Raft dropped players in the middle of an empty ocean with nothing but a plastic hook, and the pull of “just one more crate” turned that premise into one of Steam’s most played survival games. We built Flotsam, a free stripped-down version of that same loop that runs right here in your browser. No install, no signup, no login wall, just open the page and start hooking debris.
Play Flotsam now
Drag to look around, tap or click a drifting crate to hook it in, and watch the water for a fin. Best played with sound on.
How to play
On a phone, drag anywhere on the water to look around and tap a crate or the HOOK button to reel in whatever is closest. On desktop, drag with the mouse to look, click an object directly, or press space to hook the nearest thing in range. The arrow keys also turn the camera.
Your deck grows one plank at a time with every crate you land, but hunger drains as you play, so eat the food that floats by before it runs out. A shark circles wider water and closes in on the edges every so often, and scaring it off in time is the only way to keep your planks.
Each day runs a different current direction, so the drift pattern changes daily. Your best score is saved on this device. Nothing leaves your browser.
How it compares to Raft
Flotsam keeps the part of Raft that actually hooks people: reeling in floating debris to grow a small platform while hunger ticks down and a shark threatens the edges. The round length, the one-tap restart and the daily current are built around that same “one more crate” pull, just compressed into a couple of minutes instead of a couple of hundred hours.
What it drops is almost everything else. Raft is a full crafting and building game with a research tree, cooking, farming, a story told through radio towers and islands, and co-op multiplayer for up to eight players. Flotsam has none of that.
There is no inventory, no recipes, no exploring beyond your own deck, and no way to build anything more elaborate than a bigger platform. It is a five-minute distillation of the hook mechanic, not a demo of the full game.
If reeling in crates and dodging a shark on a browser tab is fun for a few rounds, the real game is where that loop turns into an actual survival story, complete with islands to raid, a base to design and friends to bring along. Flotsam is the taste test. Raft is the meal.
Get the full game
Raft is a PC survival game developed by Redbeet Interactive and published by Axolot Games. It first launched into early access in 2018 and reached full release in 2022, and it plays solo or in online co-op with up to seven friends. There is no Android or Aptoide listing for it since it never shipped on mobile. Grab it on Steam for Windows, macOS or Linux.
Download: PC / Steam
FAQ
Can I play Raft in a browser?
Not the original game, no. Raft is a full PC title that only ships through Steam and has to be installed. What you can play in your browser right now is Flotsam, our free game inspired by Raft’s hook-and-collect loop, with no download needed.
Is Flotsam the real Raft?
No. Flotsam is an original game we built, inspired by the core loop of hooking floating debris. It is not affiliated with Raft, Redbeet Interactive or Axolot Games in any way. Think of it as a browser-sized tribute, not a copy.
Does Flotsam work offline?
Once the page has loaded, yes. Everything runs locally in your browser with no ongoing connection needed, and your best score saves to your device rather than an account.
Is it free?
Yes, Flotsam is free with no signup. The full Raft on Steam is a paid one-time purchase.
Why is there a shark in Flotsam if Raft has a shark too?
Sharks circling a lone deck are basically the defining hazard of raft-survival games, not something unique to any one title. Ours is drawn and coded from scratch, and getting bitten just costs you a plank rather than anything more dramatic.
