Stranded Deep, from Australian developers Beam Team Games, has been in development for some years. You might have first caught a glimpse of it in PC as far back as 2015 when the game released in Alpha stage on PC, but since then the game has been polished and is now ready for launch on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
The game blends popular survival game mechanics with the realism of crashing onto a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific. You’ll need to deal with the challenges of everyday life, such as staying healthy, well-fed, and not dying of thirst.
Survival games all follow a similar theme, and Stranded Deep is really not too different. You have to craft, build, and survive, with whatever resources you can find or harvest. What sets Stranded Deep apart from its competitors is its attention to detail, great visuals, and an ever-expanding survival system which has improved a lot of over the years.
The fundamentals will feel familiar, with the need for food and water paramount as you begin your adventure. Stay out too long in the sun and you’ll get heatstroke, spend too long in the water and you’ll start to get cold. While the game is certainly relaxing at times (the visuals and atmosphere will do it for you) staying alive isn’t easy.
However, Stranded Deep goes further with the survival theme. You start out with basic tools, but over time you can develop more complex tech, and build up a little sustainable home on the island. Build a raft and you’ll be able to explore a procedurally generated world, with none of the islands in your world quite the same.
There is no storyline in Stranded Deep, and that has been a sticking point for some players. If you can look past the lack of a conclusion, though you do end up with the means of escaping, the game is all about sitting back, relaxing, and developing a paradise on your deserted island in the middle of the Pacific, however much graft that might require.
Another cool feature is the island editor, which allows you to play around with some of the terrain tools used to create the procedurally generated islands. This is a fun little feature, although currently there is no way to share these islands with your friends other than taking pictures or filming.
Stranded Deep is now available on Xbox One and PS4, and is worth a try if you’re a fan of the genre.
