You've been there. You’re trekking through the Chalk Peak or wandering the salt-crusted edges of Red Sands, and you see it. That little icon. The Once Human unfinished expedition notification that refuses to go away. It’s annoying. It feels like an itch you can't scratch, especially when you think you’ve cleared every Deviant in a five-mile radius and looted every crate in sight. Honestly, the game doesn't make it easy to figure out why some of these tasks stay "unfinished" even when the area looks bone-dry.
The thing about Once Human is that it’s a massive, sprawling mess of systems. Starry Studio built a world that’s dense with "Stardust" logic, and sometimes that logic is just... weird. You might think you're done with a point of interest, but there's a hidden chest tucked behind a destructible wall or a puzzle that only triggers if you’re standing in the exact right pixel at 2:00 AM in-game time.
What's Actually Going On With the Once Human Unfinished Expedition Bug?
Let's talk about the "bug" first. Is it actually broken? Sorta. Sometimes. But more often than not, it's just a UI issue or a misunderstanding of how the game tracks completion.
A lot of players get frustrated because they see an "Unfinished" tag on their map for an area they've spent three hours scouring. Most of the time, this refers to the Settlement Exploration goals. If you haven't found the Mystical Crate, activated the Rift Anchor, or found the specific number of weapon and armor crates, the expedition remains unfinished. It’s that simple, yet it's incredibly easy to miss one tiny box hidden under a staircase in a building that looks like every other building.
Then there are the actual quests labeled as expeditions. These aren't just "go here, kill that" tasks. They are multi-stage narrative beats. If you leave a zone before the final dialogue trigger or before picking up a specific quest item—even if the boss is dead—the game marks it as a Once Human unfinished expedition. It stays on your tracker like a bad debt. You have to go back. You have to find that one glowing yellow sparkle on the ground that you ignored because a level 35 Rosetta elite was shooting a gatling gun at your face.
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The Mystical Crate Problem
The big one is the Mystical Crate. These are the lifeblood of your character progression because they hold the Blueprints. If you miss the Mystical Crate, the expedition is never, ever going to show as finished. In places like the Monolith of Greed or the Gaia Research Institute, these crates aren't just sitting in the middle of the floor. They are often on rooftops or tucked inside vents.
I've seen people run past a Mystical Crate dozens of times because they were looking for a literal "chest" and didn't realize it has a distinct purple or red glow depending on the zone's corruption level. Use your "Q" scan. Use it constantly. If you aren't spamming the Spacetime scan every five seconds, you're going to miss things. That's just how the game is designed. It rewards paranoia.
Troubleshooting the Unfinished Status
So, you're stuck. You've looked everywhere. You're convinced the game is gaslighting you. Here is a reality check on why your expedition status isn't updating:
- The Rift Anchor: Did you actually interact with it? Simply clearing the enemies nearby doesn't count. You have to physically walk up to the glowing pillar and sync with it. If you forgot, the map stays grayed out or marked as incomplete.
- Hidden Elite Enemies: Some zones require you to kill a specific "Elite" enemy. These guys don't always spawn immediately. Sometimes you have to kill a certain number of fodder Deviants first, or enter a specific room to trigger the spawn. If you stealth through a base, you might miss the trigger entirely.
- The "Look Up" Rule: Starry Studio loves verticality. If a building has four floors, check the roof. Then check the water tower next to it. Then check the crane. If an expedition is unfinished, the missing piece is almost always higher up than you think it should be.
- Server Desync: This is the annoying one. Because Once Human is always online, sometimes the server just... forgets you picked something up. Usually, a quick relog or switching worlds at a Teleportation Tower fixes the UI.
Why Completion Matters (Beyond OCD)
It isn't just about the checkmark. Every Once Human unfinished expedition you leave behind is lost XP and lost Energy Links. More importantly, it's lost Stellar Planula. You need that stuff for the shop in Meyer's Market and beyond. If you're playing on a seasonal server—which most people are—every bit of resource counts before the wipe or the phase transition.
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Furthermore, clearing these expeditions is often a prerequisite for Journey tasks. If your Journey is stalled, check your map for unfinished business. The game won't always tell you "Go finish the Dayton Wetlands exploration," but it will stop giving you new Journey chapters until you've reached a certain level of world completion. It's a soft gate.
The Most "Missable" Locations
There are a few spots that are notorious for staying unfinished.
- Greywater Camp: People always miss the crate in the back of the warehouse.
- Sutherland Chemical Plant: The verticality here is a nightmare. There's a crate on top of one of the vats that requires some platforming that feels like it belongs in a different game.
- Brookham: This is a low-level area, but the church and the surrounding houses have so many nooks that players often leave with 4/5 crates found.
If you are stuck on a specific settlement, open your map and hover over the name. It will give you a checklist.
- Rift Anchor: 1/1
- Mystical Crate: 1/1
- Weapon/Armor Crate: 2/2
- Look for "Elite" enemies: 1/1
If those are all checked and it's still "unfinished," then you are likely looking at a Side Quest (the blue icons) that started in that zone and hasn't been turned in. Those count too.
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Nuance: The Seasonal Reset Factor
We have to talk about the phases. Once Human operates on a seasonal structure. When a new phase opens up, sometimes new objectives are added to old areas. Or, conversely, a quest that was part of an expedition might become temporarily unavailable because the world state changed. If you're a "completionist" and a new phase just dropped, your "finished" status might have reverted because there's a new Nightmare Invitation or a seasonal event tied to that specific coordinate. It's frustrating, but it's part of the live-service loop.
How to Fix It Right Now
Stop running around aimlessly. It wastes stamina and your sanity. If you're looking at a Once Human unfinished expedition, follow these steps in order.
First, check the map overlay. If the checklist is full, look for a blue exclamation point nearby. Many "Unfinished" markers are actually tied to NPCs like Mary or Claire who need you to talk to them one last time to "close" the area's story.
Second, use an interactive map. There are several community-driven maps where players have pinned every single crate location. If you’ve spent more than 20 minutes looking for one last chest, just look it up. There is no shame in it. Some of these placements are genuinely mean.
Third, check your inventory for "Quest Items." Sometimes you pick up a diary or a keycard that starts a mini-mission. If that mission isn't completed, the area it originated from might stay marked as unfinished. Read the descriptions. Often, the flavor text tells you exactly where to go.
Actionable Next Steps for Players
- Scan Everywhere: Use Spacetime (Q) constantly. It highlights crates through walls.
- Check the Roofs: If you are missing a Mystical Crate, it is almost certainly on the highest point of the settlement.
- Checklist Verification: Hover over the location name on the map. If the numbers aren't maxed out, you haven't found everything.
- Talk to Everyone: If an NPC has a greyed-out dialogue option, click it anyway. Sometimes it triggers the "completion" flag for the zone.
- Relog: If the checklist is 100% but the icon is still yellow/incomplete, restart the game or switch world instances.
Don't let the unfinished markers get to you. Most of the time, it's just a tiny wooden crate tucked under a pier or a side quest you forgot to turn in. Clear them out systematically, grab those Blueprints, and keep moving toward the next Monolith. The rewards—specifically the Starchrom and Blueprints—are way too valuable to leave on the table just because a building was annoying to climb.