Overview

  • Still in Early Access as of 11/2019

  • Crafting and survival

  • Ship wrecks and other islands to explore

  • RPG elements
*Note*
As the game is *still* in Early Access in 11/2019, some of this content may have changed.

Intro: Stranded Deep is an Early Access archipelago sandbox survival adventure game with RPG elements. If you've ever seen the movie Cast Away, then you'll be familiar with the story of Stranded Deep. At the beginning, the game gives you a very brief crafting tutorial by telling you how to make a flaming martini. Once you go back to your seat, the plane you are on suddenly begins to crash into the ocean. You must swim your way out and onto the ocean's surface and hop in a life boat, which has a paddle. You will then find yourself facing a small island, which you can paddle to (hold the left-mouse button to constantly paddle instead of continuously having to click it).

Inventory and items: When you open your inventory with the Tab key you'll see you have some basic survival tools, a paddle, pocket knife, lighter, and a bottle of water. You can drop items by selecting them and then pressing "Q." On the island you'll notice some sticks, rocks, potato plants, yucca plants, and crabs lying around along with palm trees that contain coconuts,. You may even notice a ship wreck nearby. You're going to need to eat and drink eventually. If you want something quick, you can climb a tree and grab some coconuts, but you're going to need to hit them a few times with your pocket knife. This will turn them into a "drinkable coconut," which is good for one use. After that, drop it, and hit it some more and it will turn into coconut halves that you can eat. Beware of drinking too much coconut juice as it will give you a negative status effect.

Beepi and tools: Pressing the "F" key will show you your watch, which includes the time, date, temperature, and how many days you've survived. A left-click will give you your vitals including health, hunger, and thirst. If you hit a yucca plant with something (like your pocket knife), you'll notice it turns into lashings, an important crafting ingredient. After you've gather some sticks, rocks, and lashings, you can begin to make tools such as a crude axe, hammer, or a camp fire. The camp fire can be upgraded into a fire pit, which can then be upgraded to a fire spit. You can also make a smoker, which will help with food preservation.

Ship wrecks: You'll want to visit any nearby ship wrecks you see and check them because they contain hard cases, lockers, and cabinets which contain any of one the game's many useful items such as medical supplies, tools, flares, and more. If you've found that you see a ship wreck above the surface of the water, but can't find a way in, chop down a tree and drag it (hold right-click) into a position so that you can climb up it and get onto the ship. If you go into the water you will see many sea creatures such as fish (some of which are poisonous like the lion fish), sea turtles, sting rays, and sharks. Most sharks in the game are aggressive. You can kill them and cook them, which will fill up your hunger bar.

Healing: If you get hurt in the game, you'll need to find some medical supplies. Antibiotics currently heal poison, but the item's name will soon change to anti-venom or similar. Even though your character's arms may look more like a male, you'll find that you can get sick and have a female-sounding cough, which will heal over time or with vitamins. If you fall off a tree and break your arm, you'll need morphine to repair it. If you get bitten by a shark, you'll need to either craft bandages from cloth and duct tape or find them in ship wrecks.

Not as useful items: There are many items in the game, some are useful, while others are not. Flares say they could save your life, but they currently won't. However, they do apparently scare away sharks. Whistles can be blown, but have no current use. There are also a couple of items that "nod" to Cast Away such as the character "Wilson" (a volleyball) and a "Dedex" package.

RPG elements: The game now contains RPG elements. As you do things to survive, you’ll be able to work on increasing your skills in various areas. For instance, the more you increase your crafting skill, you’ll be able to unlock higher tiered craftable items.

Stranded Deep is Early Access and $15 on Steam. It is expected to be completed by the end of the year, but the developer's are trying to give new content monthly.

I found out about the game by watching Paul Soares, Jr.'s YouTube Channel (link below). He also mentioned another YouTuber, GenerikB (link below), so I've been watching both of these guys play the game. The graphics are really great and realistic looking. One of my favorite moments was when I saw Paul meet up with a humpback whale, which made me want to play the game. The bottom of the ocean is very detailed as well.

There are still some bugs, issues, and missing content, but that's Early Access for you (still in development). Still, it's fun and I recommend it. Sadly, there is no demo for the game yet.

Links
Paul Soares, Jr.'s Stranded Deep playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeiN4HjtIYg&list=PLEbtIY4p_ltqkvzrNqXhl36fSsVT7fUCN
GenerikB's Stranded Deep playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wim_qi6Nbzw&list=PL7j0JO-w0xWklVNUePRYu51r0769jBz74
Standed Deep on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/313120/
Stranded Deep official website: http://beamteamgames.com/stranded-deep/