Simulation — 4 Special Modes
Beyond the regular Chaos loop, Chaos Zero Nightmare also has a Simulation group of 4 separate game modes, each with its own rules and rewards. This page summarizes how each one plays.
Simulation is the umbrella name for 4 special game modes separate from the regular Chaos loop: Basin of Hyperspace (a floor-based tower with 2 variants), Spiral Tower of Screams (a 150-floor spiral tower), Sortie (a deck-building roguelike mode) and Full-Scale Offensive (re-fighting past-season bosses for score).
Simulation — 4 Special Modes
| Mode | Summary |
|---|---|
| Basin of Hyperspace （基点） |
A floor-based tower with 2 variants — just revamped down to 8 floors, with a much harder but much more rewarding final floor.
See detail below ↓ |
| Spiral Tower of Screams （絶叫の螺旋塔） | A 150-floor spiral tower fought in waves of 5 floors at a time; reaching the top registers the character as CLEAR in the exploration record. |
| Sortie （出撃） |
A deck-building roguelike mode: no Save Data is used, and combatants/cards are chosen randomly each run.
See detail below ↓ |
| Full-Scale Offensive （総力戦） |
Uses 3 teams (9 combatants) to re-fight past Great Rift bosses for score, during a limited-time event.
See detail below ↓ |
The official version fully replaced the beta — every floor was rebuilt from scratch, so players climb again from floor 1. The beta had a defense-based damage buff that the official version removed, while reducing healing by 50% instead (shield-based teams are still favored). Two other beta limits were also removed: the 12-card-per-turn generation cap, and +10 stress per turn during boss fights. Any combatant who reaches the top is registered as CLEAR in the exploration record.
Wave structure: every 5 floors form 1 wave, with the last battle of the wave always being a boss — it feels more like 5 consecutive battles than climbing floors. From floor 1 to 100, the party can be changed every 5 floors; from floor 101 onward, the same 3 chosen combatants must clear the rest of the tower.
Special battle rule: only a single party (3 members) is used for the entire climb; and there's a unique rule — any elemental attack counts as a weak-point hit (×1.25 damage), regardless of the normal elemental matchups.
Spiral Tower of Screams has 150 floors and NO turn limit per battle (unlike Basin of Hyperspace, which has one) — the source hasn't mentioned any weekly attempt limit yet.
Sortie （出撃） — Deck-Building Roguelike Mode
Sortie is a deck-building roguelike mode, entirely separate from regular Chaos rules — playing one Sortie run feels like playing a whole standalone deck-building roguelike game.
Community-compiled — no official announcement yet
Main changes from regular Chaos
Combat changes
The 3-stage flow
Stage 1 — Star Wanderer offers 3 random Fates (choose 1), or you land on the Pilgrim's Path / Unbeliever's Path (see below). Add 1 combatant (choose 1 of 3 random). Defeat the outer-Chaos boss.
Stage 2 — Star Wanderer offers 3 more random Fates. Add 1 slightly-strengthened combatant (choose 1 of 3 random). Defeat the Chaos core boss.
Stage 3 — Star Wanderer offers 3 more random Fates. Add a 4th party member (choose 1 of 3 random — this member has many restrictions, see note below). Defeat the deepest Chaos boss.
The last member to join comes with 2 already-epiphanized unique cards, but cannot use Ego Skills (including any preset partner's), cannot equip gear, doesn't appear in card-removal or epiphany choices, and shows no HP bar under its character icon.
Pilgrim's Path & Unbeliever's Path
Each Chaos run, the system randomly places the player on the Pilgrim's Path or the Unbeliever's Path — it can't be chosen. The Pilgrim's Path forces the «Austerity» debuff; the Unbeliever's Path forces the «Distrust» debuff. Taking either path means no regular Fate and a harder run, but reaching the deep layer this way trades for 1 very powerful God Card or God Fate — high risk, high reward.
The exact choice sequences leading to specific God Cards/Fates are recorded inconsistently by the community (many conflicting reports), so this page only states the general mechanic without a detailed lookup table.
Rewards
Entering Sortie costs 30 Aether, but defeating the first boss refunds the full 30 Aether. Reason (the 0/3 brain-shaped gauge) recovers 3 points/week, stacking up to 9 max; it can also be obtained by spending 60 Aether.
