Raft Review
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need to know
what is it? An open world survival game where you build a floating base on an endless ocean.
expect to pay: $20/£17.49
developer: Red Beet Interactive
Publisher: Salamander Games
audit date: RTX 2080, Intel i7-9700K, 16GB RAM
multiplayer game? Yes
association: Official Website(opens in a new tab)
Our oceans are clogged with plastic trash, but here’s a silver lining: All this trash keeps me alive. In the open-world survival game Raft, which spent four years in Early Access before releasing 1.0 in June, I turned a pile of floating junk into a floating base – a big, messy, ugly Floating base, but it’s packed with lifeguards and I’m slowly liking it, it’s like a home.
Like my raft itself, the Raft game took a long time to fall in love with. The first few hours were so rough that if I didn’t write a review, I’d probably quit. With only four blocks of wood to stand on, I struggled through opening hours, constantly dying from malnutrition and dehydration, frantically throwing a brittle plastic hook into the waves and scooping out what I could. Every bit of rubbish you get. I fought off a hungry shark with a crude spear made of planks, hurried to a passing island to collect a handful of fruit to eat, and then slowed down on a small raft that I couldn’t stop, drive, or control And tragically floated across the sea. Most of the crafting I do is just to replace my basic tools like my junk hook and spear as they break down after a few uses. Those early morning hours are crazy, stressful, and not fun at all.
But after a few hours of surviving (and often swearing), I used the garbage I collected to make my raft a little bigger, unlocking new blueprints that allowed me to craft more useful items like sea water purifiers, fishing rods And a grill for cooking, and not having to worry about dying so often, I ended up finding an engaging survival experience. I went from wanting to quit Raft to finding it hard to stop playing and helping me navigate choppy opening hours to more enjoyable waters to realizing that rivers of garbage on endless oceans aren’t just for me to build stuff. It’s leading somewhere.
(Image credit: Red Beet Interactive)
hope to float
Raft isn’t just a matter of crafting and surviving, it’s a strange mystery that needs to be solved through a story that slowly unfolds. Drifting from island to island, cutting down spare trees for lumber, and digging ore from the ocean floor eventually allowed me to make technology like radio receivers, batteries, and some antennas. Then a signal took me to a mysterious, rusted radio tower jutting out of the sea, and the clues I gathered there made me see a little bit on the radar screen. This leads me to another location to explore, loot and get the coordinates of the next story location. What started out as a journey of drifting aimlessly now has some destinations to focus on, giving all of these crafts more purpose than just catching enough fish to avoid starvation.
Once I made a broken sail and a plastic shovel for the paddle, I could finally… well, not really guide My boat, but at least aim for passing islands. Setting up an anchor is even better because I can stop and catch my breath appropriately on the small islands I come across, which makes gathering resources more of a leisurely pleasure than crazy chores. Unlike other survival games, where reaching far-flung areas of the map may require you to build multiple bases, in Raft your base stays with you so you don’t have to start from scratch.
(Image credit: Red Beet Interactive)
Following the story also led to some truly exciting moments. After spending a few days visiting only the small and wimpy island, it was a thrill to see something truly huge emerging on the horizon. I came across a huge abandoned yacht, a huge outpost built from shipping containers, and a mountainous national park soaring into the sky.
These locations feature puzzles, mini-quests, new creatures to tame or fight, and plenty of useful loot. The audio diary explained what happened there (often scary things) and told me where everyone went, giving me interesting details about the wet apocalypse. Plus, honestly, it’s nice to hear some voices in a world that can feel terribly lonely at times (unless you’re playing co-op with friends). Most importantly, these story areas give Raft a welcome change of pace, allowing me to leave my floating base to explore, sometimes for days at a time.
(Image credit: Red Beet Interactive)
Full speed ahead
Raft suddenly felt like a completely different game, a better game, and I was a brave explorer rather than a nearly helpless passenger.
The real turning point was when I was able to attach the wood burning engine and steering wheel to my raft. Finally, after drifting helplessly in the wind, I can actually steer my big messy base in any direction I want. Raft suddenly felt like a completely different game, a better game, and I was a brave explorer rather than a nearly helpless passenger. Even better, I was able to line the edges of my raft with nets that would automatically collect any litter I floated on, so I said goodbye to the long hours of scooping litter out of the sea with my hooks. Such a nice goodbye. A proper fishing rod, a bow and arrow kills birds stupid enough to land on my raft, and an upgraded desalinator means food and hydration are rarely an issue.
That doesn’t mean it’s been smooth sailing from now on. There are still plenty of threats like ever-present sharks, plus giant rats and terrifying bears on certain islands, and the occasional frantic hunt for resources to replace broken high-level gear, but being able to automate some of the survival chores leaves more Time is just for the enjoyment of exploring the world.
(Image credit: Red Beet Interactive)
While I hated the opening hours of Raft, it really grew on me and I loved how powerful the production process felt, with major new items like the engine and steering wheel giving the game a completely different feel. My raft is still a mess – building it is like placing a bunch of furniture and then trying to build a house around it – but I still love my mobile base and I have plenty of free time to change it so it functions is a little better. Gone are the days of escaping my raft in search of a sustenance: it is now fully stocked and the danger comes from not bringing enough supplies and leaving it behind.
In fact, I have so much excess junk that I even find myself occasionally tossing things aside that I don’t need. I try not to think of it as pollution. It’s more like giving back to the sea and generously giving me so much.
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