In Raft, players begin their adventure stranded in the middle of the ocean, standing on a small wooden raft. With nothing but a hook made of old plastic, players must use their wit and whatever resources they can pull from the surrounding waters to survive. The vast, blue expanse hides both peril and opportunity. As sharks circle ominously, players gather debris, fish for food, and navigate the challenges of an unforgiving sea, all while expanding their makeshift raft into a floating home.
Building and Crafting on the Open Sea
The core of Raft revolves around an innovative crafting system. Players collect materials that float by or dive beneath the waves to explore and gather resources from the ocean floor. Each piece of debris and every resource offers potential building materials and tools that are essential for survival. As players expand their raft, they can construct various structures like shelter, advanced crafting stations, and defenses against the relentless threats of the ocean. This continual expansion requires careful management of resources and planning to ensure sustainability and safety on the open waters.
Survival in Raft is a delicate balance between resource management and exploration. Players must maintain their health, hunger, and thirst and prepare for encounters with marine wildlife, including the ever-present threat of sharks. The game encourages exploration horizontally across the ocean’s surface, and vertically into the depths of the sea. With each dive, players might uncover remnants of the world before or secrets that push them further into new crafting capabilities. The challenge intensifies as players journey to discover islands and other rafts that dot the horizon, each providing new materials, technologies, and perhaps clues to a larger mystery of what happened to this waterlogged world.