In the Season 4 overhaul, Sortie gained a Hardcore Mode with its own leaderboard, exclusive missions, titles, a Sortie Archive, and a new Chaos Core boss fight. The source hasn't yet described the exact scoring/ranking rules for Hardcore Mode.
Basin of Hyperspace
Basin of Hyperspace has 2 variants, kept in their original Japanese names: 次元の夜明け (Dimensional Dawn) and 次元の黄昏 (Dimensional Twilight). The source hasn't described the specific difference between the two yet.
After the latest overhaul, Basin of Hyperspace was shortened to 8 floors, with the final floor becoming much harder but also much more rewarding than before.
Before entering the tower, the party picks 3 Support Effects from the table below — a new system replacing the old one.
| Effect | Detail |
|---|---|
| Draw Cards | +30% Void damage; drawing 3 cards in a turn → +50% damage for 0-cost cards over the next 2 turns. |
| Use Basic Cards | +30% Passion damage; using 3 basic cards in a turn → +50% damage for normal-attack cards over the next 2 turns. |
| Discard Cards | +15% attack-card damage; discarding 4 cards in a turn → +35% attack-card damage over the next 2 turns. |
Turn Count is shared between the 2 teams in Basin of Hyperspace — turns used by team 1 carry over and reduce team 2's total, so both teams need to be reasonably balanced. You earn 3 stars by clearing within 12 turns, 2 stars within 14 turns.
Basin of Hyperspace unlocks at Captain Level 30.
Dimensional Twilight — 10-basin walkthrough
The 10 basins of the current Dimensional Twilight rotation — recommended level and the Main Attribute each team should bring, plus the reasoning behind which enemy to kill first (mechanics only, not a specific-character team comp).
Dimensional Twilight support buff: Damage Amount of cards with Inspiration increases by 50% (1 per turn).
| Basin | Rec. level | Team 1 — attribute to bring | Team 2 — attribute to bring |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 35-39 | Order | Passion |
| 2 | 35-39 | Order | Order |
| 3 | 43-47 | Order | Instinct |
| 4 | 43-47 | Order | Justice |
| 5 | 52-57 | Order | Void |
| 6 | 52-57 | Order | Passion |
| 7 | 62 | Order | Instinct |
| 8 | 67 | Order | Order |
| 9 | 71 | Order | Justice |
| 10 | 75 | Order | Void |
⛔ Enemy HP, Crystal/Zeronium reward numbers, and the source's specific-character team comps have all been stripped out (that's opinion, not mechanics) — only recommended level/attribute and target-priority reasoning are kept so you can apply it with your own roster.
Full-Scale Offensive （総力戦） — Re-fighting Old Bosses
Full-Scale Offensive is a limited-time mode: players re-fight 3 bosses that previously appeared in past Great Rifts to earn score. Since each team has only 3 members and 3 teams are needed to face all 3 bosses, players need 9 combatants ready.
Full-Scale Offensive Season 3 — 3 New Bosses
Season 3 adds 3 brand-new bosses: Judas, Colossus and Beginning of Desire. The source has only revealed their names so far, with no mechanic/stat details announced yet.
Zero System
Zero System runs alongside regular Chaos Manifestation: instead of a static difficulty increase, the system generates a Codex — a harder Chaos run with randomized penalties. In exchange, Zero System grants a much higher Save Data value than Chaos Manifestation and lets you spend accumulated Chaos Orbs on 3 upgrade branches. Zero System unlocks at Captain Level 40.
List of Codex Penalties
Each Codex carries 1-3 random penalties from the 10 families below (each family has several tiers — the higher the tier, the harsher the penalty). Taking a penalty increases the % Chaos Orb you earn after clearing the run — a reward for choosing a harder run, not a stat tied to any item.
