(Saving, quitting, and reloading fixes this one - not a great way to play.) Even things as simple as correctly labeling items - surely the simplest fixes - haven't been done. They're a mess of bugs, whether it's the hopelessness of trying to balance an item to cook on an open fire, or a firepit complete with spit which decides to keep casting out the light of a fire, but to have no flames and no ability to be re-lit. That's the sort of thing I'd like to be sorted before worrying about whether rain noises are appropriately muffled underwater.įires have other problems, too. Using fires becomes especially tricky when the game is determined to fling you onto it, rather than let you stand next to it. You too will be sent into mad spasms, or even forced to jump up and down on the spot, when - say - walking over a stick. Each stick, frond and rock has its own desire to obey the physics rules it's been given, and as a result these piles tend to be madly trembling framerate-eaters, ready to burst their contents in all directions at the slightest provocation. In order to craft, you ridiculously have to drop the items you might need to use in an enormous pile on the ground. There seems to have been a very misguided effort to focus on some big picture elements like a variety of biomes, before the absolute basics are in place. You can stab a great white shark to death, but you can't safely store items in your inflatable raft when paddling. You can now craft an outboard motor for a homemade raft, but you still can't make a fishing line. It's just downright peculiar what's still not right here, though. All these various bits and pieces can be combined in the game's still dreadful crafting, hopefully allowing you to stay alive long enough to find out if there's actually anything to live for. Inside you'll gather less organic materials, like engines, fuel containers, duct tape and medicines. But to get serious, you'll need to investigate the many wrecked boats that dot the region (a strange phenomenon, considering the calm waters and absence of any fantastical elements).
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From this you can fudge together simple tools, fire pits, and even rudimentary shelters. Islands provide wood, palm fronds, coconuts and crabs, along with binding materials from yukkas and the occasional potato plant.
STRANDED DEEP REVIEW PATCH
Beginning with a pocket knife, a lighter and a bottle of water, you paddle your inflated raft to the nearest patch of land, and begin scavenging. You've three meters - health, food, and water - and some basic provisions to begin staying alive in a super-fast day/night cycle. Stranded Deep does not stray far from the standards of survival-me-do gaming. And yet I've still ended up having fun pottering around.
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I had hoped, coming back after a good while, it would be a far more cohesive thing - it really isn't. The survival sim which drops you out of the sky near a network of islands showed a lot of promise, but an awful lot more bugs, glitches and limitations. Returning to Stranded Deep after eight months of early access, I'm more surprised by what hasn't been fixed or changed, than by anything that has.