Follow the Detector, Dig, Then Unlock
Find buried treasure in Nomad Drive by following a Metal Detector's increasingly rapid beeps until they become a continuous tone, then dig at that spot with a Shovel. Fully uncover the chest, locate its buried key nearby, and hold the matching key at the lock while holding interact to unlock it.
Get the Tools for Each Treasure Objective
Picking up a Metal Detector brings up Buried Riches, which asks you to get a Shovel and dig up treasure. A Shovel appears within the first 3 km of road in each direction from the start, while a Metal Detector appears at the first major stop you reach. Both tools can also turn up later along the road, so keep checking stops if you have left a tool behind.
Picking up a key brings up the separate Treasure Hunt objective. That objective asks you to find a chest and unlock a Common Chest with a Common Key. You can finish the excavation required by Buried Riches before opening the chest, so check which objective you are working on before searching for another item.
Search the Ground Outside Roadside Stops
Start your sweep outside the stop's buildings, around the surrounding ground. Buried chests sit beyond the edge of the location, and every new game has a chest buried near the starting area. Once you have the tools, that starting area gives you a useful place to practise following the signal.
Major stops such as gas stations, radio stations and motels are worth searching, although treasure is not present at every stop. Walk around the outside with the detector before deciding where to dig. Let its changing signal narrow your search instead of excavating random patches of ground.
Follow the Signal and Uncover the Chest
- Walk around the stop with the Metal Detector held out. It follows the nearest treasure that is still buried, giving you a target to approach when something is within range.
- Move toward the faster beeps. Increasingly frequent beeps mean you are getting closer, so make smaller movements as the signal speeds up to avoid losing track of the strongest spot.
- Stop when the beeps merge into a continuous tone. You are now almost directly over the buried treasure, which gives you the spot to use for the excavation.
- Equip the Shovel while staying at the steady-tone spot. Keeping that position lets you begin digging where the detector located the buried object.
- Dig at that spot until the chest is fully above ground. It emerges in stages, so continue excavating while it is only partly exposed rather than moving straight to the lock.
Recover the Nearby Key and Open the Lock
Keep the detector handy after the chest surfaces because its key is buried nearby. Fully uncovered treasure stops attracting the detector, which then follows another buried target in range. A changing signal after excavation is therefore a reason to continue searching the nearby ground.
- Sweep the ground near the uncovered chest with the Metal Detector. Follow the changing beeps to locate the key buried close to it.
- Unearth the nearby key with the Shovel. A Common Key is the item you need for a Common Chest's lock.
- Hold the matching key, aim at the chest's lock and keep interact held until it opens. The key is consumed by the unlock, so you will need another matching key for another chest.
Check the Missing Objective Action
- Buried Riches remains open: check that you picked up the Metal Detector and Shovel, then fully surfaced a chest. Its final requirement is excavation; opening the lock belongs to Treasure Hunt.
- Treasure Hunt remains open: check its key, chest discovery and common-chest unlock requirements. Pointing at a chest while holding an item counts toward finding it, but you still need to unlock a Common Chest.
- The lid or lock will not respond: finish uncovering the chest first. A partly buried chest is not ready for those interactions, even when you can already see part of it.
- The key does nothing: compare the key and chest types. Common Keys open Common Chests and Rare Keys open Rare Chests; the wrong kind does nothing, and a crowbar cannot replace the matching key.
- The key disappears after unlocking: that is the expected result. Each chest needs its own matching key, so search the ground near the next buried chest for the next key.
Common Chests, Rare Chests and Your Loot
For Treasure Hunt in Early Access, concentrate on unlocking a Common Chest. A Rare Chest is not required to complete that objective. The bus stop route for Rare Chests belongs to the older demo, so it is not a route you need to follow for this task.
Common Chests can contain several items, including food, drinks, medicine, batteries, utility items, valuables and comfort items. Their contents do not include keys, so continue searching the nearby ground when you need a key for another lock. Inspect the opened chest before carrying your finds back to the RV.