Stranded Deep is a survival video game created and released by an Australian company called Beam Team Games. It is available to play on Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Linux.

A follow-up game, called Stranded Deep 2, was announced in August 2024. It will be made by a company named North Beach Games Prague.

Plot

The game Stranded Deep is set in the Pacific Ocean, where a plane crash survivor must deal with dangerous situations in a randomly created environment. Players can explore Pacific islands, coral reefs, and deep ocean trenches filled with varied ecosystems. To survive, players must find and create the tools and resources they need.

Gameplay

The game includes changing weather and a day-night cycle. Players can build shelters or rafts to explore an island or the ocean. A crafting system allows players to gather resources and combine them to create tools and equipment. Resources are limited, so players must manage them carefully. Since players can carry only a limited number of items, they must choose which items to use based on their needs.

Players must manage their health, hunger, thirst, and sleep while facing challenges in the environment. Thirst is especially important for survival. Water sources are limited, and coconut water is the easiest to find but can cause illness if consumed in large amounts at once. Players can later craft a water still to collect water from rain or palm leaves. Hunger is another challenge. Food can be found through coconuts, fishing, or rations. Players may also explore sunken ships and islands to find rare items.

The tropical ocean contains many types of sea life, including small fish, sea turtles, rays, lionfish, sea snakes, crown-of-thorns starfish, swordfish, whales, and sharks. Some sharks are harmless, while others, like great whites, hammerhead sharks, and goblin sharks, are dangerous. Sharks may attack players or damage rafts, potentially flipping them over. Three mythical creatures—megalodon sharks, a giant squid named Lusca, and a giant eel named Abaia—can be found in specific locations. Defeating these creatures rewards players with trophies and is considered the most difficult challenge in the game.

At the start of the game, the player’s plane crashes into the ocean. A nearby inflatable lifeboat saves them. The lifeboat contains a compass, rations, and can be used as a raft to travel between islands. Rafts must be anchored to avoid drifting into the open ocean due to currents or storms. Players can later craft their own rafts using materials found on shipwrecks or islands. Rafts can vary in design, affecting their weight, speed, and strength. The only other way to travel is a gyrocopter, which can be built once the required parts are found.

The game has an official ending. Players can find an abandoned aircraft carrier on a small island. A plane on the carrier can be repaired to escape the Pacific. When the player repairs and boards the plane, a scene plays showing their plane crashing into another, revealing how they became stranded, completing the story as a time loop.

The game includes hidden surprises, or "easter eggs." One island has a volleyball named Wollie with a handprint, similar to the movie Cast Away’s Wilson. A mailbox resembling the movie’s FedEx box is also present. A structure resembling the Maunsell Sea Forts, built by the United Kingdom, can be explored.

The game’s world is randomly generated for each new game, meaning islands are different every time. A "cartographer" mode allows players to design and customize their own islands.

The game originally had only single-player mode, but a multiplayer option was added later.

Release

Telltale Games said it would release the game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in October 2018 through its Telltale Publishing label. In September 2018, Telltale Games announced it was closing most of its studios. Beam Team Games said it was working hard to release the console versions on time. On January 29, 2020, Beam Team Games shared on Twitter that the console release of Stranded Deep was planned for the end of March but might be delayed until early April. On April 21, 2020, the game was officially released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Update history

Stranded Deep was first available for consoles only on April 21, 2020. The PC version was made available for computers on August 11, 2022.

On April 29, 2020, the console versions of the game received an update called 1.02. This update fixed problems in the game and improved some gameplay features.

In May 2021, Stranded Deep was included in the PlayStation Plus free game selection along with Battlefield V.

Reception

The game Stranded Deep got some good and some not so good reviews, according to the website Metacritic, which collects reviews from different sources.