Each penalty has an equal 3.7037% chance to appear in a Codex. The number of penalties depends on the Codex's rarity: an Uncommon Codex carries 1 penalty, a Legendary Codex carries 3.
| Penalty (family · tier) | Effect | +% Chaos Orb |
|---|---|---|
| Tyrant 1 | Elite and Boss Area monsters gain +10% Attack and max Health. | +10% |
| Tyrant 2 | Elite and Boss Area monsters gain +20% Attack and max Health. | +20% |
| Tyrant 3 | Elite and Boss Area monsters gain +30% Attack and max Health. | +30% |
| Tyrant 4 | Elite and Boss Area monsters gain +40% Attack and max Health. | +40% |
| Elite 1 | Adds 2 Elite Spots to the map. | +10% |
| Elite 2 | Adds 4 Elite Spots to the map. | +20% |
| Elite 3 | Adds 6 Elite Spots to the map. | +30% |
| Elite 4 | Adds 8 Elite Spots to the map. | +40% |
| Plague 1 | Max Health decreases by 20%. | +10% |
| Plague 2 | Max Health decreases by 30%. | +20% |
| Plague 3 | Max Health decreases by 40%. | +30% |
| Plague 4 | Max Health decreases by 50%. | +40% |
| Loss 1 | Credits earned from battle spots decrease by 20%. | +10% |
| Loss 2 | Credits earned from battle spots decrease by 40%. | +20% |
| Loss 3 | Credits earned from battle spots decrease by 60%. | +30% |
| Loss 4 | Credits earned from battle spots decrease by 80%. | +40% |
| Gangrene 1 | Max Health decreases by 1% at the start of each turn. | +10% |
| Gangrene 2 | Max Health decreases by 2% at the start of each turn. | +20% |
| Gangrene 3 | Max Health decreases by 3% at the start of each turn. | +30% |
| Rage 1 | Monsters gain 1 Fury every 3 turns. | +10% |
| Rage 2 | Monsters gain 2 Fury every 3 turns. | +20% |
| Harden 1 | Monsters gain 1 Resolve every 3 turns. | +20% |
| Harden 2 | Monsters gain 2 Resolve every 3 turns. | +40% |
| Revenge 1 | Each time a monster dies, other monsters gain 1 Fury. | +10% |
| Revenge 2 | Each time a monster dies, other monsters gain 2 Fury. | +20% |
| Neglect 1 | Randomly discards 1 card at the start of each turn. | +50% |
| Anxiety 1 | Cannot rest at safe zones. | +50% |
Before each run, the system offers 3 Codex choices — pick the one with penalties that affect your current team the least. For example, if your team already has a dedicated healer (like Mika), you can safely pick the Anxiety penalty (can't rest at safe zones), since your team doesn't really need to rest to heal.
Divine Intervention — 4 Divine Voices
At Tier 15 difficulty (a newly added tier), a Codex has a chance to also carry a Divine Intervention — one of the 4 voices below. A Codex with a Divine Intervention always comes with 1 Penalty and 1 Divine Fate (its own reward) — in exchange for a much bigger reward boost, you cannot obtain Save Data from that run. It's a trade-off, not a requirement.
| Divine Voice | Penalty | Divine Fate |
|---|---|---|
| Kyrken's Oracle | At the end of the turn, if AP is remaining, increase allies' Stress by 2. | When using a card with Cost 2 or higher, gain 2 AP and draw 1 card. |
| Diallos's Glory | Increases Damage taken by allies by 30%. | Shield gained is increased by 200%. At the end of the turn, retain Shield and deal Fixed Damage to all enemies equal to the Shield you have. |
| Sekred's Breath | Changes the Hit Count of all Attack Cards to 1. | Increases Damage by 200% for each Hit removed from an Attack Card. |
| Nihilum's Gaze | Using 4 Attack Cards ends the turn immediately. | Triples the Hit Count of Attack Cards. |
Zero System — 3 Upgrade Branches
The Zero System Revamp splits the upgrade tree into 3 independent branches, each with 3 tiers, 26 nodes total — bought with Chaos Orbs accumulated after each run.
