones that provide players with a place to trade resources, overlooked by automated high-damage auto turrets that fire on anyone who draws a weapon, discouraging betrayal.

[27] Rust's development began as a clone of DayZ,[28] a popular survival mod for ARMA 2, featuring elements derived from Minecraft.

[30] Following its alpha launch, Facepunch actively released updates for Rust adding mechanics like animals, hunting, armour and weapons.

In February 2014, the developers removed zombies, a temporary enemy, from Rust, replacing them with red mutant bears and wolves.

[31] Early on developers made the choice not to try to populate the world with interesting locations to explore, but rather provide the ability to create them.

[32] In late 2014, developers released an experimental mode of Rust and ported it to a then-unreleased game engine, Unity 5, enhancing the graphics, and in turn, improving the shader mechanics and texture realism,[33] as well as allowed for larger procedurally generated worlds.

[40] Upon rollout, akin to skin colour, players were automatically assigned a biological sex permanently linked to their Steam account.

[50] Since Rust's official release in 2018, Facepunch have continued to support the game with updates, including the introduction of new weapons,[52] vehicles, NPC-populated locations,[53] explorable areas,[54] and graphical overhauls.

[57] A third DLC, the "Voice Props Pack", was made available in July 2021 which included audio-related devices, such as boomboxes and cassette recorders.

[62] Rust received mixed reviews following its alpha release, with many denoting the unfinished nature and lack of polish.

[64] Matthew Cox of Rock, Paper, Shotgun said it was smart of the developers to switch to the Unity engine in late 2014 due to the game's instability.

In Cox's review, he noted many glitches in the late 2014 version, including unresponsive animals, framerate issues and unstable servers.

[2] IGN's Mitch Dyer did not enjoy the combat, calling Rust a "semi-broken" game he felt unable to recommend.

[67][68] Notably, Kotaku's Luke Plunkett considered the similarities, saying it felt as though someone had intended to create a game whereby Dayz and Minecraft could be played simultaneously.

The YouTube channel Extra Credits commended Rust for promoting diversity by randomly selecting a player's in-game race.

[71] In response to this criticism, Garry Newman commented he felt some trepidation about adding the racial feature, fearing it might be seen as the original character model "blacked up".

[72] Newman discussed the reasoning behind not providing the option to choose their character's gender and race in an article in The Guardian, saying Rust is about survival, not characterization and identity.

For instance, Luke Winkie of PC Gamer summarised the game saying, "Wake up naked, run for your life, do horrible things to one another.

"[11] He described the beginner experience as "quite prickly" but continued on to praise the combat, joking that "connecting [a] hatchet with an idiot's head feels great".

"If you can look past a community that tends to be toxic, Rust's sprawling plains and toppled landmarks are an excellent backdrop for player-driven storytelling and pitched, dramatic moments.

[7] Game Informer's Javy Gwaltney reiterated this, explaining it felt demotivating when they died solely because they came in contact with someone more experienced.

[11] Cox agreed noting the game's brutality only added to the gratification a player felt when they managed to eventually succeed.

[81] Additionally, Rust's usage of sound was commended by Gwaltney, who regarded it as compelling due to the requirement of players to listen to their surroundings to survive.