I really really want to give this game a positive review....but I just can't. I bought this game last year in February so I witnessed the course of development it took the last months. I have waited since then to write a (positive) review because I think this game has a great potential and when I bought it last year it already had a solid and fun base for an EA game.

What it lacked back then was the longterm motivation. Once you had your basic food and water supplies there was no more need for exploration. All Island were basically the same, a shipwreck here and there but that was it. So I was very very escited for new content. Because the game is developed by only a small team (2 guys if I remember correctly?) updates take some time to be released. But this is where the downfall began...instead of introducing new content to make the game more of a challenge they implemented.....Seaforts! What? Yeah right, Seaforts. The things build by the British in WW2 in the North Sea (!). Other than being totally out of place they provide an additional loot spawn for things you can also find in ship wrecks. Since then (over a year ago now) there hasn't changed much about the amount of content that was released...

To be fair, the developers did a great job updating the engine (e.g. new crafting system - some like the old one better but it's okay) and improving the visuals. For an indie EA game Stranded Deep has stunning and very impressive graphics creating a fantastic atmosphere. Sitting at you campfire at night starring up in the night sky...thats just beautiful ..but that only maks the lack of content more frustrating because I really want to play this game.

So to sum it up: I think the developers are too focused on details instead of expanding the core of the game itself. Wildboars, snakes, tools etc. ... that is all nice to have but once you managed the start the game is basically over. Exploring the ocean and other island...pff, why take a risk when I can sit comfortably in my house once it is build?

This game needs to take a step forward on the macrolevel, not on the microlevel!

I will gladly change this review to a positive one once this happens, until then buy it at your own risk. You might be disappointed after a short time.

Stranded Deep: Start in a plane that soon crashes
The Forest: Start in a plane with your son that soon crashes

Stranded Deep: Have no clue what to do so you go around with your boat
The Forest: Have no clue what to do so you go around with your axe

Stranded Deep: Sharks that want to eat you
The Forest: Naked cannibal people that want to eat you

Stranded Deep: Large emphasis on collecting valuable items deep in the sea
The Forest: Large emphasis on collecting valuable items deep in the caves

Stranded Deep: 2015
The Forest: 2014

Stranded Deep: A buggy Early Access survival game
The Forest: A buggy Early Access survival game

Stranded Deep: Build a base/home to survive
The Forest: Build a base/home/treehouse

Pretty much expect the game to be similar to The Forest, which actually isnt a bad thing.

If islands were massive or large game would be way more fun instead of hundreds of small islands.

I'm just ♥♥♥♥♥♥ off that since dead fish sink in this game and the great whites only swim in the most deep regions, I can't harvest the great white meat. The things take mad spears and arrows to kill and then just sink into infinity...

It would be interesting if we could build structures onto our boats.

There isn't much incentive to keep going after you figure out a decent system for food and water, but if you're like me, maybe you would just like to hoard shark steaks. I have sooo many shark steaks...

edit*
I forgot to add a few other points: marlins are currently immune to all projectiles. Arrows and spears simply pass through them and one must melee attack them from in the water to deal any type of damage.

Boars take an ungodly amount of damage for how skittish they are and the miniscule meat portions they deal. Multiple spears to kill a cocker spaniel sized pig. Meanwhile, A ~10 foot long tiger shark takes only 3..?

If something could be implemented to give structures some functionality, that would be great (illnesses from exposure?). I would also like to see more craftables like chairs or some type of furniture to put into my structures.

Great whites seem to be extremely passive. I mean passive to the point that I jumped into the water and swam with three of them for 4 or 5 minutes. After I melee attacked one with a spear they promptly destroyed me, but other than that they just seemed to want to hang out.

It felt like in previous versions tiger and great white sharks were much more eager to knock players off of rafts and in about 70 hours of gameplay, gameplay that is mostly focused on hunting sharks, I have been tossed from my raft once. This may have even been a result of a wave, as at this particular time that I was hunting, the weather left much to be desired.

If you approach a floating raft from underneath and collide with it while swimming, it is flung about 30 or so feet in whatever direction you accidentally or purposely aimed it in. As entertaining as this is, if my raft lands upside down, there is no easy way to flip it back upright and as far as I can tell it is impossible to jump on top of a floating overturned raft from the water. If you have an upside down raft on land, no problem, it can be jumped on. The problem arises while the player is swimming with no raised area to stand on next to said raft. I have resorted to either dragging it to shore (problematic if I am not near an island) or repeatedly utilizing said catapulting raft glitch until I am lucky enough to land my raft sail-side up. I would seriously not mind being in open ocean and my raft randomly catapulting while I attempt to board it if I could simply climb on top of the overturned vessel in the event of a shark attack.

These issues aside, I thoroughly enjoy the game for what it is and hope that the developers continue support. There's alot ot potential here.

I didn't much like this game. It looks great, and the game is starting to evolve to a point where there is actually some meaningful content, but for me it is too dull and slow. The pace is very casual and everything about the game seems to get repetative too quickly. I've opened this game at the release of each new update and have owned it practically since the day of its release on steam. Over that time I have not been impressed enough with it to play more than 7 hours. Survival games and open world construction are two of my favorite genres, but I feel that Stranded Deep fails to incorporate enough difficulty into survival and makes building too tedious to really consider this game either. More like a castaway simulator. Just like being stranded on an island by yourself, it can get boring at times.

Pros:

1. Great idea, kinda like the Forrest except the fact that people won't eat you every 10th minute. Really love it.

2. Great visuals, The water did absolutely blow me away the first time i saw it, and the sunsets/sunrises are incredible

3. Great gameplay, hunting, fishing, building things, just staying alive.

4. Small game size. The game only takes about 200 MB on your disk.

Cons:

1. Terrible optimalization in graphics. I played one of the earliest versions of this game on Intel HD Graphics, and it was
playable. The game is getting more and more heavy on the hardware.

2. It gets boring. Even though the gameplay is great, isn't there exactly much to do. It's repedetive, and the funniest thing to do is to build a base. If the devolopers added the fact that you could get saved, you would have a goal to achieve in the game. Also, added more things to find, more wrech's after ships, maybe implent some really big islands, so the game don't only consist of many small islands.

3. Bugs. Achivements don't work, the Level Editor is nearly impossible to use because you can't place obects all of sudden, and when you chop up a pile of driftwood, does atleast one of the logs go 40 meters straight in the ocean.


Overall, a 7/10

Tom Hanks Simulator.

In the end there's just not much to do in this game, and what there is to do is not explained. I shouldn't have to rely on Youtube videos to figure out how to do basic things.

if you like hacking at a bush to create a rope to create a bucket or whatever and then realize there's only a handful things you can really create, this game might be for you. This is like a prettier Minecraft with less to do. Even Minecraft had zombies, the only thing this game really has that can kill you is a shark, which are avoided by simply using the raft you get when you start the game.

The game is also glitchy, I found myself getting stuck in shipwrecks. I realize this is Early Access but this game is over a year old and some of these bugs have been reported since the game started.

“We don't want to work on Stranded Deep forever. If all goes well, we're hoping to have it completed by the end of 2015.”

very good game if only it had multiplayer.

mixed feelings about this game,
i will however recommend the game due to the entertainment considering its still in early acces.
but it tends to get boring after a few hours and all you do is gathering materials and expanding your house.. needs more content, i am looking forward to the multiplayer, but still, i feel like there isnt any endgame in this. but still somewhat entertaining, i have had fun with the map creator,