8. Raft

MAN GOES CRAZY ALONE AT SEA | Raft #1

The game’s titular raft is but a pitiful two-by-two palette of bare wood when you start out. Resources drift by on the current, and you can use them to build tools, cook food, and expand your raft.

Fishing for plastic and potatoes might sound doldrum, but it’s surprisingly therapeutic, and it can quickly turn into a fierce struggle as you race the heaving ocean for precious crafting materials before you die of starvation. If the vast, unyielding, merciless ocean wasn’t enough to scare you, there’s also a shark circling your raft at all times, and it’ll chew off bits of your float if you don’t deter it in time.

Your raft can be just enough for the barebones necessities, or it can be a luxurious castaway mansion - either way, the ocean won’t hesitate to remind you of your place.

Alone together: multiplayer allows for cooperative survival, but you might have to fight over rations

The lap of luxury: come as close as you can to comfort while you’re drifting on the endless expanse of the ocean