The survival game genre is one that has truly thrived throughout the past decade or so. Stranded Deep, developed by the Australian studio Beam Team Games, is often overlooked by mainstream gamers. But Stranded Deep serves as one of the most robust, realistic and fun survival game experiences in recent memory.

Released in early access for Linux, macOS and Windows PC in 2015, Stranded Deep officially launched on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on April 21, 2020. Much like other survival fantasies, whether it be in video games, movies or TV shows, Stranded Deep takes place after a plane crash leaves the protagonist abandoned on an island in the Pacific Ocean. As one would expect, the player must find food and water, create shelter and thwart threats from the environment and wildlife to survive.

Related: Stranded Deep: Tips & Tricks to Getting Started

Because of Stranded Deep's realistic, yet not too difficult, scenarios, as well as how the player is encouraged to explore the map, the game is a great addition to the survival genre, especially for players who already have experience with similar games, such as Subnautica.

Stranded Deep Is A Great Survival Game

Aiming a spear gun at Tiger shark in Stranded Deep

Stranded Deep has many mechanics that help the player feel like they're living on a true deserted island without overwhelming them completely. For example, the player character can get sunburned, requiring that they sit out of the sun for a bit or search for some aloe plants to help with the pain. This adds a realistic feeling that most survival games don't have, but it isn't so harsh that it detracts from players' ability to progress. Solutions are relatively easy to figure out and execute, as long as the player has some idea of how survival mechanics work, both in-game and in a hypothetical real-world situation.

There's always an element of danger, too. Unlike other survival games - where, depending on the run, the game is either incredibly easy or incredibly difficult with little in between - Stranded Deep is good at keeping players on their toes. It's normal in to do very well in one in-game day, only to wake up the next morning and find a depleted food supply, requiring the player to brave more Stranded Deep island exploration or risk dying later in the day.

Plus, the island is procedurally generated, which helps Stranded Deep join the ranks of great survival games in a number of ways. First, it adds quite a bit of replayability. No matter how many times one plays the game, they're not guaranteed to know where resources are because the map is different for each experience. Second, it adds another element of riskiness, since the player never knows exactly what to expect. What might have worked in one save file might not work in the next because the island is different, and strategies need to be readjusted to fit the new landscape.

Related: Stranded Deep: A Guide to Dangerous Creatures

Overall, Stranded Deep is a great survival game that fans of the genre should definitely think about playing. While nowhere near as popular (yet), it deserves to be among the list of genre favorites, like ARK: Survival Evolved and Subnautica. It's creative, it's interesting and it's never the same experience twice in a row - it's a real deserted island fantasy come to life.

Next: Stranded Deep: How to Kill the Sea Monsters