Try To Reach The Abyss Research Data & Abilities

Exploration is a second progression track

Try To Reach The Abyss is not only an outpost racer. Between bright reefs and black water sit glowing caves and forgotten valleys that hold Research Data. Collecting that data unlocks abilities — tools and powers that change how future dives feel. This guide explains when to leave the marker, how to think about research routing, and how abilities sit beside Speed, upgrades, and combat.

If you cannot yet chain outposts reliably, park this page and finish Outposts & Speed plus Getting Started. Research rewards captains who can return from a detour, not captains who vanish into a cave on their first unpowered hull.

What Research Data is for

Research Data is the exploration currency. Where upgrade points reshape Speed, hull, and torpedoes, Research Data feeds the ability layer. That split matters:

• Outpost loop = vehicle fundamentals
• Research loop = new options and situational answers

Chasing abilities on a snail-slow sub feels bad. Farming only Speed while ignoring every glowing mouth in the rock also caps your kit. The sweet spot is a weave: bank Speed, spend points, then spend time on research when the next marker is under control.

Glowing caves

Caves signal themselves with light against darker rock. Treat that glow as a quest ping:

1. Note your marker heading before entry.
2. Enter only if hull and torpedo status can survive a dead end fight.
3. Sweep for Research Data without tunnel vision — monsters can use choke points too.
4. Exit with a plan to reacquire the outpost marker immediately.

Caves are intimate spaces. Turning room shrinks, collisions rise, and panic fire wastes torpedoes. Slow is smooth; smooth is fast.

Forgotten valleys

Valleys play wider than caves but still break line-of-sight with the main route. They are where the game’s adventure pitch shines — sudden openness inside a descent fantasy. Because they feel safer visually, players overstay. Set a personal timer: if Research Data is not appearing and the valley is not connecting back, leave. Forgotten does not mean you should become forgotten.

Routing templates

Template 1 — Post-outpost snack

After banking Speed and spending a point, take a short cave adjacent to the outpost before launching to the next marker. Low risk, steady research income.

Template 2 — Mid-transit tease

Only when Speed upgrades already make the marker comfortable. Dip toward a glow, grab data, correct course. Abort if a sea monster forces a three-way choice between fight, cave, and outpost.

Template 3 — Evolution celebration route

Right after a five-level evolution, your new form is the best excuse for a richer valley sweep. Power spike plus curiosity is the fantasy the game wants. Upgrade context: Submarine Upgrades.

Abilities and decision making

Exact ability names and numbers can shift as Giant Leviathan patches the live place — always verify odd UI changes against Updates. Conceptually, abilities should change decisions like:

• Can I take a longer dark transit?
• Can I survive a cave choke?
• Can I disengage from fauna more cleanly?
• Can I reach a valley pocket that used to be a death sentence?

Spend mental energy on when an ability makes a risky route reasonable, not on collecting icons for their own sake. If an unlock does not change a route you actually run, it is still progress — just lower priority than the next Speed breakpoint.

Synergy with Speed and combat

Research, Speed, and torpedoes form a triangle:

• Speed buys the calendar time to explore.
• Hull / torpedoes buy the survivability inside caves and valleys.
• Abilities buy new route shapes that feed more Research Data.

Neglect one corner and the triangle collapses. A common failure: players unlock an ability, feel brave, skip outpost exits for a full session, then wonder why everything feels slow again. The step-out rule never expires — see Outposts & Speed.

When fauna nests near research nodes, bring the habits from Sea Monsters: burst fire, know your retreat, do not empty tubes before you know the room.

Solo vs shared seas

On servers with up to 12 players, popular caves can host multiple subs. That is fine — Research Data progression is still your own chase. Call collisions early, do not body-block narrow mouths, and avoid turning a shared glow into a traffic jam. If a cave is crowded, take the next valley instead of waiting forever; the abyss is large.

Beginner mistakes on the research track

• Entering caves before learning marker recovery.
• Treating every glow as mandatory on the first hour.
• Ignoring hull before a tight research sweep.
• Forgetting to bank Speed because “one more valley” looked pretty.
• Assuming abilities replace evolutions or upgrade points — they do not.

A practical research session (45–60 minutes)

1. Warm up with two clean outposts: exit, Speed, spend.
2. On the third departure, take one adjacent glowing cave.
3. Return to marker, finish the next outpost ritual.
4. If evolution is within a level, play safe until it drops.
5. After evolution, run one forgotten valley with torpedoes topped mentally.
6. End at an outpost — never end a research binge mid-black-water.

This schedule keeps the main loop sacred while still feeding abilities.

How this page links outward

• Inputs refresher: Controls & How to Play
• Build spends: Submarine Upgrades
• Combat near nodes: Sea Monsters
• Day-one framing: Getting Started
• All guides: Guides Hub

Community and official links: Wiki. Do not stall research waiting on promo codes — none were publicly verified as of November 2026 (Codes). Scripts claiming instant unlocks remain unverified on major lists (Scripts); earn data in-world.

Closing exploration pitch

The game’s title is a dare: try to reach the abyss. Research Data is how the world answers when you look sideways on the way down. Glowing caves and forgotten valleys are not distractions from the outpost chain — they are the reason the chain is worth repeating. Bank Speed, respect evolutions, then let curiosity spend the time you earned. Abilities will follow the captains who come back alive with pockets full of data, not the ones who never learned the marker’s light.