What you are doing on day 1
The official description sends you into the Bermuda Triangle to survive 100 days. You grab resources or hook them with the harpoon, then build a raft with structures and defenses. The Hooked! badge is awarded the first time you grab an object with the harpoon. Out At Sea is awarded the first time you play.
Since the Island Survival change reported for 2 May 2026, a new run starts on an island with trees and debris, then moves out to sea. Older March 2026 videos still show an earlier opening. Follow the island in front of you, then the raft, if your server matches the later start.
First loop
- Hook wood and metal next to spawn. Do not swim off at night.
- Split wood between the Bonfire and crafting. Bonfire 1, 2, and 3 are separate badges for reaching those levels.
- Cook when you can. We Cookin is awarded for the first chowder made in the cooking pot. You also start with a fishing rod in community beginner routes.
- Reach Bonfire level 3 before you treat a distant island as the goal.
- Craft Sawmills. July 2026 build guides report 10 Wood and 2 Metal each, and 3 wooden planks per use. Build two on a solo raft and more in co-op. Confirm the craft preview.
- Add a Crab Trap once wood is stable, then Map Radar so you are not sailing without island marks.
- At Bonfire level 4, the same guides put a Magnet at 30 Metal and 10 Wood. Two Magnets are the usual metal plan.
- Buy an Auto Turret from the Travelling Merchant when you have 150 Doubloons, if that price is still on the merchant.
Where to sail after the raft holds
Community routes send early trips to Fisherman Island and small chest islands. They tell you to wait on Survivor Islands, towers, and strongholds until you have food, weapons, and a way home. Alien routes are tied to the raid that those guides place around night 6 or 7. Official badges confirm a wider map: every island in one session (Magellan), the Ice Biome, a volcano opened by tossing in 3 golems, a mothership laser puzzle, alien ships, a UFO repair, rival rigs, and a Corruption Dungeon.
What to ignore on day 1
Do not open companion chests yet. Fisherman's Chest is reported at 40 Pearls, and rarer chests cost 80 or 120. Spend the first Pearls on a class only after the raft can feed itself. Do not copy a custom seed. No public seed box was verified for this experience.
Done for the opening
You are out of the opening when Bonfire 3 is earned, at least one Sawmill is producing planks, food is not only the starter rod, and you can return to a lit Bonfire before dark.