In survival game Rust, Santa Claus doesn't care if you've been good or bad or really, really bad, he still has gifts for you
It's almost Christmas, which means Santa is coming to distribute presents to all the good little children—and, somewhat weirdly, put coal in the stockings of kids who have been "bad." Look, Santa is an immortal Elflord, it is not for us to understand his motives.
But there's one place even naughty kids are rewarded by Santa: survival shooter Rust. Rust's Christmas event is now live, and that means festive hats, loads of presents, the return of the "lickable candy cane club," and stockings you can hang in your base. And even if you're a real jerk who kills half-naked unarmed newbies, Santa will still give you presents.
From now until January 2, while you're crafting and building and shooting people in Rust, keep your ears pricked for the sound of bells (jingle bells, specifically). Once you hear them, go run around like a lunatic because it means Santa has dumped presents from his sleigh somewhere within 40 meters of your location—probably because he knows if he tried to deliver them in person he'd get shot in the face. If you see a present, smash it (naturally) and you'll find "a mix of resources, weapons, and Christmas candy." You can also save your small gifts and trade them for larger sizes.
That's not the only way to score some loot this holiday season in Rust: there are two types of stockings in the Christmas event, large and small. "If you hang a stocking inside your base when the jingle bells ring, the stocking will fill up with loot whether you've been good or not—no coal here!" says developer Facepunch Studios. "The larger stocking has a higher chance for better items and both last around 5-10 refills."
In addition to a giant advent calendar you can decorate your base with that will distribute daily presents, there are also Santa hats and reindeer antlers to decorate your head with. There are festive items in the Rust store from previous events, like a snow machine and a Santa beard cosmetic. "Rustmas" Twitch drops have returned, there's a base decorating contest that can win you some skins and DLC, and there's also a bit of bad news: the ice sculptures some of you were waiting for have been delayed, though Facepunch is still hoping to have them out by the actual Christmas.
Full details of the Rust Christmas event are right here. You can also celebrate the past 11 years of Rust in the video below.