[4] Stranded Deep takes place in the Pacific Ocean, where a plane crash survivor finds themselves faced with some of the most life-threatening scenarios in a procedurally generated world.

Players are able to explore Pacific islands, reefs, and bottomless ocean trenches filled with detailed biomes, and need to search for and develop the means to survive.

Players need to manage their vitals of health, hunger, thirst, and sleep, against the elements they face.

As the player's plane crashes into the ocean, they are saved via an inflatable lifeboat found nearby.

This is because rafts can be carried into the open ocean by currents or storms if not anchored or dragged onto land.

The player can collect components and materials later to craft their own raft by scavenging shipwrecks and the coastline of islands.

Some are associated with the 2000 movie Cast Away: on one of the islands, there is a volleyball with a bloody handprint on it, called Wollie, similar to Wilson from the movie; there is also a mail box washed on an island, loosely resembling the FedEx box from Cast Away.

Also discoverable is a remote standalone structure resembling the Maunsell Sea Forts, originally built by the United Kingdom to defend British estuaries, which the player can explore inside.

The game also features a "cartographer" mode, where the player can manipulate their world, as well as add and customize existing and new islands.

On 29 January 2020, Beam Team Games announced on their Twitter page that Stranded Deep's console release was scheduled to the end of March, but could be delayed until early April instead.