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What is Raft?

Raft is a game that the Steam community has been murmuring about for years. While it only officially released in 2018, it was available in beta years beforehand. The story deals with the player being stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean, but details have been kept quiet.

Recently, a new update revealed another piece of the puzzle. Raft takes place in a world that has been covered in water due to rising sea levels. The player lives a lonely life building up their own raft while trying to sail to civilization. Along the way, they encounter sinking, abandoned rafts and deserted islands (presumably the tops of ancient mountains covered in water).

More Informations

One of the new settlements added in the update is Caravan Town. When the player first arrives, they will be greeted by shipping containers stacked high up the cliffs. The whole place looks hobbled together with tape and scrap, just like the home raft. The hope of finding some sort of civilization is quickly eroded by the presence of a large white Screecher. The place is abandoned and desolate. Caravan Town was a shanty town, cobbled together by refugees escaping the flood. The player will find notes scattered across the settlement detailing how the village was built up and what happened to it in the end. The town had farmers, engineers, and even a doctor, but it wasn’t enough to keep it going. People became ill after eating infected pigs. Those that didn’t die left is Caravan Town to the Mudhogs.

Caravan Town is contrasted with Tangaroa, a settlement of a whole different kind. Tangaroa is a floating dome city. Funded by the rich and famous, it was built to house those who could afford it in luxury. Unlike its poorer counterpart, high-rises, penthouses and burger bars fill Tangaroa with glass and light. Robot butlers wander the streets and golf carts are charged to be used at citizens' leisure, despite there being no people around. Tangaroa, like Caravan Town, is abandoned. While Caravan Town was taken down by physical illness, Tangaroa was taken down by social illness. Riots flooded the streets before its downfall, explaining the lack of people and the garbage strewn about. At the end of the chapter, the player launches the bridge of Tangaroa. The fact that the bridge was given the ability to launch itself from the city shows that the builder had a way to abandon the city's rich people from the start (just like how the rich people abandoned the flooding world).

With rising tides, civil unrest and new illnesses, it is becoming obvious that Raft is a game about the consequences of global warming. While a whole world surrounded by water is a little farfetched, rising tides will push many people out of their homes. Both new Raft settlements were supposed to be life savors for humanity once the floods hit, and both failed. The first was about the community. The people of Caravan Town worked together to make everything work. They even developed a memorial for those that passed on. The people of Tangaroa were the opposite. They paid for the right to be on their floating island and were still unhappy in the lap of luxury. If people don't act to prevent the symptoms of global warming, it will be bad for rich and poor alike.