Raft (video game)

Raft is a survival and sandbox video game developed by Redbeet Interactive and published by Axolot Games. Set on Earth in an endless ocean caused by climate change, players are placed on a small raft circled by sharks, and they must manage their hunger and thirst to survive. Using a hook, players can reel in debris floating in the ocean and use these materials to expand their raft into an expansive base, forge tools, make amenities to aid in survival, and create navigational equipment. By crafting a radio receiver, players can explore a series of story islands with a narrative about freeing survivors from imprisonment by a corrupt military general.

Raft started development as a student project at the Gotland campus of Uppsala University in Sweden. After they completed their course and released Raft's prototype to the indie game platform Itch.io in December 2016, the game received attention from YouTubers, which allowed the team to focus on its development as their full-time jobs. As Redbeet Interactive expanded their staff from three to seven, Raft launched in early access to the storefront Steam on 23 May 2018, and received continuous updates, before the full game was released on 20 June 2022. Ports for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S were released on 4 December 2024.

The game received praise from several critics for its game design, sense of progression, multiplayer mode, and story islands, although a few reviewers thought its early game was slow. Commercially, Raft's full release was the best-selling title on Steam for two consecutive weeks, and the game also saw a favorable launch on the Xbox Series X/S, as one of the best-selling indie games on the console. By 2024, Raft had sold at least five million copies.