Raft is Redbeet Interactive's oceanic survival game where you start on a tiny wooden raft in an endless ocean, collecting floating debris to expand and improve your floating home. The game features a story-driven progression through island stops, each revealing more about why the world is flooded. With a persistent shark enemy that attacks your raft, research-based crafting progression, and both survival and creative modes, Raft offers a unique take on the survival genre.
Starting Raft can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet.
What Kind of Game Is This?
Raft is a survival game built around raft building and ocean exploration. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Build
| Build | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Builder | Excellent for beginners | Expand the raft constantly, automate resources, create a floating city. |
| Explorer | Good (but demanding) | Follow radio signals, explore every island thoroughly, progress the story. |
| Farmer | Excellent for beginners | Plant crops, raise animals, keep the team fed without fishing. |
| Fisher | Situational | Fish during raft travel time, cook catches, sell rare fish. |
| Diver | Excellent for beginners | Deploy Shark Bait, dive for ores and clay, surface before oxygen runs out. |
Our recommendation: Start with Explorer. Prioritizes story progression by following Receiver signals to story islands. Explorers dive deep for underwater loot, explore caves, and solve environmental puzzles. The most progression-focused playstyle.
Avoid Diver as your first pick. Specializes in underwater resource gathering.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn raft building
Your raft starts as a 2x2 platform and grows as you add foundations, walls, pillars, and decorations. The shark attacks exposed foundations — reinforced foundations with Metal Ingots resist damage. Multi-story buildings, crop plots, and cooking stations all fit on your floating base. There's no size limit.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how raft building works before worrying about anything else.
Step 2: Head to Radio Tower
The first story location found via the Receiver. A partially submerged tower with codes for the next destination. Introduces the game's story about the flooding event. Contains loot and a note leading to Vasagatan.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for Machete — it's the most accessible early upgrade. A crafted melee weapon with faster attack speed than the Spear. Better for fighting groups of enemies on islands. Requires Metal Ingots and Bolt to craft. The best sustained DPS melee option.
Step 4: Understand ocean exploration
The ocean generates islands, story locations, and floating debris procedurally. A Sail or Engine moves your raft between locations. Receiver and antennas track story locations via radio signals. Binoculars spot islands from distance. The ocean is infinite in all directions.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early — it pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to Balboa Island
A large forested island with a ranger station, caves, and bear encounters. Introduces the Machete blueprint and Biofuel. The Balboa cave system requires a Head Light. Contains critical story information about the Eden Project.
Essential Mechanics Explained
raft building
Your raft starts as a 2x2 platform and grows as you add foundations, walls, pillars, and decorations. The shark attacks exposed foundations — reinforced foundations with Metal Ingots resist damage. Multi-story buildings, crop plots, and cooking stations all fit on your floating base. There's no size limit.
ocean exploration
The ocean generates islands, story locations, and floating debris procedurally. A Sail or Engine moves your raft between locations. Receiver and antennas track story locations via radio signals. Binoculars spot islands from distance. The ocean is infinite in all directions.
island stops
Story islands are major locations with puzzles, loot, and narrative progression. Each introduces new crafting recipes, characters, and challenges. Non-story islands provide resources like Metal Ore, Copper, and Clay. Some islands have underwater caves with treasure.
research table
New crafting recipes are unlocked by placing materials in the Research Table. Each material unlocks a set of related recipes. Research everything you find before using materials for crafting — discovering recipes doesn't consume materials.
shark management
Bruce the shark constantly circles your raft, periodically attacking foundations and players in the water. Feed him by letting him bite Foundation blocks (cheaper) rather than losing built structures. Shark Bait distracts him, and you can kill him (he respawns) for Shark Head trophy and materials.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Not anchoring the raft before exploring islands — your raft drifts away, potentially losing everything you've built
Always deploy the anchor.
2. Ignoring Collection Nets — manually collecting floating debris is slow and tedious
Nets on all raft edges provide passive resource income that adds up enormously.
3. Building without reinforced foundations — the shark destroys regular foundations in 2-3 bites
Reinforce the outer edge foundations with Metal Ingots.
4. Rushing story islands without proper equipment — each island has specific requirements (Head Light, flippers, weapons)
Check wiki guides before visiting.
5. Not researching items before using them — placing an item on the Research Table unlocks recipes without consuming it
Always research first, craft second.
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand raft building and ocean exploration
- Choose Explorer as starting build
- Clear Radio Tower main content
- Acquire Machete or equivalent upgrade
- Reach Balboa Island
- Build collection nets on all edges of your raft early. Nets automatically catch floating debris (planks, plastic, leaves, barrels) so you gather resources passively.
- Seaweed + Plank = Rope, your most-needed resource. You'll burn through rope constantly for nets, bows, and other crafting. Always gather Seaweed when diving.
Tips for New Players
- Build collection nets on all edges of your raft early. Nets automatically catch floating debris (planks, plastic, leaves, barrels) so you gather resources passively.
- Seaweed + Plank = Rope, your most-needed resource. You'll burn through rope constantly for nets, bows, and other crafting. Always gather Seaweed when diving.
- Shark Bait buys 1-2 minutes of safe diving time. Always throw bait before entering the water for extended underwater gathering sessions.
- Research everything at the Research Table before dismantling items. Researching doesn't consume the item, and you need to discover recipes to progress.
- Honey (from beehives on islands) has infinite durability as food — it never spoils. Stockpile honey as emergency food.
- Simple Purifiers turn salt water into drinkable water. Build 2-3 early and keep them fueled with planks. Dehydration kills faster than starvation.
- Reinforce exposed foundations with Metal Ingots. The shark can't destroy reinforced foundations, protecting your raft structure permanently.
- Paint your Sail (craft at Paint Mill) for aesthetics, but more importantly, the Engine is faster and direction-independent for reaching story islands.
- Cooking Pot recipes provide better food bonuses than grilling. Combine ingredients for Shark Dinner, Fish Stew, etc. for more hunger and bonus thirst restoration.
- Head-mounted Light frees your hand while exploring caves. Craft it as soon as you have the materials — it's a massive quality-of-life improvement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you kill the shark in Raft permanently?
No, Bruce the shark respawns about 3 minutes after being killed. Killing him yields Shark Meat (food) and Raw Shark Head (trophy). In later areas, multiple sharks can spawn. Managing the shark is part of the core gameplay loop.
How many players can play Raft co-op?
Up to 8 players online co-op. All players share one raft. More players makes resource gathering faster but also increases food/water consumption. The game is designed for 1-4 players ideally.
How long is Raft's story?
The story takes 20-30 hours following all story locations from Radio Tower to the final destination Utopia. Completionists exploring every island and building an elaborate raft can spend 50+ hours.
Is there an ending to Raft?
Yes, the final chapter concludes the story at Utopia with a definitive ending. After the ending, you can continue playing in the same world, exploring and building.
What to Read Next
- Raft Builds — Optimize your build once you've learned the basics
- Raft Walkthrough — Full progression path
- Raft Tips — Advanced strategies for when you're ready
