Stranded Deep: 5 Best Tips for Beginners

Stranded Deep can either be the sandbox game of your dreams, or the embodiment of a virtual nightmare strewn with unnecessarily complicated curveballs and unfair disadvantages. Of course, it all boils down to how you play, and most importantly, how you make use of your first 24 hours as a castaway on a remote island with no access to the outside world.

Like a lot of survival games, crafting is key. In fact, if you don't learn how to craft, then you might as well hurl yourself into the fetal position and wash away with the tide altogether. But if you can get a grip on it, and above all, learn to master it, then anything is possible—even when confined to a bite-sized island surrounded by miles of shark-infested waters. Besides that, you should also take these five tips into account, which will, in time, help you come to terms with your predicament.

5. Do Not Leave Your Island

It's awfully tempting, isn't it—to go sightseeing the moment you drift ashore in your raft? But let it be said now that all those islands in the faraway distance shouldn't even be taken into account. For all you need to know, those islands are mere mirages, and the only thing that awaits you if you try to visit them is an early death, either by shark bite or drowning. And so, when you wash up on the beach in your raft, do yourself a favor and get comfortable, because you won't be going anywhere for quite some time.

Once you begin your journey, you're going to want to pull your raft towards the beach, well away from the shoreline so if doesn't drift off in the dead of night, and stow away your paddle in the appropriate place, to the left side of the raft. After doing this, you will want to check the inventory on the raft for all the essentials, including bandages for patching up wounds, a compass to guide you, and rations for refueling your hunger. Note that you will not need to use these immediately, and should therefore keep everything in storage until absolutely necessary.

On average, you will spend upwards of 10 to 15 days on the first island, during which you will be sharpening your hunting skills and development your crafting recipes. Only once you've exhausted your natural resources and leveled up to a point that lets you build sturdier structures should you consider leaving on your raft to explore a new island. Just be mindful that leaving your current island probably means leaving behind all that you have already built.

4. Know Your Vitals

Being a survival game, it's only natural that you'd need to keep in tip-top shape. And in the case of Stranded Deep, the needs are as follows: health, which can be kept up by staying out of conflict; hunger, which can be treated by hunting and cooking crabs, birds, and hogs; thirst, which can be treated by collecting and drinking coconut water; and temperature, which can be treated by staying cool in the shallow waters around your island.

Of course, it's no secret that the first week on your island will be the hardest. As you'll have no tools, essentials, or any form of material already stockpiled, it does mean you'll have a rough time staying alive for that first post-tutorial segment. But like many survival games, Stranded Deep rewards you for the baby steps that you take, and does so by gradually giving you more items to work with.

The thing to remember here is this: the game is definitely not a sprint, but more a casual stroll through the park. And so, if you happen to find yourself in the same place after a week, try not to feel disheartened; you are making progress in one way or another—even if you can't see it.

3. Save Your Game…A Lot

It sounds silly at this point, but the fact is, if you don't remember to save your game—and you just so happen to keel over and die out of the blue—then you will suddenly find yourself back at square one without so much as a volleyball to keep your company. And as it goes, there is no autosave feature in Stranded Deep. There is, however, an option to manually save your progress by building a shelter and sleeping in it.

When you begin your new life as a castaway, you're going to want to consider placing down a shelter as soon as possible—preferably before the first night strikes. You can build this by collecting 3 sticks, which can be found either on the floor or by chopping down trees; 4 palm fronds, which can be collected by cutting down palm trees and then harvesting its fallen leaves; and 1 lashing, which can be crafted out of 4 fibrous leaves, a type of material that drops from chopped down yucca trees.

2. Beware of Poisonous Sea Life

Unfortunately for you, starvation isn't the only thing you'll want to drive back when playing through Stranded Deep. Turns out, you'll also have to steer clear of certain poisonous plants and sea critters, too. Specifically, the purple spiked starfish that scatter themselves are the beach and shoreline. If you happen to step on one of these, then you will fall ill, and will essentially have to dig out a remedy in order to cure it. And honestly, this alone is a day's worth of work.

Besides poisonous starfish and the likes, Stranded Deep also has its fair share of unwritten warnings, like ‘do not consume more than two coconuts in a row, otherwise you'll get diarrhea,' for example. And so, there will be a whole lot of trial-and-error gameplay involved when first starting out. But if you can avoid the starfish and keep your coconut intake in check, then you'll definitely have an edge over the vast majority of fresh-faced castaways on the net.

1. Build a Water Still Immediately

As convenient as coconuts are for refilling a small chunk of your thirst, they aren't a permanent solution, and therefore shouldn't be treated as such. Because of this, you will need to build a Water Still as soon as possible, which will give you a steady flow of water whenever you're in need of it. To make one, you will need 1 coconut flask, which can be crafted from a single coconut and a lashing; 1 tarp, which is, in short, a piece of blue material that can be found around the shoreline; 3 rocks, which can be found dotted around the beaches; 1 lashing, which can be crafted from fibrous leaves; and 1 palm frond, which can be obtained from dicing up the leaves from fallen palm trees.

After you have constructed the Water Still, you will need to collect water by placing palm fronds beneath the tarp. Another way of collecting water is to wait out a thunderstorm. Doing either of these will give you a constant supply of water, which will in turn eliminate the possibility of one of your four basic needs from depleting.

So, what's your take? Are there any tips that you'd recommend for Stranded Deep newcomers? Let us know over on our socials here or down in the comments below.