![]() Live long enough and you can even craft a gyroscope to reach other islands, though my holy grail was always to construct a floating home a supersized raft that, sharks notwithstanding, would let me strip islands of their resources then move on. The more you craft, the more experience you gain and the more crafting options open up to you. Is it worth using a piece of tarp to make a water collector? What if it rains tomorrow and you’re left with nothing to drink? What if it doesn’t and you’ve just wasted a resource you might not see for another five islands? Are you going to abandon your settlement and set out further to sea or keep your island hub and hope you stumble across something useful soon? Mercifully, permadeath is optional in Stranded Deep, but that element of risk returns when you’re building things. I’ve never been remotely tempted to build anything in Minecraft but knowing I was supporting my character’s literal survival, that I had to think strategically when constructing an item, increased my engagement no-end. what’s this? Oh man, it’s a fishing spear! This is the best Christmas ever!Ĭrafting, too, is hugely fulfilling. Sure, you’ll still need to pray for rain, but it’s a step in the right direction. What wonders will you discover? Granted, uncovering a piece of corrugated iron might sound as interesting as getting socks, but it could be the item you need to build that wall for your small but growing shelter. Reaching a new island is a moment of absolute wonder suddenly you’re a child again, unwrapping your presents on Christmas morning. That’s not to say Stranded Deep is just about being mortally afraid of sharks. You might not have to deal with The Forest‘s murderous rage-infected cannibals, but hearing that theme kick in when you’re swimming through the water is pure nightmare fuel. Stranded Deep uses some chilling musical cues to signal when you’ve got company, dialling up the game’s fear factor. Will you set foot on dry land, or will you end up clinging to the top of your upturned raft as a shark nudges it with its nose? Seeing it judder beneath you as yet another shark nudges it is more terrifying than any Resident Evil game. You take in the faint outlines of the islands around you – none of which are particularly large – reminding yourself that you can paddle there in maybe five minutes.īut what could happen in those five minutes? You feel your stomach twist as you consider the consequences of crossing the abyss. So you stand on the shore, side-eyeing your inflatable raft. But all the while, you’re acutely aware that you don’t have the resources to support yourself for more than a few days. The opening tutorial will teach you the basics of survival you’ll learn how to craft a basic rope and how to get water from a coconut. The twisted genius of Stranded Deep is that it forces you to head out into the world, an act that’s rife with the aforementioned risk. ![]() What’s going on? How are you supposed to survive on ten coconuts and two tins of sardines? But, again, the first island you set foot on is clearly not big enough to accommodate your dream island mansion. Washing up on one of many randomly-placed islands, you glance around to behold your new island empire and… wait, this is a bit small, isn’t it? So, putting it down to bad luck, you start again, hoping Stranded Deep’s procedural generation will throw you a bone. Risk is the driving factor of Stranded Deep, and adding any more structure would undermine that. Meandering TV shows aside, there’s a more important reason this game doesn’t need a story. And that’s as far as the story goes probably a good thing given how Lost turned out. The simple (if disturbing) premise is that your plane has crashed into the Pacific, leaving you stranded without supplies or any real hope of rescue. ![]() I’ve ploughed hour upon hour upon hour into this oceanic outing and I don’t regret a single one. So it irks me to admit that, suspect as this practice is, Stranded Deep is a surprisingly engrossing survival sim. There’s no guarantee the game will ever be completed or even how long the console version will continue to receive updates. ![]() Because Stranded Deep is being sold on PS4 and Xbox without mentioning the PC game it’s based on is an incomplete, in-development product. When’s an early access game not an early access game? When it’s on console! Get it?
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