Boosts base stats (Attack) and difficulty-mitigation effects: higher Epiphany chance, cheaper equipment at the Dellang Shop, more Credits earned.
| Tier | Node | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Basic Calculation Output | Increases Attack by 8 per rank. |
| 1 | Logic Barrier Enhancement | Increases Attack by 4 per rank. |
| 1 | System Integrity | Increases Attack by 12 per rank. |
| 2 | Cognitive Flash | Increases Epiphany Chance by 1% per rank. |
| 2 | Trade Guild Sponsor | Reduces equipment cost at the Dellang Shop by 4% per rank. |
| 3 | Data Mining | Increases Credits earned from battle spots by 4%. |
| 3 | Self-Repair Routine | Increases Mental Breakdown recovery chance by 10%. |
Focused on RNG control: higher chance to encounter a Divine Delegate, free training at safe zones, and unlocking the Meditation feature.
| Tier | Node | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unidentified Coordinate Call | When entering Chaos, increases the chance of encountering a Divine Delegate by 100%. |
| 1 | Parallel Processing Amp. | Increases Attack by 8 per rank. |
| 1 | Multi-Layer Firewall Deployment | Increases Defense by 4 per rank. |
| 1 | Structural Integrity Verification | Increases Health by 12 per rank. |
| 2 | Depths Scan | Increases Epiphany Chance by 1% per rank. |
| 2 | Restock | Reduces equipment cost at the Dellang Shop by 4% per rank. |
| 2 | Self-Directed Learning | Free training at safe zones. |
| 3 | Greed Signal Detection | Upon entering a stage, increases the chance of an extra Aether-Eater event in one Normal Battle Area by 1%. |
| 3 | Hostile Signal Detection | The Senectus invasion event appears more frequently. |
| 3 | Cognitive Reconstruction | Unlocks the Meditation feature at safe zones. |
The strongest branch: Identification Signal Duplication lets you pick which Combatant gets card duplication, removes the Aether-Eater's shield, and reduces allies' Stress.
| Tier | Node | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Broadened Diplomatic Mandate | When encountering the Lion Divine Delegate, an extra option appears offering a stronger effect instead of a penalty. |
| 1 | Calculation Overclock | Increases Attack by 8 per rank. |
| 1 | Firewall Encryption | Increases Defense by 4 per rank. |
| 1 | Nanoparticle Reconfiguration | Increases Health by 12 per rank. |
| 2 | Ascendant Revelation | Increases Divine Epiphany Chance by 3% per rank. |
| 2 | Defense Code Deletion | During the Aether-Eater event, the Aether-Eater no longer gains Shield. |
| 3 | High-Density Information Extraction | Increases the Monster Card drop rate in the Elite Area by 10% per rank. |
| 3 | Threat Removal Reward | Upon defeating Senectus in an invasion event, reduces allies' Stress by 10. |
| 3 | Identification Signal Duplication | Random Card Copy becomes Selected Combatant Copy. |
The source recommends getting Identification Signal Duplication from Administrator Mode first (so you can choose which Combatant gets card duplication), then maxing out Authority Expansion to regain quality-of-life perks for every run (free training, Dellang Shop rerolls, unlocking Meditation).
Once you've unlocked every node in a Zero System skill tree, you can reset that tree WITHOUT needing to re-level up to the higher tiers again — letting you pick exactly the nodes you want instead of spending resources on ones you don't need yet.
The 4-mode Simulation table is compiled from game update notes, cross-checked against a Japanese community wiki and an internal record compiled from official Korean/English sources (specific source names are not listed here). Anything not yet announced by the source is marked as such, with no further speculation.
See also
Frequently Asked Questions about Simulation
Simulation is a group of 4 modes separate from the regular Chaos loop (repeated daily-resource farming) — each mode has its own rules, its own time limit or entry condition, and unique rewards not found in regular Chaos.
No. According to the source, Sortie is the only mode in Simulation that doesn't use/create Save Data — instead, players are rewarded with Black Matter, Tactical Data, and 'Unconscious Awakening' accumulation to raise the level cap.
8 floors. The final floor is much harder but also much more rewarding than before the overhaul.
Zero System generates a Codex — a randomized Chaos run with multiple penalties instead of a static difficulty bump — giving a much higher Save Data value, and lets you spend Chaos Orbs on its own 3 upgrade branches (separate from Chaos Manifestation). It unlocks at Captain Level 40.
There's no single 'best' Codex — pick the one whose penalties affect your current roster the least (e.g., if you have a dedicated healer, the Anxiety penalty is safe since you don't need to rest at safe zones), and weigh the Divine Intervention trade-off (losing Save Data for a much bigger reward) based on what that run is for.